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

[sicheneder]

mostly crappie. which village on second??

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

I couldn't believe how many houses were on the lake Saturday!

Why is there sooooooooo many houses on Forest Lake when people aren't getting hardly any fish...?

[mikemac]

There was a fishing contest on Forest on Saturday. Did not hear any results.

Chef: 1st of all welcome! The spot that you are talking about is a spot mostly for crappies. Expect numbers of fish but lots of sorting. Always a fun spot to go if you just want to catch some fish. If you go during the week you can avoid all the party people and noise. Good luck!!

[FLaker]

Chefd,

Forest is a great fishery. I have spent many winters trying to find some good spots. I have gotten a few 12+ crappies, lots of sortable crappies, some really nice walleyes and the tip-up fishing for northerns is quite productive as well. I cant think of any "out of the ordinary" patterns on FL. Just follow standard logic for ice fishing structure and you will find the fish. A flasher is a must-have.

Tunrevir has given me some great pointers in the past, but the most fun is exploring and finding my own "secret spots".

If you set up by the "villages" you will catch fish, those are the quantity, not necessarily quality spots. If you look at the structure these popular spots are on there is a lot of less pressured spots with similar structure that usually hold larger fish if you are patient.

Welcome to FL and enjoy the lake!

FLaker

[Chefd]

went out on forest tonight and it was dead prob gonna go out tomorrow and explore a bit any advice on where to go what access is a good one to use have been using the on the east end and fishing around there pretty slow any pointers would be great

[Chefd]

gonna try and go out on monday would enjoy fishing with some one with a little lake knowledge send me a email if you have time or if you would like some company [email protected] Dan

[servocam]

Any updates on FLake? If not raining tomorrow afternoon, plan to take son out.

[Fuzzbient]

It's been slow for me. I fish almost every night and have only hit around a half dozen sunset fish over the past week and a half, and they've all been small. The perch have been thick during the day but few 8 inch keepers in the mix. I tried to find some pike Monday morning and had no luck in my usual spots. I've heard the crappies are still easy to come by in the lake 2 holes.

[Chefd]

Fuzzbient, I just moved up to Forest Lake and have been hitting the ice every day crappies are biting like you said in lake two i would like to find someone to fish with all my buddies are on Tonka and the drive hasn't been worth the bite i havebeen out every day this week and wouldn't mind hanging with someone else how deep you fishing for the eyes? I spent a couple nights well till 7-730 and had no luck. Let me know if wouldn't mind some company send me a message or email [email protected] i am out in a little blue viking portable if you see me stop by and say hello Dan

[Chefd]

oops [email protected]

[Fuzzbient]

I've just been fishing break lines (8 - 12 fow) with large weedy flats nearby. No one spot. The bite's just a short one around sundown and it's been really poor. Most the time I don't catch a darn thing. You might have better luck trying shallower in the weeds later in the evening but I haven't tried it lately.

[Castinski]

I finally had one of those great crappie nights last night. So far this year has been fairly slow for me. Hopefully I finally stumbled onto a more consistant bite. I like to roam off on my own, so I tend to stay away from those deep hole crappies and prefer to fish break lines like Fuzzbient. Walleyes- I'm starting to wonder if there are many left. I had a great winter for them 2 years ago and it has been incosistant at best since then. Somebody start eating those little perch so I stop catching them all day. I wonder if they may be effecting the walleye bite (forage).

[Fuzzbient]

Somebody start eating those little perch so I stop catching them all day. I wonder if they may be effecting the walleye bite (forage).

Here's one guy trying to help with the perch. Shot this on Forest Saturday morning.

[servocam]

I think I my bail from work now and head out on FLake...see if I can catch anthing.

[tunrevir]

The bite has been tough this year for walleye. I, like many others killed them a few years back but the past two years I haven't been able to put a pattern together. I moved my shack last night with the hopes of getting a few fish that are staging prior to prespawn. The crappies started decent for me with a few at 12" and a few between the 9-10" mark but dissipated to a 5-7" bite so I moved shop. last night was slow but I didn't get the shack moved untill well after the predark walleye bite. I'm hopping for a few fish this winter as it has been pretty slow for me. Best bet is to keep trying and searching and sooner or later you'll find one of those spots that just holds fish.

Tunrevir~

[servocam]

So son, dog, and I went out on Flake. My son wanted to go by his Preschool (Sunshine @ Hosana Church, S-side 3rd), let him pick the spot, and kinda limited to where the roads / parking is (FWD vehicle).

