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


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Caught a bunch of crappies on Comfort Lake today. All little ones, but they kept my son entertained. They liked minnow heads a little more than eurolarvaes. Ice was about 16 inches, and travel conditions were easy going.

 

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Went to Little Lake today, and was surprised how much slush was out there. I was even more surprised that the ice was only about 14 inches thick, with the top 1/3 being white ice. Had I known that, I wouldn’t have driven out there. I was only out there a few minutes. Just wasn’t getting a good vibe from the lake.

 

Swung over to North Center Lake and found little to no slush, and 18 inches of excellent ice! Caught 55 total, mostly all crappie, with a few sunnies and perch mixed in. No size to any of them. Neither color or bait seemed to matter. I could have stayed and caught plenty more, but I had enough fun.

 

Someone plowed quite a nice road system on the lake. Whoever it was, I very much appreciated it  ?

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JB, I am guessing the difference in ice conditions between Little and North Center was probably because Little froze over earlier than North Center and a good amount of snow fell on it which insulated the ice causing it not to get thicker very quickly. North Center probably didn’t have as much snow on it so the ice was better. 

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I went to South Lindstrom yesterday, and I found out why I haven’t seen anyone fishing out there all winter! I drove to every corner of the lake, and everywhere in between, and I didn’t find anything! Finally caught a few dink perch towards the end if the day. Drove over to Chisago, but by then my auger battery was toast. 

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Didn’t fair too much better on Green Lake today. Caught 11 little perch and 5 sunfish. Only had a couple hours to fish, so not much time to search.

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On Green try the area in the picture I posted right on the red mark for panfish on south center try the spot I have marked there is shack groups in both locations and they should be easy to find. As for the spot on south center try that at night I went out there last night and slayed crappies we probally caught 70-80 crappies in 2 hours most were about 9 inches some were over ten. Tugsten jig with larva or a minnow head worked best and you needed a spring bobber cause they were biting pretty light.

 

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Went to South Center today. Was confident I was going to find crappies over the deep holes. I did not. Went to the shallow side of sunset point and the crappies were thick! Finicky though. I only had minnows today. I have a feeling if I had euros, we would have caught a lot more. 
 

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Lol I fished the same spot last weekend it is by far better after dark though so diffently try that spot for crappie after dark. Because it was good during the day but insane at night. There are some 12 inch plus ones in there to. 

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FYI

Saw car thru narrows between lil green n green last night.

Please think.  
 Never driive thru skinny narrows as these lakes do have pretty steady current.

Scattered carp holes will start showing up also - so BEWARE. BE SAFE. HAVE FUN!

18” here.  6” there.   
Keep on Rocken!

T

 

 

 

 

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Edited by TomWehler
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FYI:  Few hours ago an ATV went thru narrows under bridge between North n South Center. 
Zero - no injury’s n ATV out of water.
 

Odd to see fire crew wrap Caution tape around THIN ICE signs been there long time.

Fun. Ok but come on man......THINK!

 

Do a lil recon n homework before heading out...each time.

Might save yer life.

Water is Dang COLD under that ice.

Relax - have fun - be safe.

 

keep on Rocken!

 

T

 

 

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Made a return trip to North Center today, hoping the crappies would be in the same place I found them last month. They were not. Perch had taken over. I didn’t feel like catching them all day, so I moved around. I only caught 4 random crappies that would show up about 10 feet below the ice. Used bigger baits to keep the perch at bay. 

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Crappie were 15 to 22 feet on north center when i was out this week. Thick  schools mixed with sunfish. 

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators
2 hours ago, metro fisherman said:

Crappie were 15 to 22 feet on north center when i was out this week. Thick  schools mixed with sunfish. 

Thank you sir!

 

Anyone else getting out?

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Hey guys thinking of going out this week how late will there be safe ice do you think right now? 

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I was out in east central this morning. Ice was good enough for me to drive all over. Holes wont be refreezing for several days. And water draining down them could make big holes quickly. At one point it sound like running water.

Fishin however I found tough. Crappies that have been suspended stacked for weeks have moved on. They did not simply move shallower as that was my first try.

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  • 2 months later...

Tried the Snake River today. West of Pokegama...I think it was called little walleye landing, or something like that. First time I’ve ever taken a boat out here. I thought it was a pretty cool stretch. My 6 year old had a northern splash at her lure right at the boat on her very first cast, and she was done after that! I ended up catching 10 little ones, with a bunch of other hits. Also 2 walleye and a smallie.

 

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Some of my very favorite places to fish are up there are the smaller lakes such as lewis lake and lory mud lake and the very small knife river my favorite strech of the snake is by mora probally its a fun place to go cause you never know what you will catch very nice fish also

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Did some Crappie fishing in the area over the weekend the bite was on. Grandson had a blast. Wife also had a good day fishing for once. They were some very nice sized fish. Plain hook and minnow and ice fishing teardrop lures in green did the trick with minnow. One day plain hook ruled next day green jigs did.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had been contemplating fishing the Kettle River at highway 23 crossing for years. Well, finally did it today...got skunked! River was probably about a foot low. Was probably only able to go upstream several hundred yards. Was able to go downstream aways. Found some holes as deep as 12 ft. But not a single bite! Only highlight was coming across the biggest bull snake I’ve ever seen in my life! 
 

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  • 7 months later...

Fished Lake Eleven, just west of Sandstone. Probably about 10 inches of ice, lots of frozen slush. Did pretty good, 20 crappies, most being right at that borderline keeper size. Seemed to be traveling in pairs back and fourth. Definitely wanted minnows over euro larvae. Sounded like everyone else on the lake was having similar success.

 

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Took the kids to South Center today. 12 inches of ice in sunset bay. Not much happening, only caught 6 sunnies.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Went to North Center yesterday. First time driving truck on the ice. Was surprised by the lack of activity on the lake. Ice was about 16 inches. Drove to north end of lake. Didn’t find much. Very first fish was a shiner! I think it was a spottail shiner. There was a big school swimming around, so I put a tiny ice jig on, as I’m thinking walleye bait at this point ? they wouldn’t touch it! Put forage minnow back on, they swarm all over it! But hooks too big. Only caught 3 perch, 3 crappies, and a bluegill. Didn’t really feel like drilling more holes or switching up baits, otherwise probably could have caught more.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Banner day on Rush Lake today! Me and my son hammered a good mix of perch and crappies. They didn’t care weather it was minnow heads or euro larvae. Cooked hotdogs on the lake, with lake water of course. We left at about 5:30, but they were still biting! Best day of the season!

 

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  • 4 months later...

Went out to a small local lake today, with new tackle in tow. I challenged myself to use ONLY the new tackle! Which consisted of drop shot rigs, jig and craw, and wacky rigs. All rigs that I have never used before. I’m happy to report I caught fish on all three! ? caught 7 total, 4 bass, 2 pike, and a bluegill. We were also stalked by loons and snapping turtles.

 

 

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I threw my son a bone today, and we fished Forest Lake. Despite it being across the street from my house, I’ve just never been interested in this lake. We didn’t do too bad, 9 fish, 6 bass and 3 pike. We probably lost about the same number of fish. I forgot my phone at home, so I thought for sure we’d hook into a big Muskie. Luckily that didn’t happen. Called it a day when the rain hit.

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