2020 Lake Osakis Fishing Reports

[Chad Peterson]

Osakis report: all I can say is gills up to 14 oz....shhhhh!

Nice going Jack, but if you want to keep it quit,.........maybe you should not tell!

Sniffer

[Jack Peterson]

ah, sniffer...i didn't mention that they are almost impossible to catch!

[Chad Peterson]

Tight lipped............I know how that goes.

Sniffer

[bigbucks]

Saw about a half dozen full size pick ups on Mantheys Bay today but none anywhere else. Rest is still just wheelers and snowmobiles.

There's usually a lot more ice there then the rest of the lake to start the year anyway. Makes sense it's so much smaller & locks up faster. Be careful there guys it can be pretty thick there right where the North access comes on & you go just West of the narrows there & it can get a lot thinner in a hurry.

[Finlander]

Mantheys bay does lock up with ice first, but just to the west of there the water is the deepest part of the lake (70')and is the last to freeze over.

There was 8" just in front of Holiday resort last weekend, so after the below zero weather there should be more. I'll call my brother who lives next to the lake and see if I can get the ice thickness from there.

[bigbucks]

exactly

[sartellangler05]

Fishin the lake on Wednesday!!! Can't wait!!! Going after those big perch

[pushbutton]

are you the original sartellangler? if so where have you been? if not welcome to the site.

[Mellonhead]

Fished Manthey's bay Saturday 12/18. 12" of Ice. Full size truck were driving on in the bay. I drove my full size 4 door with topper truck on.

People that drove on were all north of Caughern pt and the public access.

Fished gills 20 FOW in the bay in the afternoon. only a few 3" ers.

Fish in the channel between Caughern pt and the access 26 FOW for WEYE and Crappie 4-6:30. Nothing. It looked like mos people left shortly after dark, so I don't think much was happening?????

[sartellangler05]

I've had this name for a couple years, just havn't been on in a very long time. Can't wait to get my line wet after my last final on Tuesday.

[pushbutton]

well then.... congrats on getting done with the semester, and enjoy your break. good luck fishing and post your results .......good or bad!

[sartellangler05]

Made it out to Osakis last Wednesday, not until 10:30. Fished until dark. Landed fish in depths from 5-17 fow. Didn't catch as many as I did last March, but still a couple big ones in the area. Buddy and I left the lake with 14 jumbos. A couple were 11 1/2 inches and the other just shy of 12. Was surprized we didn't get any walleye action in the last hour and a half. Usually I ended up with 2-4 walleyes in this same area the last hour of daylight. Caught the two big perch on a size 5 Lindy Darter within 15 minutes of eachother, while I was jiggin for walleye!! They hit it hard and had me fooled until I got them up through the ice.

[sartellangler05]

I have pictures on my phone of the perch I caught last years late ice. Will try and get them posted. Did really well 4 consecutive times going out by myself, and once with my dad. Biggest was near 13 inches. Conservation Officer saw it and said was biggest he's seen come out of the lake.

[Chad Peterson]

I have pictures on my phone of the perch I caught last years late ice. Will try and get them posted. Did really well 4 consecutive times going out by myself, and once with my dad. Biggest was near 13 inches. Conservation Officer saw it and said was biggest he's seen come out of the lake.

Very nice, and Welcome to MF! Glad to have you here.

Sniffer

[Finlander]

New Years fishing been good to me!

Caught a 29 1/2" walleye sunday morning @ 6:10am waking me up trying to get a beauty rest!

Also @ 2:00am a 18" walleye woke me up!

Both caught on a bobber rod with a fatheat minnow on a plain #6 hook.

During the day only perch would bite, mostly small ones, but sorted enough to get 8 jumbo's which is rare for me as I usually give up on perch but do to the blizzard going on, I kept fishing for perch and caught enough for a good meal!

[Chad Peterson]

Nice walleye, a good start to the year.

Sniffer

[gmeabake]

Wow, that's a nice fish. Bet you had fun pullin' her up.

[Finlander]

Yup, it was fun pulling it in! Took over 5 minutes to get it to the hole.

Then with the gaff I tried to turn the head up thru the hole and when I did, it swam right up out of the hole and then under the house swimming around in the water above the ice so I just grabbed it by the tail and got it on the floor as it flopped around knocking things over!

Quite humerous! Too bad nobody was there with me to see it!

Here is another picture right after Igot it in!

[pushbutton]

wow, thats is a pig! happy new year finlander!

[Sportfish1850]

Nice fish Finlander, especially for Osakis. Anything that close to 30" is pretty rare on the Big-O relative to Mille Lacs or Rainy etc. She'll look great on the wall.

[Mellonhead]

Nice Fish!

How much ice is on the lake?

Are they driving on the whole lake?

How is it getting around out there?

I think I'm going to drive up tomorrow afternoon.

[Finlander]

There was 14" of clear ice last thursday evening. Then after the rain and snow making the lake one big slush pond, figure it added 6" when the slush froze.

They are driving all over the lake now!

[Finlander]

Was up there on Osakis last weekend and all the slush is frozen.

But after I moved my perm house to a different area where there was about 8" of snow on top the ice, the water came up out of the hole about 2 inches above the ice. I blocked the house on top of the snow and the blocking won't get froze in.

Almost need an extention for the auger as the bottom of the auger was just about on the floor when I drilled holes.

[Sportfish1850]

What do you guys up at Osakis think about the water levels for this coming spring. The lake seemed up a couple of feet by the end of the fall which made it more difficult for some resort owners to get their docks and lifts out. With all the snow we've had this winter will there be shore line flooding? I haven't been up since Thanksgiving so I don't know the snow depths around Osakis but if its typical of elsewhere in the state there will be a lot of water run off this spring so I'm expecting the spring to bring Oskais some above average lake levels.

[timjones]

We have a fair amount of snow on the ground right now. Enough that I think it will bring the lake up some in the spring, maybe a foot or so, but not much more than that. It will depend on how much early spring rain we get as to how much it will really come up.

[mnwild]

just wondering how the fishing has been recently?? I will be on the lake Friday afternoon and just wondering where the fish are biting.

[Chad Peterson]

I have not of any reports on the bite,but I am sure someone will let you know. Osakis is always good for sunfish this time of the year.

Sniffer

[Jack Peterson]

The bite is still decent. Managed 15 "nice" 3 to a pound gills and one 11 inch crappie the other day.

Nothing big like in in September or December, but decent sunfish.

[mnwild]

I know you dont want to tell where you are catching panfish but we are going to try out from Head of the Lake resort. We should be on the lake by 2pm friday so hopefully we can get some sunnies before it gets dark and some crappies when the sun goes down.

[timjones]

I know you dont want to tell where you are catching panfish but we are going to try out from Head of the Lake resort. We should be on the lake by 2pm friday so hopefully we can get some sunnies before it gets dark and some crappies when the sun goes down.

Good place to start. Manthey's Bay on that end of the lake is usually pretty decent for panfish.