Nest Lake Fishing Reports

[Fisherbyname]

Has anyone been by the bay off Hwy. 23 or around the lake? Curious to know how the melt is going. Have a cabin on the lake and looking to come up soon for some spring crappie!

[eyehead]

The bay along 23 still has some ice on it along with the main lake. I would bet by this weekend the bay should be wide open though.

[Fisherbyname]

Thanks for the reply eyehead. Looks like I will be coming up as planned next weekend.

[Musky hunter 82]

I was out there last Saturday and most of theice is off on the Green lake side of hwy.23, and most of the bay right off hwy.23. It's also all clear out to the first point after the walking bridge. I did cast a little, but more to get the rust out of my arms, than to catch fish. good luck if you go out there, with the wind we had on Sunday there shouldn't be too much ice left.

[Fisherbyname]

Thanks Musky hunter. My trip up is looking more promising with every post!

[ranger20]

the bay is good to go but the fish are not in there yet,we have a cabin across from the girl scout ranch,yesterday we took a duck boat from shore and got on to the ice and fish in front on the girl scouts place and did great so the fish are starting to move in to the bay i think it will not be good till next weekend just my thoughts

[LakeDocktor]

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[basssmasher*]

As far as that bay,I drove by it yesterday and it wasnt totally open and usually takes a good week or 2 after it opens for the fish to move into it. just MY 2 cents worth

[Musky hunter 82]

How is Nest looking? anyone been out there this week? I would think that with all of the nice weather most lakes should be open if not really soon.

[Musky hunter 82]

How did you do up there last weekend? was it worth the trip up?

[Fisherbyname]

Musky Hunter if that question was for me, I hadn't planned on going up till this coming weekend. That is if the lake is completly open, which I have a feeling it will be with temps in the 60's all week.

[Musky hunter 82]

I might be out there on Saturday, 14' lund with hunter green paint, and a 15hp. johnson.

[walleyeking#8]

Was out in the boat on nest this past Saturday...main lake was full of ice yet...was hopin to get out in front of the girl scout camp but way to much ice..fished a little on the main lake out from the walking bridge with no success....we ended the day on point lake which was mostly ice yet...but managed to get the boat in there and have a good afternoon and early evening catching sunnies...majority of them were small but managed a few big enough for the fry pan.

[angler903]

so there are decent sunfish in there. no matter what i use it's small sunfish at all depths. nice to hear about point. I do catch northerns and bass out there though.

[ranger20]

does any 1 know if the bay is giving up fish yet

[angler903]

lot of little sunfish and few crappies

[ranger20]

are th crappies getting any bigger i fish in the winter and all you get is 7inches,i know the bay used to produce some nice fish

[pushbutton]

no, fished yesterday and only caught a couple over 9. have heard about this before but finally got to see boat after boat keeping 6 inch crappies and 5 inch sunnies. then, all the people that keep tiny fish must be telopathically connected because boats just kept showing up all getting there bounty of potato chip sized filets. truly amazing. i suppose if you drop 30 g's on a boat you have to come home with something.

[peerchking]

I must not be CONNECTED.I own a nice boat but I dont always bring home fish. huh

[ranger20]

i wish them people would stay home all there doing is makeing the lake no good witch nest has already become that way we used to get so nice fish out of there

[walleyeking#8]

I fished the main lake quite a few times last season and caught plenty of nice sunfish and crappies......the crazy thing was i wasn't fishing for sunfish or crappies.....happen to be fishing walleyes and came across them in 20-23 feet of water....really nice sunfish to say the least...Nest lake is loaded with panfish.....more than a person thinks...i don't think keeping the small fish is going to hurt as much as if they were keeping all the bigger ones....i guess after a few days on the water things will tell whether or not its hurting the fishing. Just my opinion.

[meatfish]

a couple things that I have found is that I can not fish with the lemmings or fish memories(every year is different).Sure there are spots that will almost always give up fish and when someone says they are pounding fish I do not jump in my boat and fallow cause 9 out of 10 times they are pounding these potato chip size pan fish.On nest I like to troll with a pink or black jig head and a white twister tail this time of year while watching the graph in familiar areas.When I find a spot and switch to bobber, I almost always start with the smallest minnow in the bucket(that is where it all starts)When I fish evening crappie around here it seems like I am showing up when folks are leaving.And morning crappie I am done when they start to show up.I myself like to keep a couple decent ones,throw back the pigs and it does not bother me that much to see people keep limits of little ones there are plenty,but if I see people double dip I have the CO Jeff on speed dial cause that is not cool with me!For crappie and the upcoming walleye opener this weekend my money is on finding running water at sundown and fishing from shore.I will most likely be casting either a white jig and a shinner or a silverish rap of some sort.There is spots on nest that get way under fished.Good luck to all!

[ranger20]

nest was a good walleye lake i remember about 7years ago on opener between 7 of us we caught 80 plus we have fished there for 30 years and never saw that,even use to be able to cast raps in the trap but now there so much run off thats is full of weeds befor the ice comes of,i dont know but i think they need to do someting with the walleyes pop in that lake we dot even leave the boat tied up to the dock because we know we will be fishing somewhere else

[pushbutton]

peerchking, wasnt trying to offend nice boat owners, if i had the coin i would buy one also. just was trying to add humor, need to learn how to put the smiley face thing on. walleye king, you may also be right about harvesting smaller fish. just didnt appear the people keeping the fish were doing it for conservation efforts. it looked to me more like the "lemmings running". problem is that if it does help the population than it would get fished back down by the same heard mentality.

[peerchking]

none taken, I just stated that I don't always catch fish The boat does it part any way good luck this weekend I haven't decided where I'm going yet (nest,long,ringo,diamond,henderson)Depends on winds,temp,wife. again goog luck to all!!

[DARK30]

"nest,long,ringo,diamond,henderson"....Ya forgot one

Just gettin ready to head west from Belle Plaine and hook up with the boys. Just got a couple morel spots to hit on the way. Looks like its gonna get chilly tonight.

I remember fishing Nest with my Dad's uncle from Willmar. We got into some nice crappies and I'll never forget how concerned he was about hiding the fact.

Anyway, good luck everybody

[ranger20]

was out on nest on thur and we did get a few nice walleye biggest 24 havent seen one like thay come out in a few years

[ugly stick]

Will be spending the week after the 4th up on nest lake. Just wondering if anyone has any current reports of nest or any of the other lakes in the area. Just general reports are fine not looking for anyones gps coordinates. Thanks in advance!!

[ranger20]

nest is very slow for walleye its been that way for the last 3-4 years we did get a few but far in between,if you like pannies you will find plenty of them on the north side of the lake,and there is a a ton of nice sized pike and even a few muskies

[ugly stick]

Thanks for the info. Do you know why walleye numbers are down??