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White Bear Lake Fishing Reports


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Anyone know if you can drive out of Mahtomedi beach? Any nasty springs I should know about on the east side?

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I'll be giving this lake a try tonight. I haven't fished this lake in a couple years, so we'll see what happens. I scouted out a couple spots on my map that are in the 20' range, we'll see what they end up being with the vex. Hopefully not 11.5' with dead weeds.

Anyone been catching any pike out there? I looking for a couple snakes for pickling so right around 20" is fine with me.

Plenty of Pike-I have gone through 3 jars of pickled pike so far this ice season.

Have at em.

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Anyone know if you can drive out of Mahtomedi beach? Any nasty springs I should know about on the east side?

SHOULD be all good. Most of the springs that affect ice are aways located on steep drops. Measure as you go

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I have it listed in previous posts. The tip of the island has some springs. NE part of Ordways bar which are now islands on the north end can be bad but is mostly good. Under the bridge of course is bad and the area between the peninsula and island can be thin early but I have driven across it late ice right down the middle with plenty of ice. The east side and main basin area can have 4 +inches less ice than the west side as it freezes later. The area very close to the commercial docks has been posted for thin ice before as well.

You should be fine on the west side off Bellaire. If you Don't drive off the beaten path and walk there you will have little to no risk there.

Measure ahead of where you go and your risk is minimized as well.

The bait shop on 96 is a good place for info.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info, m'n'w! I went out yesterday before I saw your message. Stopped at the bait shop on 96 and the lady I talked to was a bit vague so I was pretty nervous about trying out the east side. I wanted to try some of the humps out there for walleye, but chickened out and joined the city for crappie. Pulled in 2 11's and 2 9's, missed 4 others. I was happy with that. This is the 1st year I've been out ice fishing in 15 years and last night was the 1st time I caught keeper quality fish since starting back up a month ago. Felt good!

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btw, If I wanted to find eye's out on WBL would I be on the right track by finding some of the humps on the east side and going from there? From the topo maps I've been looking at it looks like there are a lot of humps out there.

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btw, If I wanted to find eye's out on WBL would I be on the right track by finding some of the humps on the east side and going from there? From the topo maps I've been looking at it looks like there are a lot of humps out there.

Good to hear your back in the ice fishing game and White Bear Lake put a smile on your face.

Your pretty close to the walleyes as they are everywhere there is hard bottom but they don't concentrate like the crappies do.

It aint half the walleye lake that it is a crappie lake. If you want to do the Bellaire Walleye- Crappie switch just hit the main basin hard bottom drop to the east of the city at sunset for an hour then move over to the Crappie city for the rest of the night.

Good luck!

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I scouted out a couple spots on my map that are in the 20' range, we'll see what they end up being with the vex. Hopefully not 11.5' with dead weeds.

One of the big reasons for the great Crappie fishing might be the chemical weed kill on the west part of the west end last summer. This moved fish out of those areas and pushed them further to the east into weeds and basins that didn't get treated. Usually the west side of the Bellaire hole has more fish and fish houses than this year. As well as the Clark Ave hole and VFW hole- NOT This year- as they are all out from Bellaire or further to the east which is usually mediocre.

Good luck!

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Hey guys, new to ice fishing. Thinking about hitting WBL. How thick is the ice? Also read about some springs around the island? Hoping to hook into some crappies, looking forward to it!

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Found fish in what seemed to be an untouched basin. Unfortunately they didnt like the minnows I had and I forgot the euros. Oh well. My spot I used to fish nearly alone years ago now has a town on it.

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I've been going out on the North side of the lake and catching anywhere from 3-6 walleyes a night in the same spot. Caught one about 15" but other than that one they're all dinks. Any experienced WB fishing ever run into the same problem?

Starting to think I'm wasting my time sitting in one spot but I'm going to give it one more shot today to see if I can get onto anything worth keeping.

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Hey guys, new to ice fishing. Thinking about hitting WBL. How thick is the ice? Also read about some springs around the island? Hoping to hook into some crappies, looking forward to it!

I measured 21" when I was out there the other day. This was on the south side of the lake near perm city.

mallardnwalleye gives good info on spots to watch out for a few posts up.

good luck!

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just about to try my luck for some crappies. im just going to the city. i hope i at least catch one

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just about to try my luck for some crappies. im just going to the city. i hope i at least catch one

Stay late and give it a fair shot and you should get some.

