Annandale-Buffalo-Hutchinson fishing reports

[jigginjim]

I talked with a few old time locals the said it's not springs but the size and depth of the lake. It does freeze over like others. Always some moving water due to winds during the freeze up. It keeps water moving up from the 80plus ft. Try using the under temp gage, I have for over 10 yrs have yet to find a spring. If you can point out where the springs are I would really like to bring my temp gage out to see.

[pikerliker]

I was thinking of trying sardines, on a tip-up. hooks would come out of bait easy, there would be lots of sent for the fish to find it. Plus you can eat them yourself if you get hungry.

lol I like your idea jim! A bait I can eat!

[walleyeking19]

I talked with a few old time locals the said it's not springs but the size and depth of the lake. It does freeze over like others. Always some moving water due to winds during the freeze up. It keeps water moving up from the 80plus ft. Try using the under temp gage, I have for over 10 yrs have yet to find a spring. If you can point out where the springs are I would really like to bring my temp gage out to see.

Here's a pic I took on Xmas day in front of my parents house on the west side of the lake. We could see it bubbling and water moving from the shore. Most years that area is wet and slushy, but this is the first time i've ever seen open water when everything else is frozen. PM and I can tell you which house it was by if you wanna look at it.

[milkingman]

I use the lake quite a bit. You wouldn't mind saying how far off shore this is? Just don't need to ever run over it. Thanks.

[walleyeking19]

Milkingman, that was anout 15 feet from shore. So if you stay away from the shoreline you should be just fine

[milkingman]

That's what I kinda thought it might be pretty close to shore. Thanks for the info

[sartellangler05]

Took on the temps yesterday and hit north end of Maple Lake. Fished in 16 ft of water and caught small sunfish all day. Kept a couple 7 inchers for frying pan. Caught on dandy at 9 1/4 inches. Crappies were all last springs hatch. Small.

[Avid Angler]

Is it just me or is the local bite just terrible lately??? I am sure there are some guys catching a few fish, but it seems very spotty.

[BuckSutherland]

Is it just me or is the local bite just terrible lately??? I am sure there are some guys catching a few fish, but it seems very spotty.

I took the kids to eagle by norwood and slaughtered the 6-7 inch crappies. If you hold them up to the light you can see through them. Havent gotten any bigger in 5 years. The local lakes all suffer from one common theme. Overharvest and stunted fish. Nothing like seeing close to 500 houses on Swan lake to catch 9" crappies, or close to 300 on little tiny brooks lake a few years ago. It takes years to grow a decent crop of fish, and usually in a couple weeks angler decimate the population. That's what is wrong with our lakes.

[harvey lee]

High Island was doing fantastic for about 2-3 weeks. The last few weeks, after the big group of close to 200 plus houses left, the bite went way down.

Last trip out there, I spent all day Saturday, saturday night and Sunday morning and never got 1 bite.

Before that, a eye every 15-20 minutes, day or night. The bite has slowed to almost nothing. I am sure there were ton's of fish being taken out while they were hot.

Smallest eye I iced was 13 and the larget went a tad over 16. Average fish for me was approx 14.5 inches. I also heard of some 8" crappie being iced on the south end and 1 pike.

I was fishing from 4-5.5 fow. I know some were getting fish in 3fow with 16 inches of that being ice.

Either the remaining fish found a new hiding spot or the amount taken hurt the population, I am going with the majority of the fish were already iced.

The deepest hole I found on High Island is se of the east end of the island just off the landing. I was told there are springs out in that area and when some were fishing on 8 inches of ice, that spring area was still open. Just a bit over4 8fow water there. I saw some house and people on ft in that area but not a fish iced when I was there. I fished that area but was in 5-6fow and was getting eyes until the past few weeks. Caution for sure in that area.

As far as gill's and crappie, I am having one of my best years evet for size and quantity so far. This past weekend was awesome for eyes, and gills but tough on the crappie but I only looked for the crappie for about 1.5 hours or so.

[workin4bait]

I went out from mid-night to 8 am on Saturday and caught 3 crappies and 3 sunfish.,the size was not too bad,but the bite was too slow for my liking.

