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Diamond Lake Fishing Reports


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  • riverrat56

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Plan on heading out to Diamond tomorrow is anyone driving on the lake yet or should I bring the snowmobile. Bringing my dad out tomorrow we fished big Kandi last sat. with a big zero to report there. any info would be great, thanks

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Definetly safe to drive, although the access has been nasty as of late!! I was out there yesterday and pulled my permanent off and used my pickup and had the fourwheeler in the back of the pickup! Brought the fourwheeler just in case there was too much snow to drive the pickup out but it was fine! Should be a good place to take your dad, usually lots of action!

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the fish have really slowed down in the last few days. if you don't mind fishing around a crowd of people you might find a few fish.

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We ended up going to Lake Lillian, yea, I couldnt believe it either, caught 5 eyes in 4 minutes in the late afternoon. nothing huge, but all but one were 15-17" range. Kinda surprised me we were trying for perch which were supposed to be biting there. but thanks for the responses on Diamond guys, hope to meet up sometime.

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  • 2 weeks later...

slowest I have seen it in the 4 years I have been fishing it, but that is to be expected with that many people hitting it up.

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Lakes can only pump out so many fish for so long, that said I don't think Diamond is in great peril. It is a very fertile lake and will bounce back in a few years.

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If it gets a break it will as always bounce back. But I'll bet next ice season the hoards will again be back!

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'fraid so, sparce. D is/has been one of the "it" lakes last several years.

When guys from IA stop to top off there limits on way back from Red.....

Hope it gets a rest soon.

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I don't think it's only guys from IA topping off the limits. Make sure there are guys checking their own freezers before we look to another state. (make sure we are not looking at a speck of sawdust in someone else's eye and ignoring the plank in our own) Not you personally last reply (goose), but the local area infatuation with double, triple, quadruple dipping will come back to bite this lake soon.

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that is correct Dean. i heard from the DNR that 1 guy last year that had a page long list of violations TWICE.

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It's a shame that people need to abuse hot bites, with a little more restraint the bite would still be "on".

One thing to remeber on the topic of hot bites and over limits;

Often when fishing for fish holding in deep water, 25'+, the mortality rate of fish is almost 100%, just because the fish swims away doesn't mean it will survive. The big change in pressure is very hard of fish and can cause the air bladders to expand into the throat, once this happens the fish is most likely going to die. If there is a real good bite going on, when you have reached your limit of fish it may be a good time to look for a new challenge and target fish in a differnt area. Just something to keep in mind.

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I hear ya, Dean, and totally agree. My point was with all the reports here a few years ago of limits of fish, it's no wonder it's been fished down again in short order. I'm sure it's a great majority local pressure, with plenty of double/triple dipping that's got it knocked down again, but alot of people will drive along way to get on an easy bite, cuz they don't want to or know how to do it on their own. I don't blame them, that's nothing new. But, it's far easier to decimate a hot lake now days (instant reports, way more icefisherman with way more efficient gear and electronics, shelters, clothes, ect) than 15 yrs ago. I'm all for progress, but our harvest practices have to "progress" also.

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it would sure be nice to see the DNR out more often. i fished out there the last 2 winters and have not seen one DNR officer. you would think they see 100's of people fishing in one spot they would be out checking.

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I know the Co's were out there last year because I was checked too 2 or 3 times. When they were talking to me the one mentioned that at one time last year there were over 600 fish houses out on Diamond. I'm sure the CO's are out there again this year. They are doing the best they can!! People just need to have a conscience. It's O.K. to release fish:) Just my 2cents.

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People just need to have a conscience. It's O.K. to release fish:) Just my 2cents.

I don't think it's so much they (we) need a conscience, they (we) need an education / history lesson / awareness of the effects of overfishing / overharvesting that's been taking place, esp. the last 10-15 yrs with all the advancements in icefishing in particular. The advances are great, but harvest practices (Selective Harvest) need to advance also. How many reports have you heard saying I really got into some big sunfish / crappies on Lake X yesterday !! Kept some of the medium sized ones for a meal or two, and let all the small ones go to grow up and the big ones go to make sure we can do this "tomorow" (literally and figuratively). That, to me is a great report. Nothing wrong with keeping fish, we just need to start thinking more about which ones we are keeping, IMO.

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My original post was just to point out the the CO's are trying their best given the amount of lakes they have to cover.

Goose89 you are right about the advancements in ice fishing. I'm sorry if I implied that all fish should be released. I too enjoy a meal or 2 of fresh fish. It's just that when people double & triple dip is where I have issues.

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Often when fishing for fish holding in deep water, 25'+, the mortality rate of fish is almost 100%, just because the fish swims away doesn't mean it will survive. The big change in pressure is very hard of fish and can cause the air bladders to expand into the throat, once this happens the fish is most likely going to die. If there is a real good bite going on, when you have reached your limit of fish it may be a good time to look for a new challenge and target fish in a differnt area. Just something to keep in mind.

A few years ago I was out on Games, real clear ice with no snow on it. Theres a deep hole there, 40 feet, where people fish crappies. You could just walk along and count the dead crappies under the ice.

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How many do poeple need for a meal? Real if it is you and wife and 2 kids, how many is enough? Fishing is about going out to be in nature also isn't it. We all love to eat fish but take a picture, take a kid heck even take your wife, just enjoy Minnesota and what we have, keep some fish but release fish also, gluttany is bad

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A few years ago I was out on Games, real clear ice with no snow on it. Theres a deep hole there, 40 feet, where people fish crappies. You could just walk along and count the dead crappies under the ice.

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where they from pulling the crappies up from to deep to fast that there where dead ones?

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Originally Posted By: bustin lips
so in other words, keep 'em all?

My advice is once you have your limit or enough for a meal, go target a differnt species or the same but in a differnt location.

Good advice to all of us when fishing deep water. If they're struggling to go down, it's time to be responsible. Either keep what you want for a meal and try something else shallower. Tough to do, but the thought / vision of dead fish underneath (anywhere) the ice is not attractive to our great sport. Good luck.

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Right, if the fish are showing no signs of damage from being caught ("popped" air bladder) and are swimming away just fine then there is nothing wrong with keeping on fishing!

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