2020 Forest Lake-Hinckley-Lindstrom-Pine City-Rush City Fishing Reports

[Wanderer]

I’ve had some really good days on Forest but only went there for club tourneys.  Seemed like when you found em they were stacked in pretty good!  

[JBMasterAngler]

The biggest issue was all the floating weeds. Seems like the association ships out that weed pulling barge every other day. There was crap floating all over the place!

[Wanderer]

Oh yeah, that does suck!

[JBMasterAngler]

Tried Little Lake for a couple hours today. Not 1 single fish! Lake is pea soup green. What’s the deal with this lake? I didn’t find a single fish in the winter either. I know it winter killed 8 or 9 years ago, but that’s more than enough time for a lake to recover. 

[JBMasterAngler]

Made it out on the ice for the first time of the season. Lake Eleven, west of Sandstone. Drove past Grindstone on the way, looked to be about 95% ice free. Was a good solid 7 inches on eleven. Caught 10 total. A few borderline keeper crappies and 1 nice bluegill, 1 dink perch.

 

 

[DP]

Checked Forest Lake ice today (lake one/by downtown), there is 6-7" up to the weedline, from there the ice thinned out to about 5"

[slipperybob]

Clear Lake: 5 inches.  There was some weak spots where it cracked and slush water.  I stepped over one crack and saw the ice shift up and down.  Must have been quite thin so I walked fast.

[JBMasterAngler]

Tried out Forest Lake out of access #2 yesterday, before the snow. Was tough getting around with the wind and glare ice. Ice was between 6 and 7 inches. Only caught 7 perch. Didn’t try too hard though, and didn’t drill too many holes.

[slipperybob]

9" on Clear Lake now..  I went to try the evening bite.  Hooked up with a 14" walleye right away within the first 10 minutes.  Then I was staring at a dead sea.

[Austin12345]

Saw a truck on forest lake yesterday with a wheel house pretty surprising but there was a good amount of ice.

[gimruis]

15 minutes ago, Austin12345 said:

Saw a truck on forest lake yesterday with a wheel house pretty surprising but there was a good amount of ice.

 

Unless there's about 15 inches of ice you wont' catch me out there with my truck.

[Austin12345]

Nice Chisago Lake walleye from yesterday 16.5 also caught an 11 both were late afternoon. 

[Wanderer]

41 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

Unless there's about 15 inches of ice you wont' catch me out there with my truck.

Always good to set your own safe limit.  I quit driving on ice period for many years until we got a wheelhouse then it became a necessity to drive and figure out new limits.  15” will hold a lot.

[slipperybob]

There's always someone out there when the ice just barely get's 10" on Forest Lake.  I only measure up to the water line and that was 9" thick.  I never count what's on top.

[whateverisbiting]

The specific gravity of ice is about 0.9, which means if the ice is floating, the water line will be 10% lower than the ice thickness.  When water comes higher it is from the weight of the snow pushing the ice down.  Either way, 9-10" is not enough for me to drive out there!

[monstermoose78]

I think with these cold temps people  will have a false sense of security. Please check ice conditions for your self.  

[DP]

Went out this morning to fish and check the ice out from the lake one access, pretty consistent 10".  A varied amount of snow, where people have been driving and creating ruts-those areas are drifting with deeper snow.  Found some spots with cracks/ slush that have re-frozen.  Very bumpy traveling...

[JBMasterAngler]

Fished North Lindstrom today. Ice was about 10 inches, with 3 inches of semi frozen slush ontop. I found a big school of nice bluegills. All 45 fish came out of the same hole! Didn’t even mark anything in any of the other holes I drilled. Tungsten gill pill was the ticket. 
 

Made a friend while out on the ice. A kid who lived on the lake came out toting all his gear, and asked if I could drill him a few holes. Fortunately I had enough juice to drill him 3 holes. We proceeded to chit chat throughout the rest of the day, and compare our catches.

 

 

[monstermoose78]

The ice over by me was around the 10 inch mark as well. Crazy to see all the full size trucks hauling across the lake. 

[monstermoose78]

7 hours ago, DP said:

Went out this morning to fish and check the ice out from the lake one access, pretty consistent 10".  A varied amount of snow, where people have been driving and creating ruts-those areas are drifting with deeper snow.  Found some spots with cracks/ slush that have re-frozen.  Very bumpy traveling...

Thanks for posting DP

[JBMasterAngler]

I parked on the shoreline ice, so did a few other people. Nobody was driving vehicles, didn’t see any tracks either.

 

Forest Lake on the other hand? Looked like every registered vehicle in town was driving around out on the lake. Can’t imagine the ice was much thicker than anywhere else in the area