elk river Cambridge-Elk River-Foley-Milaca-Mora Fishing Reports

[Marshall]

I hit Green and Spec yesterday. Was on spec first, water temp in the shallow was almost hitting 60. Was on there for about 1.5 hours and didn't watch anyone boat a fish.. I was on the same end as that also. Tried shallow then tried deep weedlines with no success. Decided to load up the boat and head to Green. Tried shallow on the south side of Green with no luck. Was a few other boats on that side also and didn't see anything being reeled in. Tried the west side in shallow under some overhanging trees with no bits.. Slowly trolled the west side to the north casting shallow and deep with no takers. Fished the north end for a little while. Watched one boat pull in a Crappie. Was a nice day to be out, and was able to check out my electronics and play around in the new boat. Water temp for the most part on Green was 54-56.

[th64]

Slow for me too-small sunnies only.

[monstermoose78]

I have not been out, but I heard lori lake was doing ok for crappies and gills.

[Marshall]

Wanted to know if people think the crappies will have moved back into the shallows this week or do you think they are done with the move? After a nice sunny week sure would like to think they will move back in.

[monstermoose78]

I would say yes but it depends on the water temps. Evening are going to be better.

[monstermoose78]

My sister was out fishing yesterday. She put the smack down on the bass. She also told me it was waste to buy crappie minnows, because all she caught was bass on them. They used some wax worms and caught some keeper gills. They were on Lori Lake my guess would be on the north end, because that is where I told her to fish. I head Skogman lake is doing pretty good. The guy I know on Knife is having a blast with gills and crappies. That is all I know for now Good Luck

[Juan Grande]

I fished Blue this weekend and it was tough. Seems logical that the fish would be up in Little Blue. It's on the north side of the lake and the water was 2 degrees warmer in there, but we just didn't see much. I don't think it has the right bottom content for crappies to spawn. Caught a few crappies and sunnies near the resort docks. Most of them were tight to the lifts and docks for cover with the lack of weed growth. Saw a few northerns chasing around young bluegill and caught a couple bass on my crappie jig as well.

[Marshall]

Was out on the north end of blue lake on sat using a tube jig with minnow and the bite was on! they boys had a great time on the lake with most fish in the 9"-10.5" range. Was on the water for a few hours and ended up with keeping some for the frying pan. had a few little bass take after our jigs. saw a monster bass swimming around us in the shallows was a great day to be out.

[th64]

Once you figure out where they spawn you should have a spot for some years because they will return to those spots. I fish a lake where they spawn in the reeds-they like some reeds more than others and I'm not exactly sure why-trial and error. They also use wood and even pad stalks. They are kinda vulnerable when they spawn so use discretion, but the spawn location is one good piece of the puzzle for the rest of the year.

[Juan Grande]

Yeah, pencil reeds are a magnet for spawning crappies because of the hard bottom. There are no pencil reeds on Blue. Maybe I need to try the emerging lily pads.

Funny thing is, I have no trouble finding them in the middle of summer, just in the spring. Kind of reverse of what you'd expect.

[monstermoose78]

Heard Lori Lake was putting out crappies and some walleyes in the weeds. 2-5 feet of water with crappie minnows. Long Lake is still producing crappies and some nice pike crappies minnows for the crappies and suckers for the pike. Heard Little Elk has giving up some walleyes in the 4-7 feet range pulling minnows and leeches. Ann Lake on Highway 47 has been giving up some nice gills and crappies. Blue Lake has been giving up a walleye or 2 but the bass seem to be the talk of the lake. Green lake is giving up some nice pike by trolling and fishing the weed edges with a big float and a sucker minnow. Knife Lake is still producing crappies, gills, and some walleyes. The panfish are still shallower and walleyes are coming from slightly deeper water. With the rain the rivers got a little muddy and when the water clears up expect the walleyes to go on the munch. Now for the lake that on one wants to mention Mill Lacs the bite has been very good from the people I know fishing the lake, Jigs with shiners have been hot on the rocks for walleyes, Yes you will catch them smalll eyes and the big ones but you will get your keeper fish too. The smallmouth I have heard about have been huge some pushing 23 inches have been caught. Good Luck out there and be safe 

[Juan Grande]

Great post, thanks for the reports Moose!

[Rick]

Please be sure to "like this" in the posts of those giving good info.

