2020 Lake Osakis Fishing Reports

[Nathansdad]

Any updates on the bite at Osakis? Going up in two weeks for a week long vacation to Lakeshore Resort.

[UKCM]

Crappies are everywhere. Not the monsters you can sometimes catch in front of LakeShore. But there are up to 9" crappies that are pretty thick across the back all over the lake. They fry up tasty.

This weekend I caught them on the south end. I caught them at half mile but also at another spot I had never fished. I literally drove over it and my depth finder lit up. We proceeded to catch crappies one after the other for ours. In the morning they were in 12 foot, in the afternoon 14-17 feet.

A couple of weeks previously I had similar luck on the north end , though it was in much deeper water 25 - 30 feet.

A halfway decent depthfinder that shows fish will let you know where they are at.

By the time you are there, you may be able to catch bigger ones right off the Lakeshore docks.

I have not spent a lot of time walleye fishing but when I have I have caught a lot of them under the slot. Others in this forum will be able to give you better advice on catching the keepers.

[Nathansdad]

Thanks for the help UKCM. Anyone have any info on the eyes or bluegills? Are the weeds dying back yet?

[Finlander]

Weeds have died do to algae bloom! Best to troll crankbaits with rattles in them to help the eye's locate them in the water now! Bluegills are biting on the rockpiles by Battle point.

Good Luck!

[firefish_12]

Was wondering if the sunfish and crappies are bring good still looking to bring the lil kids up on Sunday and need a starting point or 2!

Mostly catch and release maybe keep just a couple for a small meal

Thanks

[Finlander]

Sunday between my grandaughter, son, daughter-in-law, and me, we cleaned 50+ crappie and sunfish from Osakis! I caught most of mine on 1" Twister Tails on 1/32oz. jig, and crawlers! On the rock piles south of Battle point! 12-13' of water!

[Boji Guy]

Hey guys, New to the website. Heading up to Osakis for the Weekend of October 4th. Wondering if any can give me some advice for that time of year. Never have fished the lake before, been to Alexandria quite a few times but have never made it onto Osakis. Any info would be great! Thanks

[Boji Guy]

Hey guys heading up to osakis this next weekend the 3rd. Never been to the lake before and was wondering how this fishing has been recently and if you have any advice for me. Would like to get into te crappies northerns and eyes. Bring the parents and wife along and hoping to get them into some nice fish. Thanks for the help.

[mt1017]

Crappie bite has been good I've been trolling twister rail plastics in 12-20 fow mid day

[firefish_12]

Jig small jigs over the side of the boat in 12-16fow on tr north end for panfish simple as that

[sartellangler05]

How is the walleye bite? What's been working on the lake? Heading up there Monday, and Tuesday.

[sartellangler05]

Tight lips?! I know there are some people out on the lake still fishing. Just looking for a general idea of what people are using for presentations. I don't want to buy leeches, minnows, and crawlers. I know I will for sure get minnows for the slip bobber night bite, however are lindy spinners rigged with a crawler or leech better this time of year on Osakis.

[firefish_12]

I have not fished walleyes but heard it was slow

Mostly minnows on rigs/jigs

But b4 the rain/cold front the crappies and sunfish were going strong:)

North end of the lake

[sartellangler05]

Got out to the big O Monday morning around 8am. Fished the north end in the deep hole for walleyes with fatheads under slip bobber. Ended up catching limit of decent 10" crappies pretty quick. Decided to troll a spinner rig with a half crawler at various depths along the shore line from 8-20 ft of water. Didn't catch anything for two hours, until I landed a couple 2lb northern in about 14 ft. Went over to moon bar and trolled without any luck. After that buzzed over to the mid-lake flats infront of 4-mile bar and landed one small walleye under 15". Trolled all around this area in 17-35 ft with nothing else to show. Decided to finish the night off at 2 mile bar, caught one more small walleye under 15" trolling spinner with crawler. Last two hours fished off the reeds in 14 ft with minnow under slip bobber. Nothing. First time I've been skunked on Osakis in a long while. I have a feeling the 3 days of rain played a part in the slow bite.

[TheTuna]

Spotted first ice fisherman on Osakis this morning. Give it a few more days and I will be joining them.

[timjones]

Saw two guys out on Schultz's Bay today. One was about a third of the way out from Buck Point towards Battle Point. The other was out from the south end of the bay. There was also a person just west of the fishing pier at Battle Point.

