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I am thinking about making a day trip up to the area and trying for some trout thru the ice and am wondering what lakes hold trout in the area? I happen to live in a county that doesnt allow trout fishing in the winter unless u are fishing lakers.

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  • Lee Lane

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  • bmc

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  • pikestabber

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Well let me list off the lakes that are within an hours drive of Grand Rapids that hold trout smile

Trout lake

Pokegama

Moonshine

Kramer

Bee Cee

Lucky

Bluewater

Caribou

Canisteo

Tioga

Taylor

Larue pit

Good luck!!

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Moonshine and Kramer are my two favorites, sometimes you'll get some decent fish there. I've never fished Caribou but one of my buddies does quite a bit and you're lucky to get a laker out of there bigger than 20".

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Rolllz have you fished taylor near hill city ive only fished it when it was open water on shore is it open in the winter

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Fished Bluewater yesterday with no results-Talked to afw others and it seems i wasn't the only one. Fished Caribou today with better luck-we caught 4 for 4 people but like mentioned earlier there was anythng to big. Quite afew people on the ice-but the weather was good and it beats sittin at home. Did anybody else do any troutin?

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Fished Friday, Saturday and this morning, not to bad of an opener. Caught 7 lakers so far this year and one 5lb rainbow.

No I have never fished Taylor its to far south for me I live north of town, to many lakes within 10 min of the house

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Hookset...do you drive trucks on Caribou? Wheelers? Walk? I have always wanted to try for Lakers, but not sure how to go about it... Mind sharing some info on depth and where from the main access you go out...how far, etc.? Thanks!

Anyone else have tips for Grand Rapids lakes?

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There were people spread out all around the lake on Caribou this weekend. I walked, but there were also sleds and ATVs. Looks like folks were keying in on the midlake humps and there were also some shoreline guys.

I marked some fish, thought a couple were going to commit, but no such luck. The great weather made up for the lack of fish.

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Don't think you can get an auto to the lake. Parking on the plowed part of the access road-but don't bottle it up so folks can't get turned around with trailers. Some people park on the opposite side of 38 where the lake comes to the road. That would probably be my choice if walkin out.

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What do you guys use, and how deep are you fishing? I understand you need to look over deep water for suspended fish, but do you use and airplane jig and a minnow? Are live minnows allowed on Caribou?

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Pike- i fish anywhere from 20 ft to 65ft. Minnows are ok but i use a piece of minnow on walleye spoons or a tube jig. Its kinda trial and error when fishin lakers. some folks use rapala's, spoons, bucktails, airplanes,- sometimes its what will work that day.

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I target about 20-50' of water. Live minnows are legal and I usually put a tip up out with a golden shiner or small sucker minnow about 3-5' off the bottom. The fish run about 2-4lbs, but I've heard there are bigger ones in there too. Also there's very few, but BIG gators in there. I wish the DNR would put ciscoes in there so the lakers had something to fatten up on.

Brian

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BMC--do you have any other tips for a "rookie"?

I.E., from the main access, what direction do you go to find the water you like to fish? Straight out until you hit that depth? Do you drill a lot of holes and move a lot, or stay put for awhile? I know most folks want the bigger, better deal, but even catching a 2-3 pound fish would be a thrill for me just to break into the trout world. Would a tube on an airplane jig plus a tip-up with a golden shiner be a fair way to start, then hole jump with the vexilar?

Thanks in advance.

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I live 15 minutes away from caribou and personally would not even waste my time unless you want smaller size lakers for the smoker. I like to eat smoked lake trout however I like to catch big ones also and all the times Ive fished the lake, Ive never caught one over 3 lbs heck ive never even seen big bands on my flasher to let me know they are atleast around. Thats not to say theres not big ones in there I just havent had much luck and it sounds like not many other people have either. A number of years back I seen a 20lb lake trout in the local paper that was supposedly caught on caribou but like I said that was a NUMBER of years ago and who knows if the fish was really caught there. I guess my 2 cents is fish trout or bluewater Ive caught many a decent laker over 10lbs out of both but as with any other laker body in Itasca county they are extremely clear and id recommend downsizing on the line from 10 or 12lb mono to 8 or 6lb florocarbon. I like 8lb fireline crystal with a 3ft 8lb trilene florocarbon leader...Ive caught lakers up to 20lbs on this setup and have confidence in it but its not foolproof make sure your drag is set;)

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I finally lost sight of my jig 36' below on Caribou, clear is an understatement.

bmc's description of how he fishes Caribou brought a smile to my face, that's exactly the tactics and depths I used last weekend. As for finding a place to fish there, search for others used holes. Everybody seemed to be keying in on the same areas, and guys were constantly moving.

