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I was going to head out tomorrow to see what I can pull out, and was wondering if anyone has heard what the 411 is. I'm gunna be out there for sunnies and crappies, along with maybe a few snakes if I can get em'. I heard that people are hitting the sunfish and crappies pretty good in the channel between 1st and 2nd. What are your thoughts? Also, hows the ice? I've seen alot of vehicles cruisin around, but is it good enough to drive on or still iffy? Thanks!

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  • tunrevir

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  • FLnick87

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  • Fuzzbient

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  • rellis

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I can't vouch for the fishing reports but there are pike hitting right now in the shallows including the narrows area and the sunfish there typically will bite during the day and crappies after dark. The ice where I was at out on forest last night was a solid 15" and possibly more. I drove a 1/2 ton out last night with minimal cracking along the way. I can't vouch for the travel between lakes as i haven't traversed any of those at this time. last night before the storm the fish were biting all afternoon and into the evening where I was at. I fished a break in 15-16' with shallower water nearby and was able to catch alot of crappies, 1 walleye and had one after dark that broke me off that felt like a walleye. You should be fine travelling into the narrows with your car at this time.

Tunrevir~

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Just got of th lake, drove my suberban out on second by willow the ice was about 15" a bit bumby in some spots, the truck was bouncing a bit!

good luck be safe!

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Do you think a mini-van would make it out on it? My Xover is in the Shop and taking the loaner (Ford Focus) out on the lake would pry not be good. Didn't chance it on Clear tonight, but saw another mini-van and several trucks out there, but is very rough. Are there some Ice was 13-15" on Clear.

I plan to take my 5yo out on Sunday on Flake for crappies/sunnies/anthing biting. I don't have a Flasher, so any suggestions on FOW and dept you have found the crappies at would be great.

If you see a Clam Command Post (6x12) on Sunday - that could be me.

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People are starting to drive around and across the lakes. Alot of traffic crossing the lake yesterday afternoon. Servocam, I think you could make it out with the minivan right now, the snow is hardpacked with minimal drifting and there are bound to be trails leading to the deeper holes. There are some rougher areas from wheelers and sleds from the earlier slush but you should be fine. The deep hole out on the south shore of second lake in 25-30' of water holds crappies that will bite all day(not much size but numbers). I have been finding a good weedline crappie bite in 15' of water right now during the early evening hours. Pike are hiting tipups in 6-15' in the narrows areas between lakes 1&2 and 2&3. Look in the 10-14' range for sunfish and mega amounts of tiny perch, also a good bet for pike on tipups.

Tunrevir~

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I checked ice thicknesses this morning in and around the contest area and found 14 to 17 inches of good clear ice topped with a layer of white ice ranging from 1 to 3 inches thick.

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Thank you Tunrevir. I'll try off 2-3. Neighbor is going to lend me camera (he never uses it anymore) and the other said I could use his flasher. Camera will be fun for my son.

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I was out hunting the pike this afternoon on Forest and was having fun watching the fish on the aqua-vu when all of a sudden a huge sturgeon swam by the cam. It was amazing to see it down on the bottom with the strange whiskered mouth hanging off the bottom of it's head. It had to be an old fish. It's been years since the sunrise flowed through Forest Lake bringing those old sturgeon through. It didn't seem at all interested in my sucker minnows.

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I wouldn't be surprised to see a sturgeon in there...although I highly doubt it came from the sunrise river...would've been pretty tough to get past the kost, north pool, and south pool dams. My guess is somebody, many many years ago caught it in the croix and decided to "stock" it into forest. But yeah, that'd definitely be neat to see on the cam.

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JB, there are remnant populations of Sturgeon in many of the lakes in the area from way back. I don't believe that they were "stocked" because they have been found in Flake, Comfort, Lindstrom, Green and South Center over the years. You don't hear of them caught very often and I don't believe there is a spawning population or you'd hear of them caught more often. If you look back in the FL times a large Sturgeon was found dead on Comfort in the eighties, a year or two ago a CO out on one of the Chisago lakes revived a large sturgeon found stunned on the surface which was reported in the outdoor news. These are some of the most recent stories I have seen. Prior to all the dams the Sunrise meandered freely through many of the lakes in the area. Cool sighting Fuzzbient! A rarity for sure, thanks for sharing!

Tunrevir~

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It would be cool to see someone haul a big old 5-6ft.sturgeon to the scales at FISHAPALOOZA wouldn't it?

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  • 2 months later...

Flake is now open and ready for the open water season. With the warming weather the panfish should go on the bite early this year. Look to the North sides of lakes 1-3 along the newly emerging milfoil for those early season fish. 10-12' as a starting point and work in shallower from there. The sand flats and also the muck bottom areas will all hold fish early. If you aren't successful in the 15' range then target the deeper holes and work extremely slow and you should be able to pick off a few fish. Good fishing out there!

Tunrevir~

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  • 1 month later...

Fishing this lake for the first time this weekend. Sounds like early morning is the best. Most likely fishing Lake 1. Any advice for finding a few walleyes? Thanks.

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Stop at Cub and see if their selling any in the freezer section! Seriously, I fish FL all the time, but it's beyond a struggle to catch eyes on this lake! If you have any luck, let me know how you did it as I've been failing for years now. Can catch crappies, sunnies, bass, muskies, etc...., but eyes have been few and very very far between!!

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The 18-24' depths have put out some fish usinf lindy rigs and leeches, the shallow weedline bite has started to pickup but you'll catch far more bass and pike then walleye right now. Early morning to about 10 has been best. Good luck!

Tunrevir~

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I have found them in the 14-17 ft range on jig/minnow combo. Look for weedlines and transition areas and move along them slowly in the morning and at dusk. It's not real fast action, but a couple per night is not out of the question. I have kept a couple for the fry pan and will note that they were full of those 4-5" perch.

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I have heard the bite has been decent in 22+ feet of water jig and worm.... Can't release spots though. Hope this helps.

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It used to be awesome walleye fishery back in 80s-90s till tunrevir fished the lake out. smile

Just kidding Randy!

but they are there just have to work much harder for them.

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Jig or rig and fathead slow drag on the bottom at sundown always works best for me. Find the transitions to deeper water.

During the day I find them weed bound in around 5 feet of water. I have seen them bite at around noon on a sunny day jigging in the weeds but you're lucky when you catch one during the day. You have to put up with a lot of pleasure boater traffic too.

Sunset can be an OK bite. I can usually tell if the walleye bite will be good by how hot the perch bite is in late afternoon. If the perch are feeding, you'll catch perch on every cast, then like a switch flipping, early evening the perch will shut down and it will be walleyes instead. Mostly little guys in the 12 to 15 inch range.

There are some bigger ones in there but 90% of what I catch are too small to keep for a meal. That's probably me doing something wrong though. I'm guessing there are guys that find the bigger fish taking a different approach. The biggest I've caught out of Forest is around 24 or 25 inches.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you are thinking about trying for muskies on Forest just a heads up for those that did'nt know. Saturday was the metro muskie tournament. I counted over 50 boat trailers at the ramp in town. I bet I could have run across boats in the channel and never got my feet wet! Just thought some would like 2 know. I know I would change plans if I knew there was a tourney on a lake the day before I got there.

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anyone had any luck with ski's on forest? been out for them three times this year so far and not a sighting.

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The muskies are active. Saw 2 and caught one this year. Try burning bucktails along the weedlines. The fish I made contact with were all in the 8-10' range.

Tunrevir~

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      kettle, anyone?????are you guys getting any rain worth while up  there?????
    • smurfy
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