Annandale-Buffalo-Hutchinson fishing reports

[BartmanMN]

I was on Beebe over the weekend. Water temp ranged from 64.5 to 66. The water was pretty green still which suprised me. Found some crappies in 17 ft.

[Avid Angler]

I gave the river a break and hit up a local lake yesterday. Worked a rocky point with a jig and minnow. Caught lots of chunky 10-11 inch crappies. Had two nice bass. A 15 and 17 inch. Also had a 16 inch walleye and 12.5 inch walleye. Nice and quiet on the lake with no one around. Just the way I like it.

Water temps were 49 degrees. Great time of the year to be a sportsman!

Avid

[hydro]

On Clearwater today, graphed lots of fish schooled up in the basins but they are mostly very small (3" -5") perch. Caught several walleyes in 18'-21' at the top of the breaks next to 30+' deep water, a little bit out from the weedline.

[workin4bait]

After a weekend of chasing a few roosters and spending time with family projects,I made it out to a lake Monday morning with my father. We met at the lake at 8:45 am to try a little walleye fishing and if that did not work out we were going to switch to panfish. We did not panfish,20 minutes into the morning dad hooked up with a decent pike and I followed up with a 19.5" walleye,so we stayed with a jig and minnow.We were off the water before noon,we boated 2 more walleyes[21.5" and 19"] and a decent sized crappie and also missed several fish. What a pleasent day to be on the water!!!

Workin'

[Avid Angler]

Took a half day of vacation on Tuesday and hit a local lake. What beautiful day out there. My dad and I boated 7 nice walleyes, 2 pike, 1 bass and 1 crappie in about 3 hours of fishing. Water temps are still around 50 degrees. Fishing was hot for about an hour and then got quiet later in the afternoon. Most fish were caught on jig and minnow. Four eyes were 15-16 inches. All looked like twins.

Fun time of year. I hope to get out this weekend with my boys.

Avid

[clKiekhafer]

I'm glad to see somebody is getting out to enjoy the lakes and weather. I have trouble launching my boat on the local lakes because the water is sooooo low. My boat sits over the top of the fenders and not between them so I can fit it into my garage which makes it difficult if not impossible to launch it when the water is this low.

[20lbSloughShark]

I had a great day fishing a clearwater today. It was raining pretty hard when my brother and I got out there, but cleared up as the day went on. Everything seemed to work today. The best fish came on spoons and suckers. We got a few bass in the mix as well as a nice one near 5 pounds, along with a ton of small northern's, the biggest being around 4 pounds.

We started out in a bay straight out from the bay club access. I caught a few northern on a firetiger spoon, then switched to a sucker rig and trolled it in about 15' of water when I got this guy; 19" and 4.5 pounds

Then we were at the south end of bungalo island and my brother got his first fish of the day.

I hit bottom with my motor going into the blackpool, but it was worth it. I anchored just outside of the river mouth and we both had suckers under bobbers in the current. We pulled in fish after fish. When we ran out of bait my brother took one cast with a spoon jack penny gave to me for my 18th bithday, and got the first fish on it (bite marks indicate jack penny got some on it before me).

Finally I decided to go, so I trolled our way out, and got this 24" pike near the exit of the blackpool in 30' (lure runs at 8' and fish were about 10-15' down). It was on my 6" firetiger jake.

I have a curse, being 6'5" and 280 pounds makes fish look small.

.

[fishersofmen]

Nice report! Looks like a fun day, I will be out there on Sunday.

[workin4bait]

Talked with my dad on Sunday to see if he wanted to repeat last Monday's fishing trip;same time and place. We met at 8:45 Monday morning and by 10:15 we boated 3 walleyes between 12 and 13 inches and 3 more between 19 and 20 inches. Then we tried a couple of different areas and only had 1 pike by 11:45 so we headed for home,so I could get some lunch and get to work on time.

Fished with a jig and minnow in water 12-15 feet deep.

Workin'

[workin4bait]

Went out in the waders on Saturday evening for 1.5 hours[need to dress warmer],1 walleye on the small side.

Went out Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours to a lake I never fished before,but heard of good reports for pike last fall.The first pike was pushing 10 pounds then I caught a few 2-3 pounders followed by 2 pike in the 5 pound range. All of them came while trolling[tried casting for awhile,but cold hands and baitcasters do not go well together].

Workin'

[workin4bait]

Five lakes in four days;

Started Friday evening met my dad at the boat landing and fished for 3 hours,not a bite[unless you count the cold fingers and toes].