First spot, ~75ft from another, I shot the ducer through the ice, 15 FOW - nothing down there. We decided to move a bit further and just set up. Ended up on ~20FOW, no fish down there. Oh well - we were just happy to be on the lake! If I had more time, I would of moved further South.

There was a bunch ~50 yards to the South of us. Walked over and talked to 3 guys with a line of Tip-Ups on ~12-15 ft edge. They said nothing last night or tonight.

They were looking for the "Rock Pile" and I think I found what they were looking for on the map. North of Timm's Marina and to the east there is a 10ft that goes out to point and dropps off pretty fast - not sure if that is it.

Mabye try to get out on Clear or over to 2nd in the deep spots.

[Castinski]

Hit Forest again last night. Tried another "new" spot, just because I like exploring. Didn't get set-up until about dark in 17 fow, but caught about a half dozed crappies and was still marking fish through 7pm. Did get one pushing 15 inches and saw another slab on the flasher, but didn't hook up with that one. The rest were in that 8-9 inch range. Needed to be aggressive to draw them in and then slow it down to seal the deal. All c&r. Hopefully the precipitation this weekend is frozen! Good luck everyone.

[Fuzzbient]

Hit Forest again last night. Did get one pushing 15 inches and saw another slab on the flasher, but didn't hook up with that one.

Nice catch Castinski!!

[Chefd]

I have been on Forest every day for the past week or so and yesterday i was running my dogs out there and one of them came across a gut pile from a deer that was prob only two or three days old. On top of some shelters being broke into a week ago now we have some idiots poaching deer and leaving gut piles and blood on the ice??? Some people can take a great resource and ruin it for people who are conservationtists and avid outdoorsmen. Well now that is said i am trying to find someone from the area to fish Flake with if anybody is interested shoot me a message.

[Deitz Dittrich]

sad

[servocam]

sad

Yeah, me too. Won't get a chance to get out and will be in Chicago all week... had to go out and chip ice just to prevent the depression from sinking in

[Chefd]

there is place on manning trail down about a mile in half south of 97

[Red Miller]

Thats pretty blatant...was the game warden called?

[Chefd]

yep left message

[tunrevir]

Prior to this little cold snap I finally found a few walleye willing to bite in 16-18'. When looking into the stomach contents upon cleaning it appeared that they were eating fatheads, crappie minnows and one had a small crappie in its belly. The past 2 nights I haven't had any runs while trying fatheads, shiners and rainbow chubs. Maybe once the weather warms a bit they will commence to bite once again. Crappies have been hit and miss and have been finicky for me as well. Best presentation I found was a shrimpo with a waxie or a glow demon with a couple waxies.

Tunrevir~

[Fuzzbient]

I think I'm up to around 12 walleyes now in the past couple weeks in 8 to 12 fow, but of those, only two nice eaters around 15 inches. Lots of 12 inchers. They've been hitting on fatheads and rainbow chubs for me but the bigger chubs for the keepers. Caught a couple little 10 inchers Tonight so the DNR must have stocked last year. Those are the smallest I've seen so far.

It's not like fishing Rainy or LOTW, but it's fun to catch a few close to home!

[mnmuskie]

fished flake today 2-5 landed 7 crappie and 2 12 inch eyes. was in 32 fow on lake 3

[tnm27]

just got back, fishing was pretty moderate. seems like the fish like to shut off around 9 PM from the times that i've been out. Between my brothers and I (3 total) we caught about 30 crappies, but only brought home 15, five each to eat for tomorrow, released all the small ones and took home 8-11 inchers.

[H0LE HOPPER]

fished 5 lakes over the weekend. 1st west rush limited out over by crane all were over 9 ". Tried goose for the first time in the winter was horrible didnt mark any so moved to another lake near by and honestly caught about 80 crappies in an hour but no size except for 3. got off that lake b4 3 pm and hit fish lake got some nice gills and one really nice bass and 2 small northerns. And found some 13 inchers on tht lake but ill keep that spot to my self! The next day hit a private lake and caught our limit of northerns for 5 guys was a really productive weekend. Sorry the post is a little late computer wasnt working.

[Castinski]

Been out on forest a few times this past week. Fishing 15-18 fow breaklines on relatively steep drops from about 4-8 pm. Crappie action was steady all week. Main weapon was a small forage minnow, but had to switch between spikes, minnow heads, or whole crappie minnows at times. Lost a walleye at the hole at about 7pm wednesday while crappie fishing. Tried to target them the next night and never even marked one. Should have known better. Going out this afternoon, maybe the snow races with get 'em stirred up!

By the way, anyone have any walleye success stories from forest this year (more than one here one there). Maybe don't tell me so I don't get the itch to target them one last time.