Sunday afternoon I caught 8 tiny sunfish and 3 walleyes. Two of the walleyes were 11 inchers and went back to grow[i did see others keeping those little guys,what a shame].The other walleye was a 20 incher that bit on a crappie jig with a gulp minnow fry for bait,a fun battle on 4 pound test and light rod.

workin'

[workin4bait]

I went out Friday at 11:30 am and fish until 5pm. The fish seemed to come through in schools and when they were gone I hole hopped to find them again. I caught almost all crappies in one hole and almost all the better sized sunfish came out of a different hole[fished out of at least 10 different holes].Most of the fish stayed tight to the bottom,but a couple of schools came through 3 feet up and those fish were much more active.

workin'

[itstolemybait]

Wondering how the bite is on maple lake? Want to catch a few northern and some descent crappies, just wondering if maple is worth the thought or go to a different lake... thoughts please

[itstolemybait]

Wondering how the bite is on maple lake? Want to catch a few northern and some descent crappies, just wondering if maple is worth the thought or go to a different lake... thoughts please

[BartmanMN]

Can't help with the bite, but there are a ton of houses just out from the launch still.

[hillbilly...]

Has any one been to high island in last couple weeks havent been there since december when every one said they were catching limits of them i sat there for 24 hours and caught 2 and 4 misses

[Slab_Supper]

High Island is experiencing winterkill.

[hillbilly...]

that's why I askd then maybe id be able to catch a walleye outa it.. good thing dnr stockd all them walleyes in a 7 foot deep lake.

[Avid Angler]

It was used for rearing pond purposes. The DNR actually prefers that the shallow ponds winterkill. It gives them the best chance at success for using it again for rearing walleye fingerlings again.

They knew it would winterkill. They will stock it again if they think the kill was bad enough.

The cool thing is, High Island is so big that it will never 100% winterkill. There will be survivors and big walleyes will be caught out there in years to come.

I think the Lake Association should put fry in it every other year. I believe it is only $9 per 1000 fry. Put a 1,000,000 fry in every other year. Fund raisers would do it. The people would support it. So many people had a blast out there this winter catching those fish.

[huskie0302]

Anyone direct me on a lake we could hit a few bass on flags? All catch and release. You can pm me too. I will even trade spots if you would like.

[rodbender27]

Anyone know if there are any roads plowed on collinwood or stella good enough to drive a reasonably good distance from the access? Also wondering how the bite has been out there. Any info would be appreciated.

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

Got out today on a lake I usually wait until late ice to hit, but couldn't wait anymore. I thought the fish wouldn't be any where near where they hang out late ice, but they were not too far away, about 200 feet down the shoreline. Too bad I didn't try there first. Popped holes on a handful of other spots and racked up 100 holes drilled by the days end, which usually isn't that bad but through 30 inches of ice its not so nice. Finally found the gills in 10-11 fow close to there late ice location. There were lots of fish over quite a large area, but not one hole would produce much more than 2-3 fish. They were very tough to make commit today, I caught my fair share, but I can't remember a nice day like this when the fish bit so light. You needed to pay close attention to the rod tip and the line. Anything out of the ordinary you should set the hook. I've never caught so many gills by the skin of their lips before. The effort was worth it though as I caught many gills that looked quite similar to this one.

Also got this 19.5" Bass. Extremely good fight with an ultra light and 2lb line.

[Naturboy]

Well I went out yesterday and with the camera it was like fishing in an aquarium. It started out with quite few rock bass, they were pretty hungry and a lot of fun. It seemed like the game of "keep away" was on. A small white Diamond Jig and euro larva was my ticket for the day in about 8 feet of water. The pictures tell the rest of the storie.

[mattpaumen]

Sounds like a fun day was had! Nice work!

[JeremyCampbell]

Pretty cool Nature.That's amazing!

[trebormorgan]

http://youtu.be/_nK6cwte1Ks

[20lbSloughShark]

Is that a bass I see lurking around in those pictures?

[Naturboy]

That was something I was supprised with is that there seemed to always bass and northerns in the cameras view.

[Tom Sawyer]

That spot looks very familiar Thanks for drilling those holes out, saved me from hauling in the auger. Glad to see you got on um'. Same size was there today, left early to get over to a better spot for size.

Stay tuned to see what we found in another decent spot on the lake today.

[Rick G]

Ok, will post it here too, being we were on Clearwater and all

Youngest member of our group scored a nice out of season fish

A few quick phots and back she went