Crescent Lake

[DAT]

Do any of you guys have experience on Crescent Lake. I am camping there next week and will have my boat. I am pretty much all catch and release. Might keep a few whitetips if were hungry, but usually just like fishing. I prefer not to hassle with live bait, but fish a LOT of plastics, jig n pigs, and rapala's. Let me know what might work best after I have figured the lake out a little.

As always.

Thanks!

[David L]

Was one of the two boats on crescent today---totally messed up my lower unit!!! I was only going about 5 mph when it went from 17 feet to 1.5 foot.... There is a lone rock out to the south of the access, but the rocl bar runs accross the whole lake.... Had 2 musky follows on a X rap, and caught about 6 smallies, tried eyes, no luck. Did have luck later in the night on another local lake including a 22 inch eye in 3.5 feet of water.

[JBMasterAngler]

Has a really nice campground. Definitely need to be careful on that lake...rock bars, boulders, points, sunken islands everywhere. My dad lost his lower unit out there a few years ago. Lot's of muskies in there. You'll usually get a few follows, maybe even catch 1 or 2. The bass fishing was kinda' slow this year, normally this lake is good for a 100 a day (some over 3 pounds). Water is pretty bog stained, so bright colors will do the trick.

[Surface Tension]

Welcome to HSO/FM DAT.

Nice campground if you get a lakeside site, otherwise you could end up in a much less desirable site and it'll be a bit of a walk to your boat.

Interesting fact, at one time it was the #1 lake in MN. for number of eyes per test net. Not any more and can be tough.

Lots of rocky structure there to work over with jigs. Tons of crayfish. If the wind is right, trolling the windblown shores. Some of which have a gradual taper with grass. Couple of bumps as you move out from the landing and before the reef that I like to hit.

[doinsumthin]

DAT - I am camping/fishing on Crescent next week too! Want to compare notes, etc? I am unable to PM you for some reason.

[jbell1981]

I will be camping there in 2 weeks. Let me know how you guys do.

[protrapper]

The walleye bite there is mostly at dusk to dark affair.

[H2O Milfoil]

Hey DAT,

I have hit Crescent a couple of times this year, most recently over the July 4th weekend. I did very well on the 'eyes and smallies. Most were small, 12-14" range. Talked to some folks who said they got "about a 19 incher" but I didn't see those fish. The muskie guys who said they had follows also 'fessed up that they were in the 24+" range. 30 to 36" don't seem to be common...this lake has the Shoepac strain of muskies and rarely do they hit 40". I talked to folks who fish the lake often and they said the bite was off and should be picking up.

Use the afternoon hours to scout out the rock reefs and humps. If you have a mapping GPS/sonar unit, drop a lot of trails and waypoints for safe travel after dark or at higher speeds.

Yes, there is a big rock exposed above the surface at the narrows between the east and west basins. However, there is a dirty nasty shoals about 12 - 18" deep just north of that rock. Scout it out, make sure your motor isn't locked down.

What worked for me was floating jig heads and leeches. I wind drifted and back trolled (slow enough to keep the rig on the bottom, sometimes using the motor to backtroll upwind to keep it slow), right across the deep water and worked up the sides of the humps. I used 1 ounce lindy-type sinkers about 36" ahead of the jig head. I got a whole lot of fish in 26-30', and again as I came up the sides of the humps to about 14'. If you prefer to fish shallow, I would use either 1/2 or 3/4 ounce lindy sinkers or, better yet, just crimp one or two split shot on your line.

The day bite was better for me than the twilight bite. I fished up until noon or maybe 11am. They bit really well the entire morning and these were sunny days; don't quit right after sunrise. I started up again about 5:30 or so.

Good luck and let us know how you do!

[DAT]

Well here is the report....

First prepare to battle mosquitos inland or near shore. Ultrathon lotion is my favorite. Our week consisted of rain/sleet almost everyday. Cloudy/Windy everyday. Big storm came through on Tuesday night. Thank goodness for the Cabelas Alaskan Guide Tent. Stays dry and handles the wind easy.

Fishing wasn't that good for us, but we were just figuring the lake out. Lots of smallies around the edges hitting mostly senko worms wacky rigged with no weights. Seems like you could pick up walleye's around most islands and points while drifting with the wind. We mostly used floating jig heads with leeches about three feet off the bottom. Lots of snags on rocks. Had some good follows with nice sized muskies, but nothing hit.

I saw other boats drifting back and forth over structure netting a few every other time or so.

Beautiful lake, good campground, just wish we would have had more stable weather.

Also went over to Sawbill. Talk with some people running the outfitters there. One of their guys has been going out every night and doing really well with walleyes after dark.

Thank you for the replys!

DAT