I'm curious how the bite is on Trout this year, the DNR had terrible netting results last summer. The oxy and water temps were also way out of wack. I guess they planned on pulling all the study nets once they reached their goal of 50, they netted 2.

Next time up I'm going back to chasing streamers.

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Im also curious about trout....I have not fished the lake much the last 4 or 5 yrs because im way more into driving up to burntside to lake trout fish and when I did fish around here I fished bluewater because I could drive out. I was actually thinking on fishing trout tomorrow but I might fish blue because I know I wont get skunked out there.

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Pikestabber, find some structure DNR lake finder and punch a bunch of holes from shallow to deep. For the most part, I get to my favorite spot and hunker down.

Lee, I heard that the DNR was letting Big Trout go back to a bass/panfish/walleye lake. I think there are still some lakers in there, just few a far between? I call to Fisheries should definitely give you some answers.

Been to Burntside yet?

Brian

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Thanks, BMC...

Can anyone tell me how to get onto Bluewater? I couldn't tell from a map if there is a public access near the south end? Seems like that is the end of the lake with the most structure...

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There is no access on the south side of Bluewater and actually there is really no designated "public access" but In the Winter the Bible Camp on the north side of the lake is where you can get on. Parking is pretty limited there but I imagine they are driving on the lake by now or at least you can park on the lake.

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Thanks Brian, that kind of sux...I used to get some decent lakers and splake out of there . I dont know why the dnr would even consider doing that there is only a limited amount of lakes that can harbor a laker population and last time I checked minnesota has pleeeeeeeenty of walleye lakes! My bet is its all about the money (that they dont wanna spend). I been up to b-side a few times ...my brother lost a big fish had to have been 13 to 15 lbs atleast considering it peeled drag off his reel for over a minute...decent opener though between me my bro and wife we got 13 fish kept 5 for the smoker biggest was 29 inches. I got cut some hours from work so Im waiting on my tax returns so I can hit er hard. As for bluewater I drove my blazer out there seen a big fullsize pickup out there but id highly reccomend staying away from the west shoreline with a full size rig because there was half the ice as everywhere else "about 9 inches". How did you do bowhunting? I had a rough season passed on a basket rack 8 ...turned out to be the only buck I seen while actually in my treestand sets I have in a certain area. The frusterating part was I Jumped the big buck I was hunting 3 different times on my way in and out and very close to my setup but yet never laid eyes on the deer while actually in a tree:(

by the time gun season came I was ready for lakers anyway... people driving up and down in front of our house road hunting I had to pick up 3 bags of trash on the road because it was blowing all over my front yard and also had to go out and point out the very visable no treaspassing signs and holler at people .." no you cant shoot at deer in our field we have horses" It really set me off ! I ended up on here venting my frusterations and got the BOOT for awhile. O well hopefully next year my scouting will pay off If that old buck didnt die of old age or the wolves didnt get him.

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Bummer about bow season....hopefully the big guy will be waiting for you next fall. I got a nice basket racked 8ptr the 2nd night out, first week of October. Missed a cow of a doe the 1st sit of the year (morning), again first week of October. Spent the rest of October trying to get my daughter Amanda her 1st deer. It was FUN! We had a big doe at 6 yards one night....wrong side of the blind. She also passed up a couple of fawns one night at 10 yds. She ended up getting her 1st deer, a spike buck, with her rifle on opening night. She made a perfect shot at 50 yds and he was down within 20 yds. AWESOME!!!

My dad was too picky during bow season and ended up getting a 6ptr w/ his rifle. People started baiting/feeding in our area mid-October and the deer moved off our property. We were very happy to get what we did.

I'm gonna try to chase some lakers this week if the wind lays down. Blowing like a hurricane out there now!

Brian

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yep its wicked out....! I seen a monster of a buck one late oct nite after muskie fishin on deer lake right by yeour dads place and when i told him about it the next spring he said you missed probably the same deer back behind his place. hard to miss this deer big biiiiiiiiiig non typical!

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