Saturday morning I was on the water by 7:15,fished for 4+hours,4 walleyes and 1 smallmouth bass.I fished many spots and depths,but all my fish came from one area at depths from 22-25 feet[i hate fishing that deep too much of a chance of having dead fish]The biggest fish was only 11 inches.

Saturday afternoon back on the water by 3:30 and fished until 7.Fished 4 spots caught fish on 2 of them,had 8 perch and 3 walleyes[2@17" and 1@24"]. Fish were caught in 17 feet of water.

Sunday afternoon hit the water at 2 fished until 5:30,caught 2 walleyes @14" in water 11 feet deep.Fished 5 spots caught fish on only 1 of them.

Back out Monday morning with my dad,met up at 8:45 fished until 11:45,slow morning I had 1 perch and dad caught 1 perch,1 largemouth bass and 1 walleye@ 21" from water 10 foot deep.

All fish were caught on jig and minnow,but some fish were caught dragging it others on a slow lift and fall, and others still on a more aggressive jigging motion.

On a side note if people are going out the lakes are quite low and the prop wash piles from people powerloading are very hard on your[my]prop. In almost 30 years of being the boat operator I damaged my prop more this weekend than the rest of my time combined.

Workin'

[smalliehunter]

Was out on monday afternoon. Caught 4 small mouths including 2 over 20"... Was on my favorite large mouth lake on sunday and got the goose egg. The brand new landing sure was nice tho

[LMITOUT]

It's getting close to that time again!

This week I saw a large patch of ice on Marion and the lake/pond north of Brownton on highway 15 was completely iced over. The weather through next week doesn't look good for making ice, but the lakes appear to be ready as soon as we get a good shot of colder weather.

Please feel free to list your lake ice reports here.

[mnguy152]

nothing yet lol

[LMITOUT]

The temperature has cooled down a good ten degrees since this morning and next week's forecast is looking good.

[stewartfisherman]

by next weekend there should be enough for me to try it

[Avid Angler]

Kind of a bummer. I put the boat away yesterday for the winter. Was a good open water season for me. Caught lots of walleyes early in the season and lots late. In between was an excellent summer for panfish. I caught two bluegills over 10 inches around home, which totally shocked me. Both on lakes that get fished quite a bit. The crappie fishing was also very good.

I got my lakes scouted out for this winter. Should be good.

Fire up those augers!!

Avid

[c0untryf1sh3r]

It cant come soon enough. Didnt really get out as much over the summer as I had hoped but plan on making it up over the winter, if the weather can ever get straightened out.

[Ryan_V]

8 degrees this morning!

[LMITOUT]

Stahls and Jenny appear to be completely ice covered. Belle is wide open.

Need another week of nights like last night and we'd be in business.

[waterfowl101]

any ducks on belle? I would like to get one last shoot in

[LMITOUT]

Funny you should say that. I noticed some floating in the waves over on the west side where the lake is close to the highway.

[hydro]

Let's use this thread this year for any ice updates!

[Brad B]

Checked Birch, Ida, Eagle, & Maple(east access) today.

Birch :

completly capped over now but has clearly visible areas of thinner ice. at the shore line I broke through with the chisel after only 2 hits. I would say there was 1.5" on the shore.

Ida :

70% of the lake is still open water.

Eagle :

same as Ida, About 70% open yet.

Maple :

consistant looking ice out from the east access but is only 1.5" thick. 2 hits of the chisel and I was through.

Plan to check some of the lakes around Buffalo this week after work.

[trappingaddiction]

Fremont, Little Elk, Birch (Sherburne County), and Baxter yesterday- around 1-1.25 inch on each. All looked capped except for a few open spots on Birch. Little Elk had around 2 inches near shore, out 2 feet from shore was the same as the others 1-1.25 inch.

[JackPineGuy]

my cousin up in Nimrod near wadena has been ice fishing the past couple days

[Farley]

Yesterday afternoon Collinwood had ice from the south landing across to the park. Probably pretty close to completly froze over by now, not much wind last night.

[terrible_fisherman]

Clearwater is still mostly open unless you are very near the shoreline.

[eyebjim]

I checked dean on Saturday = 1 inch. Sunday 1.5. Tonight I'm betting on close to 3.

[jigginjim]

eyebjim, what are you using to measure th ice thickness? I have a ruler with a heavy nail. I haven't found it even that thick on the small ponds west of Pelican. They are only 8ft deep, I'm lookiing for some early ice that I can use my ice chisel. As I'm only one handed for another 4-6 weeks.