st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

[Team Bobberdown]

Went out did a little bit of fishing this morning with a friend boy was it a cold one out there. The fishing was okay not how a guy would like it or plan it in his mind (limit every time and a bite evrycast) but I did get four eaters (16-18) and one that was 20+. All in all just glad to get out and get fish. Seen a little ice forming on the ponds and lakes. Yeah baby.... can't wait.... bobberdown...

[JeremyCampbell]

Bryan,my bad.I just clicked on the  link you posted above .Sweet video.Looks like you caught a Gar in there.Plenty of walleye too.

Nick,nice fish!

[Bryan P]

Jeremy - Thanks! It was a sturgeon, Caught couple this year on the St. Croix, and the walleyes were over on the chain area last month. We ended up doing pretty good out there. Now I am getting ready for ice fishing  Thanks for the comment and take care! 

Another nice eye Nick! 

[Coleman]

Bryan, looks like you were mainly catching the eyes on the down river portion of the Chain.  In the years I've fished that chain I've never fished much past the county rd 49 bridge.  I guess I just haven't tried it much...so I just don't have much confidence in the area.  Looks like you picked up some good ones though.  Nice video.  

[Team Bobberdown]

Got out on the river today and hooked into a few nice walleye. Was doing a lot of catching of non keeper size. Then it shut off. Was about to call it quits when I hooked a 39 inch Muskie. No wonder the walleyes took off. I did take home 4 eye's the largest was 22.5  inchesand the rest were between 16 and 18 inches. But boy the fight on that Muskie was great. Was fishing with 1/4oz jighead and river chubs.  Took about 10 to 12 minutes to land him without a net so I had to play the big guy out and keep him hooked. It was a good day on the river.

[Weathertite]

I like the walleyes , great catch and enjoy the meal. But I do have to say that I am a little troubled by the photo of the Musky. Is it healthy ? Did you release it ?

[Team Bobberdown]

1 hour ago, Weathertite said:

 

 

1 hour ago, Weathertite said:

 

The Muskie was released he swam away just fine. The color was really light on him. The blood on his mouth is actually from me. He toothed me when I was taking the hook out. My finger bled for an hour. Sharp teeth on him. Plus there was no one around to take a picture for me so I had him on the shore for a photo shoot.

[Weathertite]

Thank you for the response ,  Best of luck on your next trip , Bring band aids  next time . Lol

[Team Bobberdown]

Will for sure throw some in the tackle box. But life ain't life without a few scar's and fish stories.:-)

[Weathertite]

So very true , I helped an Asian kid in a canoe land about a 40 " northern last summer. I was in a boat with my buddy and by the time we got his fish landed for him my fishing day was done. sliced the living be jesus out of both hands. Feel your Pain my Friend

[Rick G]

Spent the day out on the lake with Tommy. We decided it was a good day to try for some crappies. Found some pretty good schools of fish, they were very tight lipped. Still, we managed to catch quite a few, even some decent ones, biggest of day was just a hair shy of 12in. Plastics ruled the day once again. Got all my fish on the Custom Jigs finnese plastics rigged on a 3mm tunsten head. We worked a 26-34ft shorline break that bottomed out in 40+ ft of water. As usual, all fish were released

[Rick G]

Hit the Chain for a bit this weekend. Andrea and I had our hearts set on crappies...... they weren't in a very good mood yesterday...lol. We did score a fair number of fish, but they were biting so light the strike was tough to detect.

By the time the sun was hitting the tree tops we were both shaking our heads at how inactive the crappies were..... 

Lucky for us the cats seemed fairly active. We had gotten a few durring the day on the same plastics we were catching crappies on.  So we figured maybe we could salvage the day with kitties. To my surprise, the cats were ready to go as soon as we were We didn't have a big school below us, just a few coming in here and there...they were hungry though. Must have gotten 25 between us in about a hr. Nothing real big, but Andrea did loose one at the bottom of the hole that I figure was close to 28in. 

Glow red frostee spoons in 1/16 with a minnow head still works well for cats. We threw the tackle box at the crappies, most were caught on the Custom jigs Finnese plastics on 3mm tunsten jigs. 

Edited December 28, 2015 by Rick G
Forgot to add pics...lol

[Stick in Mud]

Well, you know the panfish have reached a point of near-terminal stupidity when I can catch them.  Stick in Mud the Elder and I walked out on a small local lake, hand-drilled a bunch of holes, and dropped lures in them until we found dumb fish.  Crappies were by no means schooled up; it was a fish here and a fish there.  Brought home a few of the smaller ones for a meal.  

I wish I could say it was from reeling in dozens of 2 lb. crappies that I can't lift my arms above my head today, but I'm thinking that hand-drilling 50 holes has more to do with it.

 

[Stick in Mud]

After eating a few crappies for lunch before heading out fishing again, I was hoping there'd be some some time before my next meal.  Alas, I had to eat some crow this afternoon, too...that's what I get for talkin' up my panfish-catching abilities.  I brought a friend along who doesn't fish much, and between the long walk to get to the spot and the excessive hand-drilling, I was hoping to put him on fish.  Apparently, I'd wised up nearly every crappie in the lake, because the entirety of our day's haul consisted of one four inch fish. 