[river rat316]

Finally got the new to me boat out last night, on a little lake in the Elk RIver area ended up playing with the new locator more than fishing, I picked up a Helix 5 humminbird with side imaging for it, and man that little unit is sweet, it is my first time with SI in one of my boats but have played with it plenty in other peoples boats. I was on a lake I know quite well and found three rock piles for summertime fishing I had no idea were there! Water temps were 59 and the bass were in the weeds about 5-8' caught a couple bucks shallower that were either setting up beds or thinking about it, I would have figured they were farther along in the spawn then they were, but this cool weather must have backed them off a bit. All the females I caught were still full of eggs and showed no signs of any spawning activity. I also ran into a school of Crappies that forced me to pick the ultra light up, they were hitting plastics pretty hard in 8-10' and looked to be staging next to some pencil reeds. Nothing huge 9"ers were the big ones but still fun! On a side note I ran into a Great Blue Heron that was one heck of a fisher, watched him absolutely destroy the gills on the inside weedline, it was amazing to me what he could get to fit down his throat, looked like 5-6" gills and they went right down

[monstermoose78]

Congrats RiverRat on getting the boat out and learning how to use the depth finder!! I am also glad to see you are fishing man!! The crappies were kind of deep interesting 

[river rat316]

Got out again Friday night and struggled, things completely changed, was fishing the first break off of a spawning area and striking out except for a few pike, moved shallow into the spawning area and continued to strike out, no beds, no action, was quite miffed at why. Moved around a corner where it turns to a soft bottom and pads were just starting to emerge and the first cast with a swim jig ended up with a football of a 16" female on a swim jig, casted further in and had an absolute monster miss the swim jig by about a foot, the fish came all the way out of the water like a freakin shark but completely whiffed, ended up with 8 more all came out of emerging pads on a swim jig. They definitely were not where I thought they would be but still ended up catching some with a nice 18.5 4lb fat female being the biggest. If we could get some stable warmer weather it would really heat up the fishing, but looking at the forecast it doesn't look like it is going to happen.

[monstermoose78]

Took my oldest nephew out fishing today. It was so great to see him catching fish and smiling. I would post pictures, but I did not ask him if I could. I am working on getting him to join the site. He ended up with 10 nice 7-8 inch gills from Little Elk Lake. He caught some bigger ones, but I explained that those ones need to be released to protect the nests. We were in 2-4 feet of water. Set up was simple slip bobber, split shot, red hook, and chuck of earth worm set about 2 feet. I was tossing lures for bass and pike, but I was not fishing to hard. I was enjoying watching him having fun. Seen some beds with bull gills one them, but did not let my nephew pull the gills off the beds. We fished just out from the beds. The fish he kept looked like females to me. Please use selective harvest, because it is way to easy to destroy big bluegills at this time of year. 

[Rick G]

Great report as always, moose

[monstermoose78]

What a perfect weekend for fishing.  The weather was perfect for me and the bugs were not bad. Last night I wanted to hit the Rum River in town, but the best spots were full of people. I did not want to barge in and make someone mad, so I went and got a DQ blizzard. It was good and went home and played with my 2 pointing Chihuahua's.

Green Lake walleyes are biting in low light periods in 10-14 feet of water on minnows and leeches. Lindy Rigging has been a great way to get these fish.  Crappies and Bluegills are scattered from the shallows to 10 feet of water. Northern Pike have been active and are being caught on most anything bright or moving.

Blue Lake the bass are biting well for those looking for them. Walleyes have been taken along the 6-11 foot weed lines. Best time is near sunrise and sunset, but I think if you fished after dark it might be better. Crappies are spawning, so you need to look for them, but when you find them you will find good numbers. Think about selective harvest on this fish.  

Lori Lake the northern pike are eating white spinner baits and shinny minnow lures. Bass are being caught on swim jigs and on crappie minnow for those trying to catch crappies. Look the the east along the cattails for crappies and bass. Bluegills have been caught on the north end in the shallow weed pockets. No walleye reports, but no one I know was fishing for them this weekend. I think if you focused on the steeper breaks and deeper weed lines with jig and minnow or leech or lindy rigging you would get an eye or 2.

Little Elk Lake the northerns are biting along the weeds. Some very nice Large Mouth Bass are being found near the north end. Crappies and Bluegills are being caught from 2-5 feet of water. Worms for gills and minnows for crappies. Walleyes have not been biting as well on Little Elk this weekend.

Ann Lake in the Sand Dunes which is east of Zimmerman is giving up pike and some numbers of bass. The Bluegills and crappies have to be sorted to find some keepers. 

Some of the shallower lakes are starting to get choked up with weeds. Keeping people from fishing them or making fishing difficult.

Skogman Lake is still a solid choice for finding some crappies near Cambridge and Northern Pike.

Knife Lake near Mora is still providing good numbers of Crappies and Bluegills and for those looking for walleyes. They have been getting a couple walleyes when fishing for them.

 

Good Luck and Remember to practice selective harvest keeping the smaller fish and releasing the bigger ones.

 

[monstermoose78]

The only harm the Bluegills encountered today was seeing me. They were all released for some kid to have fun another day or for me to catch again. Pieces of leech were working very well. Thread half of the small panfish leeches on to your jig this will keep it on much longer than just hooking it once. I fished for about hour and half and caught lots of Bluegills. Took some photo's of what kind of bluegill's I would keep if I were to keep them. 

[Neighbor_guy]

Lake George in the St. Fancies area gave up enough fish to be entertaining this weekend. Smaller bass are still guarding the nests and fairly easy to find. Small pike take a lot of jigs and their share of worm hooks, but that's part of the battle too. 

