Lake Nokomis Fishing Reports

[jng]

Was out tonight in front of beach from 4 to 7 the kids caught 6 small sunnies. To a the A$$hle that was fishing in front of the landing when you drill a spear hole make sure you mark it when your done. You were 25 ft from a dam tree.!!!!!!!! LAZY.!!!!! Don't worry through I took care of it. There a big stick there.

[vern]

Why would someone spear on Nokomis? Not too many pike in there. Nice job marking it.

[merkman]

Don't worry through I took care of it. There a big stick there.

Thanks for taking care of it.

Also if you can, for the next time; please make sure to kindly let people know to mark their holes if they are leaving a hole unmarked.

It may have been someone just starting out and we don't want them to make the same mistake tomorrow or the next day.

[HuskerBen]

Why would someone spear on Nokomis? Not too many pike in there. Nice job marking it.

Exactly... There are very few, if any, northerns in Nokomis.

[fishroger]

when I lived in the city I use to get many slimers casting off the east side with a dare devil, so there in there. Thought you couldnt spear in a musky lake?

[kurtc84]

went out on saturday for about 3 hours, didnt get a bite and didnt see anyone catch a thing out there. plenty of ice though, it had to be at least 10 inches of clear black ice.

[half-dutch]

Park Board rules: "holes are limited to 10 inches in diameter." That would seem to preclude spearing holes.

However, the Park Board says that it leaves enforcement ON the ice to the DNR, and the DNR does not list Nokomis as a lake where spearing is banned. It would seem to be a bit difficult to put up a dark house where permanents are not allowed however. The way I read the rules you need to have a dark house spearing license for the structure to spear in.

BUT this whole thing is not clear.

To me it is very inconsiderate, even if legal to cut a spearing hole in a core metro lake that is used so heavily by all kinds of other people besides fishermen including lots of kids. Even a 10 inch hole is awful big, if there are small children involved, and there often are small children with strolling adults.

[merkman]

Thought you couldnt spear in a musky lake?

Killing a muskie via spear (intentionally or unintentionally) is illegal in all MN waters, except liberalized lakes.

It is a serious offense; penalties may include confiscation of equipment, heavy fines, jail time, and or a criminal record for the offender.

There are only 25+ lakes that have the redundant law of also banning darkhouse spearers from targeting northern pike on these lakes.

This ban makes no sense to me since the million plus anglers can target muskies on these lakes however the 17 thousand darkhouse spearers are not allowed to target northerns on these lakes.

With less than 3 speared muskie violations out of 114 muskie violations in the last 10 years, it is clear that darkhouse spearers are much less of a threat to the muskie populations than those who are allowed target muskies on these lakes.

The following is a partial list of muskie waters in the state of MN along with northern pike restrictions on those lakes.

Notice how many muskie lakes are open to darkhouse spearing with little to no issues on these lakes.

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubb...ung#Post2104548

IMHO, sportsmen banning sportsmen is never a good thing.

[merkman]

However, the Park Board says that it leaves enforcement ON the ice to the DNR

[Fly2day]

Anyone go out in the AM with any luck? Thinking im gonna try my luck there tomorrow morning...

[PierBridge]

Never heard of or have I seen anybody spearing on Nokomis.

What kind of house was he in. Are you talking the west-side beach?

[lekanoff]

Was out saturday, punched holes around the lake out to about 50 yards, most ice was 7", 2" of that was cloudy w/5" clear,(tape measure) don't let the ice fool you, there are bad spots this year where there was solid clear ice last year.

[jng]

west side right in front of landing.He was fishing tip ups and had a 6 by 8 frabill.He had 3 10" hole in a row.

[APCfishing]

3 10" hole in a row.

I dont think that constitutes a spear hole...chances are it was a musky poacher not a spear guy.

[Fly2day]

Was out fishing this morning straight out from the boat launch on the west side about 50 to 60 yrdsin about 12 FOW. Fished for about an hour and a half before work didnt catch a thing not even a bite...

There was a few others out, but did not get a chance to ask if they had any luck. Gonna try a different spot tomorrow.

[mnhunter17]

I was out on Nokomis today fishing for walleye. Didn't catch any eyes. Did catch three sunnies. 6-8 inches of ice.

[Fly2day]

mnhunter, what part of the lake were you on? I was out today and was skunked. Im gonna try tomorrow agian but looking for spots to try.

[mnhunter17]

Fly2day, I was near Minnehaha Creek.

[nwwisco23]

I plan to be out Monday morning - not sure how much mobility I'll have with the portable and new snow. I spent last winter fishing cedar when I was in the cities - is the boat landing on Nokomis the best place to start?

I'll be in the black/orange team wild 2-man if anyone wants to meet up. I'll likely be punching a bunch of holes looking for some type of structure.

How accurate is the DNR lakemap for Nokomis? http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/showmap.html?mapid=C0958

I know the cedar lake map is worthless for anything other than parking...

Thanks in advance,

Craig

[BassFisherman]

Was out today at 2 for an hour and caught about 15-20 sunnies. Little. Was out about 10 yrds from shore by the boat launch in about 17 fow.

[Fly2day]

Was out agian this morning set up by the cedar bridge in about 12 to 15 FOW, had a few bites but could not pull anything through the ice.

[PierBridge]

Thanks jng. Hard to say what he was doing with that type of set-up.

nwwisco23 the boat launch is a decent place to start from. You can park on the street and its not to far of walk to get going.

The map is not very good like most basic DNR maps.

To me, Nokomis in the winter is just an early tune-up/ test the gear out lake its shallow so it freezes earlier than the other City lakes. Not saying you cant catch fish but as far a winter angling goes I prefer Calhoun, Harriet or the Isles over Nokomis Catching wise.

Speasking of Calhoun and Harriet any body been out? Ice Conditions?

[nwwisco23]

PierBridge - thanks for the heads up, hopefully the snow doesn't set it back for harriet/calhoun a whole lot.

[erickol]

I have been out on Harriet just about every day past week and a half, was out tonight from 9:30-11:45p, did ok on crappies and a smaller walleye. Ice is very nice, on both north and south sides of lake. 4-9" good clear ice. I would still use caution though, and especially with this snow, there are still some thin spots that are now blanketed.

[ratherBfishing]

out on Harriet 12/26 from 2:00-5:30pm. 4 small perch and 3 small crappies and NO walleye! Out in 12-15' of water. Approx 5-6" inches of clear ice.

[nwwisco23]

was out on nokomis today - nothing doing until 3:00 when schools of 5" perch came through... saw a few crappies on the camera

planning on harriet tomorrow - any suggestions on parking, or can you just pull a portable out anywhere?

thanks

[crappiekiller77]

do you have to pay to park in those lots at nokomis in the winter?

[PierBridge]

Yes you need to pay or have the yearly parking pass sticker.

There is some limited on street parking for free but depending on which part of the lake you are parking on you can only park until 10 or 10:30 PM on the street. Not sure how heavily enforced the late night time parking limit is but you can be ticketed.

If you plan on fishing late you can park on Cedar avenue and walk across the field back to the boat launch area on the west side of the lake.. I usually do that in the summer when I'm fishing Nokomis late night just to be safe.

[ratherBfishing]

There is parking on the street available all around Harriet. The best spot I found was right across from south beach easiest to drag a portable onto the lake.

[Chode2235]

How is the slush and snow for pulling out a porty? Thanks.