st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

[Stick in Mud]

I am by no means an expert in finding walleyes on the lakes around here, but the fishing has been very good the last few weeks. Simple, simple stuff: toss a crankbait out the back of the boat, kick the motor in forward, find a weedline, and keep it as close as you can to the weeds. I haven't caught much of size, but the numbers have been good. Heck, I even went out fishing with a guy who owns a Ranger boat, and even he caught fish. That's when you know the bite is good.

That being said, I pulled a big, fat, obese, diabetic skunk tonight. Zero fish. I happened to find a lake, one I've never fished in openwater, that didn't have a single weed. How's that possible in a lake around here, I don't know. But we marked nothing in terms of weeds.

[pushbutton]

I even went out fishing with a guy who owns a Ranger boat, and even he caught fish. That's when you know the bite is good.

That is about the funniest thing I came across tonight surfing the world wide web. True story, and in complete due respect to ranger owners that do know how to fish.....my son legitimately out fished a ranger owner a few days ago....in his boat He is a very nice guy though

Fall patterns are slooowly starting to kick in. Starting to see crappies, gills, and cigars school up in the basins and roaming deep flats, but plenty still in shallow, and yep, in general would say weeds are still where the active fish are at. Currently, on one of those weedless lakes, and anything remotely green .... like pencils....are holding fish of all types ......as well as traditional breaks and points.

[Stick in Mud]

Well, the Ranger owner in question is a member of this site, so I have to be careful or else I won't get invited back in his very nice boat.

We were able to find tons of fish on points and at the base of steep breaks. I'm trying to improve my trolling, though, so I only brought trolling rods.

[eyeguy 54]

saw the boat go by my house earlier today

[Stick in Mud]

Interesting. Maybe Ranger guys get so desperate to catch fish they have to go to the Mississippi!!!

(Sorry, 621, I can't help myself. )

[Rick G]

Interesting. Maybe Ranger guys get so desperate to catch fish they have to go to the Mississippi!!!

(Sorry, 621, I can't help myself. )

Lol, now that's funny

[pushbutton]

Last couple days have been interesting with dead calm sunny and 70, then cold and dense fog, then 43 wind shifts in one day....it did slow the fishing down.....for me anyway. Gill bite all but died and got skunked two nights ago lindying shiners in deeper(20 ish) water..... marked a ton, but no takers. Last night tried pulling scatters on weed edges but only got pike, finally dialed in on dragging crawlers on shallow(6 to 8) weed edges.

[JeremyCampbell]

Finally got out for a couple hrs on the river.Nothing big, but did find some Smallies and a small northern.Tossing jigs with crappie minnows on a bobber.Was nice to finally get the line wet.

[Tom Sawyer]

Well if pike bring out your smile, you should fish for them more often JC

Looks like we have one more nice week; then the knit hat might be seen on a regular basis.

[Bryan P]

Like Jeremy I finally got out on the river today too. Did some trolling looking for some possible fall walleyes, but the smallies took over. Such a beautiful fish for a beautiful fall day.

[JeremyCampbell]

Cool Bass Bryan.. Some nice color and shape on that fish

Decided it was time for Myles to finally try out fishing the river today.He turned 3 yrs old in August.

Myles had a good whipping/jigging motion going on with a jig, sinker and worm.He latched on to some nice bass in his presentation.Guess Eyeguy is going to have deal with the newest Bass Master in his river.

He found a really cool stick too

I think it's drift wood.. Looks like a cane for someone his size.Close up it looks pretty cool.

...

[monstermoose78]

Awesome Photos Jeremy and way to get the kid out and fishing.

[Rick G]

Great job, Myles Campbell !!!

Jeremy, you also get a " great job" very cool pictures!!! Big thank you for everything you do here, bud

[eyeguy 54]

Nice job Myles!

[Coleman]

I've out the last two days on the River above the dam in Sartell. Been working mostly the Ice Breakers on the east side. The rock bass have been on fire....if you want to catch them. Also, caught a couple larger cats...about the 6-7lbs area, smaller small mouth, lost one about 2.5 lbs on a jump. Also, broke off on what I suspect was a large pike based on how it was running when I set the hook. I've been working as close as I can get to the ice breakers....about 22ft. Almost all fish have been caught on a 3" gulp minnow either Black Shad or Chartreuse Shad. A couple bites on a 5" gulp leech.

I'm hoping that the walleye start moving in soon. All I've caught the last few weeks was small ones...10-13" fish.

Been catching a lot of rock bass this size. Fun to catch at least.

[Stick in Mud]

Awesome photos, Jeremy. I especially like the first one. Cool shot of the sun shining through.

[JeremyCampbell]

Thanks for your reports Coleman.Nice job on getting some Catfish.They can be real rod benders up there.I hope to hit that section sometime this year before winter If I ever can get someone to go with lol.

I'll put this on here anyways since it is fishing

I decided to check a drainage Pond for any signs of life this morning .Caught this Carp on a BOBBER just barely dragging the bottom floating slowly with a jig and crawler right on the outside of the mouth of a drain.

