2020 Lake Osakis Fishing Reports

[timjones]

Don't know about Little Osakis. I may swing by there tomorrow.

[timjones]

Took a drive around the lake a little bit ago. Little Osakis is wide open. Osakis is basically open. The ice that was still on the south end this morning all blew into the south shore by town when the wind came up. There is ice by town extending out about 200 or so feet from shore but it is mostly broken up pieces. With this wind today and chance of rain tonight I would expect that to be gone by tomorrow. I saw other small chunks hung up in the cattails here and there but that was it.

[pushbutton]

thanks for the updates!!!

[Boss Hawg]

This weekend I was talking with a guy said they stocked last fall 3700 Walleye fingerlings

The Osakis lake association runs a raffle all summer long. They sold 800 tickets at $10

Wow I would of thought twice that amount would have been sold

He told me that some of the resorts sell some but some don’t sell any NONE.

How’s that business plan working? And get this even the club that runs the local tournament does not sell any ether

I looked over at my wife and said write him a check for $200. That should take care of my family share for last year and then some

The stocking and the 15 inch minimum has made that lake on of the best in the area

We need to keep the stocking going what do you think?

[Finlander]

Definetly keep the stocking plan going and try to get all of the raffle tickets sold. Most people just don't care!

Those people who come to Osakis to catch those 12" walleyes in 50+ feet of water only to release them and die do to getting the bends from deep water

should be charged for abusing the resource $10 a walleye when that happens.

[timjones]

I agree with both of you. Keep stocking the fingerlings and keep the 15 inch minimum. And stop fishing the deep water. There are plenty of keeper walleyes else where in the lake. By the way the raffle tickets were only $5. That bought them 200 pounds of walleye fingerlings which comes out to about 3700 fish. I believe the experimental 15 inch minimum was scheduled to end this season but the DNR extended it another 4 years.

[crappiekid]

I am curious; does the local sportsmans club contribute?

[pushbutton]

all i know is that i fish the lake a couple weeks out of the year and drop at least 2 grand into the local economy via resort, food, booze, ect.... as well as buying 50 bucks worth of tickets to support the stocking of fingerlings. don't know wether it is the fingerlings, 15 inch slot, or a few good years of natural reproduction, but the lake has certainly been on the rebound. i think it is rather disappointing that so few tickets were sold to support such a wonderful resource, similarly just marvel at the idiocy of the flotilla of boats sitting over 60 feet of water and pulling up 12 incher after 13 incher. have caught personal best as well as countless number of large eyes in water as shallow as 2 ft.

[Finlander]

Your are correct sir!

Osakis has a great shallow water bite and most of the walleyes shallow are over the 15" size limit!

Those people out there in the deep water don't know how to catch shallow water eye's, they sit threre in the deep water with there slip bobbers drowning a leech and let the hook go down into there gullet before they set the hook. I watched them do this as I would work the breakline not to far from them. I saw alot of walleyes in the pencil reeds that had not grown above the water that are going after the million of minnows there.

So if any of you deep sea cigar walleye catchers are reading this, get a clue!

[Finlander]

Was going to Mille Lacs but that fell thru!

So what are your predictions for Osakis walleye bite?

[singer17]

In addition to the stocking I think it would be helpful if they put up signs at the accesses informing people the effects of deep water fishing. I think that most people fishing that deep just don't know they are killing so many walleyes. Maybe even some signs at the bait shops/resorts as well.

[creepworm]

Thsi will be my first open water fishing trip to Osakis. Is it usually busy. I am thinkin Moon bar and places like that will be covered with boats.

[Finlander]

Find the pencil reeds that havn't emerged yet in 6-7' of water and slip bobber a leech just on the outside edges of the reeds and see what happens!

[JIvers]

Just thought I'd weigh in to give my $.02. I've been fishing walleye on Osakis for over twenty-five years, usually for a week or two each summer.

Yes, the walleye fishery is better than it was ten or twenty years ago--no question in my mind. My hunch is that better walleye fishing is due more to the 15" minimum and maybe some good spawns than to increased stocking (Osakis was heavily stocked with walleye fry long before the 15" minimum went in to effect), but that is only a guess.

Anyhow, I remember the bad old days when there was no size limit on walleye in Osakis, and people would sit out in 30'+ of water and catch cigars all day long. The people who kept the first six 10" walleye they caught did less harm than those who would release dinks all day, as many of those fish could not handle the pressure change and went to feed the gulls and grebes.

Most people have figured out that the bigger walleye on Osakis are shallow; I myself see few boats sitting out over the deep water catching sub-legal fish. I suspect those people who still fish deep water for walleye do not know the lake well, and once they figure it out they stop fishing the depths for cigars.

[alaskadreamin]

Been fihing Osakis since '73, many years......I agree the 15 inch minimum should remain.....that is huge in the recovery of the lake...but we noticed a direct change when the DNR stopped stripping the eye's...they always said they returned more than were taken out...but you cannot convince me of that....

the next issue this lake faces are the number of pelicans and cormorants on the lake, raising caine with the panfish and baitfish populations...getting out of hand....if the DNR doesn't do something....we will need to take action to "solve" this one ourselves......

But last year was one of the best eye years I have seen since the late 70's.

[Sportfish1850]

So how was opener on Osakis ? I'm not able to start my spring/summer fishing season for 2 more weeks due to other commitments but would love to hear how things went this weekend.

[creepworm]

Could not buy a bite during the day, however, did very well in shallow water with crankbaits at evening/dark.

[fishhuntwork]

All I caught were slot fish, not one eater!!!

[pushbutton]

what was the water temp?

[bigfishin21]

So are there any updates from Lake Osakis? I am coming up there this weekend and just wondering what side of the lake to fish on and approximate depth to fish for walleyes. Thanks for your input...

[bigbucks]

Tourney in a week & a half, I'd expect people won't say much.

[Finlander]

Try Lunker Plunkers in the lily pads!LOL

Shad raps in the shallows 7-9'!

[tritonman]

Speaking of Osakis, does that lake just not have a lot of bass in it or what?

[Finlander]

There are quite a few bass in Osakis! even caught a smallmouth trolling for walleyes!

[bigbucks]

It does have quite a few bass in it, but they don't seemed to be mixed with the walleyes as much as a lot of lakes. Most of the bass I've caught fishing walleyes on that lake have been deeper & were smallies. I do fish shallow a lot, but don't catch them that often there.

[JIvers]

Good numbers of largemouth in Osakis, and smallmouth as well.

The largemouth stick pretty close to the pencil reeds. The smallmouth of course use the rocky areas, but I have also caught smallies on the deep weedlines and shallow flats at night while fishing for walleye.

My own perception is that the smallmouth population is growing in Osakis, judging by the increased numbers I've been seeing and catching the last three years or so.

[tritonman]

Well I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow!

[Lady_Angler]

The walleye fishing has picked up this week, water temp is still a little cool, but had great luck this weekend on Johnson's Bar. Caught fish from 16-26 ft. They are pretty spreadout but active. Caught a lot of fish but about 1 in 4 were above the slot. Sunnies are still staging to spawn, actively looked for beds this weekend but did not see any. Hoping next weekend we will find them on their beds.

Good fishing!

[skeeterpro1]

Triton man how'd you do thinking about giving it a try for bass never been out there before

[tritonman]

It actually wasn't to bad! Caught a bunch of fish, most were small but had one that went 4.8. I didn't cover very much of the lake either. Didn't realize how big it actually is!