Sunfish on nymphs under a thill cork made for the bulk of the fun. 

Everyone went back to entertain the next family looking to have a good time. 

[Neighbor_guy]

Small 4-5" plastics rigged weed less and weightless were the ticket on Monday evening. A small little lake south of St Francis was the target of the evening. Nothing big, but way better than sitting in front of the TV

[monstermoose78]

Checked out  a spot for some Bluegills. I did not any giants but some nice ones. Used a slip bobber and jighead with a half a panfish leech. I was fishing  2-3 feet down in 3-5 feet of water. No fish kept but I caught good number of fish in the 7-8 inchers. Please pick up your trash. Let's leave the area cleaner than you found it. I hauled out a small bag of trash. 

[Neighbor_guy]

I loaded up the attack yak this evening and went to an isanti county lake said to look like a pair of reading glasses. No pictures as I forgot the phone in the truck and didn't realize it until I was across the lake. After playing dodge boats for a while and fishing memories rather than conditions I found enough fish to keep my attention. 

Lots of pike in the cabbage just outside of where things thin out and the flower buds are no longer breaking the surface. Nothing supper huge, but in a kayak it's always an adventure.  Tore up an entire package of plastics but never had to re-tie. 

The last hour of fish able light was L/M time and definitely worth staying for. No big girls, but I had a smile ear to ear. 'Squitos drove me off the water eventually. 

Game fish were the goal on this trip, never took the time to look for any panfish. 

This one makes (6) local lakes this season with only one fished twice. Still counting... Got a number in mind I would like to hit. 

Going to have some sore arms tomorrow. 

[monstermoose78]

Reports I got from the weekend were from the Rum River in town and the walleyes were biting light on crawlers. Using a floating jig head with leech was the ticket for getting walleyes on shore. The bugs are really bad, so wear pants and bug spray.  Carp and suckers were biting during the day on crawlers as well as some smallmouth bass. 

Green Lake's crappies are surface feeding on bug hatches.  They will eat a minnow of it a coupe feet down from your float. If a person was to use a fly rod and fly that matched the hatch that would be better.  Walleye fishing is good at low light time periods along the deepest weed lines. 

[Neighbor_guy]

Well call me a fair weather fisherman if you must, but I skipped it tonight. The plan had been to load the yak and hit Baxter. Top water pike and some cane pole style pocket dunken for panfish. Looks like Thursday before I will be able to get out again. 

[Neighbor_guy]

With the break in the weather, the attack yak II was loaded up and Baxter became the target for the evening last night. 

I have to say upon first arrival there were two things that surprised me. First, there was nobody there. Second was the giant mat of curly leaf pondweed that covered about 80% of the lake. But I was there to fish it not look at it so I unloaded the kayak and pushed off into the lake. The water that wasn't weed choked was clear and fairly cool compared to the last couple of lakes I was on. There were a couple areas of coontail that was pollinating, so those areas were cloudier than others. 

Fishing was better than watching TV but wasn't fast and furious by any means. If you were to head this way I will say this. Mats of vegetation have pockets and those pockets are magnets. Get yourself a cane pole and have at it, you won't be disappointed. 

this guy thought he was a bass. 

looks this.

all fish who volunteered to be part of my evening including those who posed for pictures were released to play another day. 

[monstermoose78]

Blue Lake word is to fish the big point area in 10 feet of water at dark and after for walleye work the shore line back to the paved access.  Bass and crappies are being caught if you can get away from the pleasure boaters.

Green Lake crappies are feeding along the weed lines during low light periods. Walleyes are coming from deepest weed lines at the same time. 

Little Elk is giving up bass and bluegills on leeches.

[Rick]

Great reports guys!!!

[Neighbor_guy]

Things worked out weather and schedule wise again for another evening of weekday fishing. The dart board and blindfold were dug back out and when all was said and done South Stanchfield lake was the location. I loaded up the Attack 'Yak II and headed north. 

When I got to the landing I was not surprised to see I was the only one at the landing. But was happy to have yet another lake to myself. Water was tea colored and warm. I couldn't see any surface vegetation from the landing. 

I paddled a ways down the western shoreline to get out if the wind and started fishing. As a winter kill lake I was interested to see what I could find. 6" power worms rigged weightless and a couple other different plastic options were used. No, L/M to be found. The hammer handle pike were in the mood to play!!!! And play they did. 16-20" was all I could muster, by sunset the bottom of the kayak was carpeted with plastics, or teeth shredded chunks of plastics. Part of me hates spending $6 a bag on plastic, but in the end the fun is worth it.  

I never saw a panfish, not even those annoying little short bites when they pull the tail of the worm. 

As I worked my way back to the landing a family in a pontoon stopped to chat and compare notes. They found a few pike as well. They did a little better size wise than I did. But less numbers. 

At the end of the night very fun and enjoyable night. If you want to introduce a kid to catching northern pike. This is your lake.