Forest Lake Fishing Reports

[reinhard1]

that's not good news no matter how it happen. good luck.

[Castinski]

No, that's not good news. I've seen three out there this year floating since May. Makes you wonder how many get killed and don't float up to the surface. Water temps are/have been high. Don't take the fish out of the water unless it's absolutely necessary and for god's sake, don't let it flop around in the bottom of the boat/pontoon. See waaayyyy too many people throwing the big baits without any release tools out there.

[FLnick87]

Tunrevir- What kind of baits do you mainly throw? Always seems like your gettin a mixed bag of bass, northern, and muskie. Whatever your doing it seems to be workin. The lake has been pretty slow for my boat this year.

[OnAFly]

Was out there saturday morning. Pulled cranks along weed edges and got nothing. Went on top of the weeds mid morning and casted cranks, got one small northern. Left with not much to show for my time out.

GPS ended up running out of batteries and the structure doesn't seem to follow the shoreline in that lake at all. With how murky it was, I was trolling blind. Decided to head back and take a nap instead.

[tunrevir]

FLnick87, I can't give away all of my secrets but I'll give this to chew on. There are weed fish that see just about every type of monster muskie bait tossed at them and they may or may not commit. I tend to go undersized with a fast presentation and cover alot of water. This allows me to catch bass, pike and when the mood is right an occasional muskie. The bass and pike chase and usually will hit while the muskie will be muskie. Sometimes they follow, sometimes they smoke the bait and at other times you go out and just catch a few pike and bass. Right now the muskie are gearing up to go on a feed and small bucktails, spinner baits and even the bigger jerkbaits might trip their trigger. I have found that a small fleeing baitfish type lure seems to get the attention, part of that can be attributed to the fact that when you smoke a bait through and around cover , the baitfish and smaller pannies flee leaving a lone single bait dashing away which seems to trigger some of these big fish. I have had really pretty decent luck this year and years past hooking up consistently but you have to have the right setup and work it hard. I'd be remiss to say, that on many outings I never see a follow or hookup just like many other muskie anglers, that is fishing but I like to catch while I'm fishing as well. A side note, as these bigger fish go on the feed later in the month of August, they can be real succeptiable to lures trolled along the weedlines and over the basin at a good clip. The other thing to note is there are springs in the lake that can help concentrate the fish in an area. 3rd has the most, 1st has a few and I have yet to find but a couple on 2nd. Hope this helps.

Tunrevir~

[ole matty]

After fishin with tunrevir last fri... I was very impressed with what he throwing... Never ever in my Muskie min that I wld think of using the lure. He had one came up and tryin to eat his lure but Randy pulled bait out of water... I think he almost pee in his short........

[FLnick87]

great advice... I have heard people talk about these springs and the general areas some are in, but how do you find them? I'm guessing the graph will show a cooler temp but how much cooler? I would love to meet you sometime, I'm sure we have crossed paths on the lake in the winter and or summer since i fish it on average about 3 times a week. I fish out of a big tan fisher, and look like a 12 yr old

[tunrevir]

To find the springs you almost need a temp probe or submersible thermometer but higher quality graphs will pick up distinct temp changes on some of the larger springs. Surface temps aren't real reliable because the heavier colder water tends to stay near the bottom.

Thanks Matty for the vote of confidence but seeing is believing and that wasn't pee that was drool from watching that fish follow the bait in, just a wee early on the hookset

Tunrevir~

[FLnick87]

hmm...my aqua view has a thermometer on it...maybe that would be of some help... I did manage to boat one tonight. low 40's, but did not measure it or get a pic since I was by myself and wanted to get it back to the water.

[tunrevir]

Aquaview would work, I didn't think of that. Great job on the Ski!

Tunrevir~

[tunrevir]

I did a little wading last night on the lake and found some good fishing. I caught 4 hybrid sunfish in the 8- 10" range a nice perch at 10"'s a 16" walleye and a few smaller bass. I was wading in chest deep water and working a sandy flat onto the edge of a weedline with a twister tail and a small black tube jig. Nothing huge to report and I only got to fish for about 45 minutes but still was better then being at work! The walleye surprised me but I got it in an area that I used to get eyes as a kid. Anyone else been out? The skis should be putting on the feedbags soon!