The carp had to go all red neck about it and fling mud on my face and my clothes while draggin it up the shore.Good thing I pack a painters rag with.

A handful of sunnies caught on worms too.

As small as the pond is, the pond doesn't fully freeze in the winter.My guess It's the 3-4 drains around it keeps the water flowing in all the time and keeps the fish alive and growing.

[Coleman]

Thanks for your reports Coleman.Nice job on getting some Catfish.They can be real rod benders up there.I hope to hit that section sometime this year before winter If I ever can get someone to go with lol.

This time of year I don't work but a couple times a month, so if you ever want to hit the water. I go fishing almost every day until I put the boat away near the end of Oct. So, you're more then welcome to catch a ride with me if you want to get out above the dam.

[JeremyCampbell]

Hey Coleman,would be nice to go this Fall

-Tried to send you a Pm, your settings arnt allowing you to receive them.

[Griffond]

Yeah I figured they would be biting in there sooner or later saw about 5-600 carp this spring swimming around in there couldn't get them to bite and just haven't tried it since. Since I can just walk across the the street and all and to get to that pond... nice to see you can stand on the shore again thou.

[JeremyCampbell]

Yeah I figured they would be biting in there sooner or later saw about 5-600 carp this spring swimming around in there couldn't get them to bite and just haven't tried it since. Since I can just walk across the the street and all and to get to that pond... nice to see you can stand on the shore again thou.

I know what you meen, its crazy how many you see in the spring/summer coming up to the surface.Didn't see any carp surfacing this time.Seems I get anywhere from 0-2 carp per outing on that pond.Ive only caught them when they wernt surfacing.Maybe that's the ticket?

[Coleman]

Hey Coleman,would be nice to go this Fall

-Tried to send you a Pm, your settings arnt allowing you to receive them.

Sorry about that, had no idea that was even set that way. I just changed it.

[Coleman]

Got out again this afternoon. Worked the same spots..but started working more towards the center of the river. Still jigging a 1/4oz jig tipped with a gulp minnow. Black shad seemed to work today the best.

Ended up catching 3 walleye, 3 small mouth, 3 cats, and about 15 rock bass. Two of the walleye were pretty dam small. One was 16", I was going to keep it but I forgot my knife and bags at the house. Oh well, hopefully I'll find them tomorrow. The rock bass I've been catching at pretty fun to catch..some are over 11" long.

[JeremyCampbell]

Found Crappies today on the river.A total of 13 of them lol.Size reached only to 10.5, hoped for bigger ones, maybe next time.

Mainly bobber, jig and live minnows were used.

Rock bass were very present with around 30-40 caught and a handful of Smallies from earlier today on a shad rap.

It was a day of catching, that's for sure.

[Coleman]

I was sitting around the house today after mowing the yard. And decided I needed to get out fishing on such a nice day. I pulled up google maps and basically picked a lake. Decided on Big Fish Lake. Found out this lake has A LOT of small pike. I first started throwing a spinner bait and a jerk bait. Only caught one small pike and a bass. After a couple short strikes from on the deep side of the weeds I decided to pull some cranks on the edge of the weeds. Pulled both a perch and a ghost white color. Ended up catching about 15-20 pike...nothing bigger then 25" and 5 bass. Still want fun to catch some fish even though they were smaller.

I was also stopped by the DNR tonight. Thought it was very random they were on this lake. Just asked for my license, and went on their way.

Cute little guy.

[Borch]

Hit one of the local lakes last night trolling cranks up shallow. Bite was decent and steady with us catching several really nice eaters starting an hour before sunset and continuing well into the night. But stick baits and shad styles baits working well. Don't be afraid of those inside weed edges as they are hot right now.

[Bryan P]

With this fall weather on the way. Some of the bigger fish like to come out and play

[Borch]

Nice fish Bryan!

My wife Wanda and myself hit a local lake about 10 pm last night after working on my to do list all day and pulled cranks for a couple hours. Sure was a nice night. Found some nice eater walleyes on the inside weededge again. Walleyes definitely preferred the long baits vs the shad style last night. Ended up keeping one limit for a couple meals of fresh fish. Fish seemed to want the baits moving a bit faster with 2.1-2.3 mph getting the most hits. Surface temps still hanging in the mid 60s.

[Coleman]

Nice fish Bryan!

My wife Wanda and myself hit a local lake about 10 pm last night after working on my to do list all day and pulled cranks for a couple hours. Sure was a nice night. Found some nice eater walleyes on the inside weededge again. Walleyes definitely preferred the long baits vs the shad style last night. Ended up keeping one limit for a couple meals of fresh fish. Fish seemed to want the baits moving a bit faster with 2.1-2.3 mph getting the most hits. Surface temps still hanging in the mid 60s.

Care to share the lake?

I'm gonna take the lady out to Big Fish tomorrow so she can catch a little action. But, I'm taking a couple guys out on Saturday...wouldn't mind finding some keeper walleyes. I'm still only catching small ones on the river.

[Rick G]

Made it out for a little bit last evening... I got outfished

She got me on size and numbers.... sometimes it's better to be the looser though