[sartellangler05]

Sweet, looks like I'll be heading up Sunday morning for Mantheys

[clayton08]

I took the week off and am heading out tomorrow. I dont know about osakis but if anyone is going id tag along. Pm me if anyone else has an itch.

[timjones]

Sweet, looks like I'll be heading up Sunday morning for Mantheys

I was by there today. Two portables out. They must have gone on at either side of the access because the ice right at the access wasn't walkable. Don't know why, unless the wind is keeping it open right there for some reason.

[sartellangler05]

Hmm... not what I want to hear, being I will be walking out early am in the dark....lifejacket will be on :)Thanks for the heads up Retired!

[StrosLit31]

Retired can you tell me which access it was? Sand? Head of lakes? Or the one closer to holiday? I assume you weren't talking about battle since that is on the other side of lake. Thanks for any info....

[timjones]

Retired can you tell me which access it was? Sand? Head of lakes? Or the one closer to holiday? I assume you weren't talking about battle since that is on the other side of lake. Thanks for any info....

I was talking about the access at 145th Ave. It is the one on the northwest corner on Manthey's Bay (kind of where the road goes right onto the ice). The one at Falcon Drive by Holiday was still open water in that area Saturday but I haven't looked at it since then. Yesterday there were a few that walked out from the south side of Battle Point and five guys with three portables walked on from the little access in the northwest corner of Schultz's Bay. This morning an ATV pulling a small wheel house came on at that same access.

[sartellangler05]

Fished Osakis yesterday. Got there right at sunup fishing in Mantheys Bay for walleye. Only caught 1 16" in 15 ft of water for first 3 hrs of on a Chubby Darter. Switched to crappies for couple hrs. They are thick in the bay, with average size around 9". Took a few home for dinner. Decided to head out to Schultz bay around 2pm. Fished 20ft of water with a Lindy Rattlin Flyer and minnow head. Missed 2 fish at the hole in first 20 minutes. Got the next 4 through. 15", 17", 17' and 19". Caught a few bigger crappies mixed in. Saw something really cool on my way in after dark with my headlamp shinning. In 5 ft of water there was a 24"+ walleye right under the ice...gave me an idea to try fishing the spot after dark on my next adventure. Ice is 5-6" solid btw.

[walleyewess]

Heading up tomorrow morning with a buddy. Wondering what the ice condition is like and if head of lakes is letting anyone threw. Fished the lake twice. once going out of battle point the other head of lakes. Wondering witch one is best to go out of or any others that I should go to.

[sartellangler05]

We drove out on Battle, only 10 1/2 inches though, which is less than I would normally drive on. Waska had 15 so, we went out just by seeing other trucks out there. If you go out of battle be careful out near the plowed road to the white fish house. A bunch of water came up on the north side of that road and might have weakened the ice.

[timjones]

I was out doing some checking today in a few spots. Found a lot of slush in a few areas. Augered a hole in one slush spot to check the ice thickness where the slush was. Had just over 10 inches. But, when I pulled the auger out of the hole the ice was sagging so much from the weight on top that I had an 8 inch wide column of water coming up about 3-4 inches above the ice and started flooding that whole area. Decided to just leave it for a couple of days and let it refreeze now that I plowed the snow off. I was at Head of the Lakes Thursday and they haven't even taken their houses out yet. He said he has only been finding 7-11 inches towards his end of the bay.

[clayton08]

Fished on osakis on a tournament last weekend we found areas with as little as 8 inches not to far from head of the lakes there was a lot of slush in that spot. The fishing was pretty good as far as that goes first time out there for years and we did ok for not prefishing it. Be a good crappie class in a couple years I know that much.

[TheTuna]

Head of the Lakes Resort does have some roads plowed from resort to 145th access and got some of their fish houses out today. Finding 10+" of ice throughout north end of lake with a few areas of slush. Would think slush would be gone with cold weather, but with weight on ice think we will be finding it till ice increases even more. Be safe and good luck fishing.

[walleyewess]

Went through the access on the north end instead. Fished on the edge of the small city out there. One minute the fish would smash the bait the next they were very finicky. We drove out after we saw all the people that were also. As for ice we found 14 inches where we were.

[Luv2angle]

Anyone been out lately? Looking to make a trip this weekend possibly.

Any info is appreciated.

Thanks