Tunrevir~

[FLnick87]

been out a few times....still slow in my boat

[tunrevir]

I got out on Forest for a quick fish on Friday after work for an hour. Wading once again as I didn't have time to get the boat out. This time out it was quite a bit slower as far as fishing and the weeds were clogging up the surface. I noticed that there was a pretty heavy green film along the shallows where I have been fishing that i hadn't noticed up untill this week. I guess the dog days are here for a bit with all of this heat. Hopefully the rains and winds in the next week will cool temps a bit. I did get out for a bit and pull the kids tubing and used it as a quasi scouting trip and was marking alot of fish in the 12-15' depths so I may target those areas the next time I hit the water. Tightlines!

Tunrevir~

[FLnick87]

3 follows this morning...no takers but one active biggy that missed the bait boatside. lots of floating weeds and dirty water

[tunrevir]

Nice!, only a matter of time before they start jumping into your boat!

Tunrevir~

[Fisherman45]

Was out last night for a few hours fishing bass and had 2 ski's jump right over top of my zara on lake 1. I did manage 6 nice bass on whats left of the outer weed edges 8-12 feet of water with x-raps. Man the humidity was bad.

[FLnick87]

hopefully it happens on the 21st in the tourney!

[FLnick87]

was out last night but spent more time trying out old lures than serious fishing since the water temp was 85! gotta let things cool down a bit before making it out again

[Stringerless!]

My son and I were out today from 12:30-3:00. Nothing. Lakes 2 and 3.

[DWBPUN]

out from 2pm to 7pm hunting muskie and not a single sighting.8/14/10 half the time on lake 1 the other half on lake 3 somebody must have caught and ate them all lol

[tunrevir]

Welcome to the boards DWBPUN! The fishing has slowed a bit with the bathwater temps. I have had 2 follows but no hookups in the past week fishing 12' outside edge of some sparse weed cover. The bass and pike are still active in the cooler water down deep. I did surprisingly catch a 16" eye fishing 7 fow with a countdown rap the other day. Hopefully all of this rain will help cool things down a bit.

Tunrevir~

[DWBPUN]

we have boated 3 this year 1 was a buddies 2 were mine and put in many hours. i dont work for most of the summer, so i have been putting in lots of long days on forest. hopefully it will pick up and payoff this sat the 21st it wears you out fishing 12hr days with out a single sighting. fishing mostly cowgirls but have a little of almost everything. the only time i hooked into a pike is with a white buzz bait with grub tail in front of the apartments on 1st in about 6 ft of water. otherwise it seems the bottom of my boat is giving them a warning signal. lol i have a lakemaster map chip and have been staying in the 10,12,15 ft the water is extremly green maybe they cant see?? this is my first year fishing muskie with my own gear spent about $500 on lures $500 on 2 st croix rods $180 on a net i need a fish or im gonna cry lol

thanks for the welcome, tunrevir!

[ynnhoj]

Hey fellow bark throwers, I'm the new guy to the site, didn't get out this wknd, but going to spool up two new reels for the tourney this wknd at Mikes. I assume the water is still pretty dirty? alot of rec boats on forest all wknd. It's like waiting for christmas morning, waiting for saturday, see ya out there, johnny....

[tunrevir]

ynnhoj, welcome to the boards and good luck in the tourney this weekend! Should be a fun time for everyone involved as Rich runs a pretty good tourney!

Tunrevir~

[ole matty]

Out last fri fishin 2 spot realllyyy hard for 4-5 hours between sunset to midnight. Didn't see anything. Water was murkier than the last time i was there. Good luck this sat!!!

[FLnick87]

I will be hittin the lake tonight as well as the rest of the week tryin to get things figured for the tourney... but has been a mystery for me so far this year. the lake is green, warm and filled with floating weeds. hopefully this cooler weather wakes them up a bit. also only boated 3 this year

[DWBPUN]

Going out early in the morning with my nephew to do some hunting. I think its better to fish 10 spots 2 times each, then fishing 2 spots 10 times each. i would really like for my nephew to be able to hook into one. will see what he feels comfortable throwing. figur8them! they will come closer to the boat with the dirty, murky, stained water. good luck to all! happy hunting! see you out there!

[MidCoast]

I was out yesterday evening and I actually caught a 18 inch Walleye while I was targeting Bass and Pikes. Weird.

[DWBPUN]

OK we were out there from 7am to 1:15pm covered almost every bit of third lake and what i like to call the good half of 1st lake and "nothing" either somebody ate all of them haha or im doing something wrong.any one have any tips or help for me?

[FLnick87]

well where ever they are they were still there tonight. nothing as well