Good luck!!

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Found fish in what seemed to be an untouched basin. Unfortunately they didnt like the minnows I had and I forgot the euros. Oh well. My spot I used to fish nearly alone years ago now has a town on it.

Yep kind of a bummer when I remember back six years ago there being few houses out there, now slowly it has built into the "ice house city" it is now.

I just hope some people that don't normally get into em can as I don't think it could have lasted either way.

Good luck!

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Got a limit of keepers and caught a few throw backs 2 weeks ago-this week only 2. Was out from Bellaire, did a little better last week on the west side maybe I should go back there. I have also heard that if you can find soft bottom on the north side that can be good. Anyone have any ideas?

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nothin! between me and my buddy we had 2 bobber poles with minnows and 2 jigging poles with eurolarve. we stayed until 9 and only had a few perch bites and mark a couple that i think were crappies

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Limited on time in the evening hours, is there any chance of catching something as the sun is comming up versus going down?

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Fished the WBL on Saturday & Sunday. Saturday I fished from 1:30-6:15pm. I went to 34 FOW hoping to bump into a day bite for a waldo...caught about 20 perch..and they were small at first, and seemed to get bigger as the day got later...the last two I caught were borderline jumbos, and I would have kept if I had a bucket started. Caught one 10" wally around 5:30.

Sunday I fished from 6-10pm. Went to 17 FOW. Didn't even mark a fish for the first 2.5 hours...then started to get suspended marks that weren't that aggressive (small crappie would be my guess). Got skunked for the first time this year on the WBL.

The search continues!

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Limited on time in the evening hours, is there any chance of catching something as the sun is comming up versus going down?

People keep telling me that the bite is much better during sunset and evening hours than in the morning. Bait store on 96 said the same thing. We've had crappies biting until 9pm some nights, and they don't usually start until 6pm where we're fishing. before that, catching sunnies!

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Limited on time in the evening hours, is there any chance of catching something as the sun is comming up versus going down?

Yep, Better evening than morning.

There is a way during the day- but that takes a lot of work and using your eyes. It is super top secret so I can not reveal it here.LOL

What does eclass mean?

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nothin! between me and my buddy we had 2 bobber poles with minnows and 2 jigging poles with eurolarve. we stayed until 9 and only had a few perch bites and mark a couple that i think were crappies

If your catching perch -probably on too hard of bottom, head west my son. Fish just off the weeds or just in them around sunset move from hole to hole and use electronics and a green glow demon and a crappie minnow. Good luck!

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MMmm, "There is a way during the day- but that takes a lot of work and using your eyes."?? riddle me this batman.. just kidding.

I think I will pick my usual spot on WB. I just like to be out on the lake and dont really need to catch anything big. If I don't plan on eating the fish that night I always put them back.

mercedes "e class" is the type/model of car (rust bucket) I drive.

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MMmm, "There is a way during the day- but that takes a lot of work and using your eyes."?? riddle me this batman.. just kidding.

I think I will pick my usual spot on WB. I just like to be out on the lake and dont really need to catch anything big. If I don't plan on eating the fish that night I always put them back.

mercedes "e class" is the type/model of car (rust bucket) I drive.

Sight fish during the day as your bobber or spring bobber won't show the incredibly subtle Crappie bite at that time of the day. I won't say where to go as WBL crappies are already under intense pressure and half the fun is the journey of seeking them.

Good luck and I hope all this info helps!

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Was on WBL last night from 4-11pm, good crappie bite around dusk, I usually have the best luck around 8pm but it was really slow then with only 1 to 2 fish an hour.

Also the thieves are out again, I saw two houses with doors pried open. Also talked to a few folks that had seen some other houses broke into also. Kinda sad, lucky mine was untouched....benefits of not having the nicest house and not keeping anything in it.

Really torques me seeing houses broke into tho.

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Has anyone ever had any luck on WBL fishing deep water? 35' is about as deep as I have ever fished....but just curious if it might be worth my time to sit over a hole to fish deeper?

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well i figured if people put there permanents out there than there would be fish but i guess not. ill either try a new spot or maybe go to a different lake

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Thanks for the laugh crappie joe...nice to be reminded that a lot of people that go ice fishing just follow other people around...and then can't figure out why they can't catch anything. I recommend learning how to read a lake map...and then learn about fish patterns for the time of the year you are fishing. If you are looking at it the right way, it is called fishing...not catching

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