Off to Mille Lacs tomorrow.  Enough of chasing these little fish around.

[mmp98]

that's funny! my arm hurt last week from jigging like crazy to get the fish interested!  I always tell my wife fishing isn't all fun and games, sometimes its work!

[eyeguy 54]

On 1/6/2016 at 1:30 AM, Stick in Mud said:

After eating a few crappies for lunch before heading out fishing again, I was hoping there'd be some some time before my next meal.  Alas, I had to eat some crow this afternoon, too...that's what I get for talkin' up my panfish-catching abilities.  I brought a friend along who doesn't fish much, and between the long walk to get to the spot and the excessive hand-drilling, I was hoping to put him on fish.  Apparently, I'd wised up nearly every crappie in the lake, because the entirety of our day's haul consisted of one four inch fish. 

Off to Mille Lacs tomorrow.  Enough of chasing these little fish around.

did you forget the meat??   

[Stick in Mud]

LOL.  Don't tell anyone, Royce, but when I got to the baitshop, they didn't have euro larvae, so I actually bought a little puck of waxworms.   Amazingly, I didn't catch any fish.  Coincidence?!?

[Naturboy]

I got to go out yesterday and thought since it was colder i would try deeper for walleye. I only kept 1 but they were there and eating minnow heads on a Buckshot. In one spot middle of the lake only had 8 inches of ice. Others were driving trucks, guess they should be getting their lottery tickets too!

i thought I should be heading home when I noticed the fish I kept started to freeze inside my shelter next to the heater and the minnow bucket had skim ice on it.  I only walked out .3 of a mile and on the way to the car my eye lids started to freeze shut. Still good to get out and see the stars on a winter night. 

[eyeguy 54]

hardcore.  nice job!

[Huntin&Fishin]

Drove around the chain and looks like most are sticking indoors with this cold watching football. No portables when I drove by, just vacant perms.

[kfancody]

Went out early this morning to lake 10 min from St cloud and braved the cold. Haha 4 wheeler ride was freezing my eyelids shut too naturboy. The cold had made alot of ice i had 12" of ice everywhere and saw quite a few trucks. Slow bite in the morning caught a nice northern but was looking for crappies in 30 fow. After sitting for a few hours without marking much I got brave and started to move around. I drilled about 30 more holes and set up trap in 4 different places before I found this school around 1:30. Then it was on!!  I couldnt even see my lure on my graph. Had my limit of 10-11 inchers in a half hour. They weren't moving at all but they were fairly aggressive. I was in 28 fow on the edge of a 30' hole Plastics were the bait of choice for sure. When I left the graph was still glowing red. Turned out to be worth braving the weather.

[eyeguy 54]

nice job!

 

[IceHawk]

Great report way to put some topside in brutal conditions!

[Weathertite]

Great job with your venture!!!! They look awfully tasty.

[Naturboy]

I think my luck ran out today, I broke my 25 year old coffee cup. 

[eyeguy 54]

bummer, never fun to lose good stuff

[Borch]

Well with the temperatures warming a little and the wind backing off a bit I hit an area lake for my first outing of the year.  Took a lot of drilling to get on fish.  I couldn't find any shallow gills today.  Everything was out in the basin in 25+ fow.  I did finally get on a few and played around with plastics and found motor oil and black to be what they wanted today.  Ended up with enough crappies and gills for a good meal.  Stuck a 37" pike on my little sight fishing rod on 3lb test.  Took about 20 minutes to coax it through the hole.

 

Glad I didn't drive on the lake after seeing several full sized trucks on the ice.  I found 7 1/2 - 9" of ice in the spots I drilled.  Be careful.

 

[IceHawk]

Way to stick a few Jeff glad you got out. Nice pike!

[Weathertite]

4 hours ago, Borch said:

Glad I didn't drive on the lake after seeing several full sized trucks on the ice.  I found 7 1/2 - 9" of ice in the

Thank you for the post Borch , Beatiful job getting that through the ice.  Too many people think that just because we have had a couple of cold snaps that the ice MUST be safe by now. WRONG answer , Please be careful and check ice thickness as you go. Too much fluctuation in thickness.

Stay safe and fish well my friends !!!!

[mmp98]

for some reason i thought it would be a good idea to get out on sunday with my 5 year old.  just wanted to get out once more before the circus hits every lake next weekend.  a lot of people were driving on the ice, but my neighbor had said he was out on the lake friday and only found 10-12 so i walked. I stayed away from most of the houses and found 10" glad i walked. to cold to leave the portable but I found some fish before i froze to death. my little one was happy with pearch and sunnies so i was happy taken off the hook. nieghbors been hitting some eyes in that spot but told me u had to fight the pearch off.  

Coldest day of the year and i kept my fishing buddy on the ice for 4 hours with no complaining which was my intent all along a bit of a test to see if i can take her next weekend and find some real fish without her getting board!