Rochester Area Fishing Reports (Zumbro, Reservoirs, Foster Arend, Chester Wood)

[MNCPRGUY]

Fished Lake Zumbro yesterday. Lots of people out, although I never saw a fish. Ice was a good 8 inches in all the spots I fished. There were a fair number of vehicles out, including 1/2 tons but you won't see mine out there for awhile!!!

Fished the high banks, Ryan's Bay, and a few other spots ranging from 12' to 30' FOW. Never marked a fish on flasher or camera. It's the first time I have ever been out on that body of water so it was mostly exploratory and I deliberately avoided the few clusters of shelters that were out.

[HuskersRule]

I have a niece that lives in Rochester that wants to go ice fishing. Where should I take her for some pan fishing? I've never fished in that area. Thanks!

[Chad Holst]

I would suggest chester woods, west of rochester a few miles. good crappie/blue gills.

Depending on what you have for equipment and how far you want to travel, there is some good pan fishing on lake zumbro also.

In febuary, be sure to watch for my posts on "take a kid ice fishing". We hold an event at ChesterWoods that is a blast and everyone gets great prizes, food, and fun. Plus, its free!

[HuskersRule]

Thank you for the info. Is that Chester Wood Park?

[Redbeard5289]

Chester Woods is a great place to go especially if you are looking for good size, expect to pay a small parking fee to get in.

Willow Creek Reservior (free) is another place I like to go with my son. Its free and the walk in is not so bad for young kids. Have pulled out some decent size pannies out of here in the past.

Foster Arendts Park (free) is another great place to go especially for younger kids. The gills out there are pretty small but they are hungry little buggers and will keep the kids entertained with lots of hookups. Always found this place to be a great way to introduce kids to fishing with minimum effort. Plus the DNR stocks some trout in there so there is some angling opportunity for the adults. :-)

Silver Creek Reservoir (free) is another place to go. Been a while since I was out there. Heard some good things from here but the hike over the dike is a bit steep for young kids.

Gamehaven Reservoir (free) is another place to go as well. The hike in the parking lot is a bit long for young ones. I usually prefer not to hit this one as the angling opportunities are pretty few and small.

Hope this helps...

Redbeard5289

[northernfishin]

Fished silver creek today. 10-12" of beautiful black ice. Fished for a couple hours and had good luck in numbers and species variety. It'll be nice to get some more snow to make the pull easier.

[siemers]

Anyone fish Lake Zumbro over the weekend? If so how is the ice and the fishing?

[Scrod]

Ice was good 12+ fishing was normal Zumbrota a few fish nothing hog and heavy.

[NateF]

Fished zumbro on Saturday caught 15-20 crappies had 4 keepers and caught 2 decent cats

[V-12 Merlin]

Silver Creek Reservior, east of Rochester….

My first time on Silver Creek Reservior today, and I thought I would share. None of the fishing forums have had anything to say about it, and it's been difficult to get any information to plan my trip.

This is about as close as I've been able to get:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheri...creek.html

There were quite a few portable shelters on the ice and a few guys on buckets. I opted for a bucket, because I wasn't sure how much I'd be moving. While it doesn't look like there's much structure by looking at the shoreline, I didn't want to assume that (and I still have no idea).

Ice appeared to be in the 14-15 inch range, as of today. I doubt the above-freezing temps tomorrow will have much impact.

I sat in roughly 12 feet of water. The flasher showed nothing at all, once I got the hole cleared of ice. That changed as soon as I dropped a jig down, though.

When the jig reached about a foot off the bottom, the water below and above immediately "filled in", and I knew I had quite a few fish below me.

In spite of that initial feeling that I'd found active fish, that turned out to be a little misleading. I found a school of "lookers", not "biters". It was probably my fault, and if I'd taken a little more time, I may have figured out what they were really interested in. I did manage to catch a few, and discovered that they were little perch.

I was using tungsten jigs with a few different kinds of Berkley Powerbait.

So, in summary:

14 inches of ice

12 feet of water

Perch off the bottom, up to about 1-1/2 feet above the bottom.

Nothing appeard to be suspended

Overall, still beats going to work, and I'm surprised I was able to find fish on my first trip out there.

If anyone has a topographical map of the reservoir that they can share, or any other tips to finding something other than perch, I'd sincerely appreciate it.

[northernfishin]

Crappies and gills usually suspend around 7'. Crappie minnows work well and or grubs with flutter glo jigs. There's a little structure out there. Channel that's kind of in the middle otherwise weeds and such throughout. Look at a summer google image to see the weed lines. My best luck is early morning late afternoon. Punch a bunch of holes and see a structure that way and I've been able to find suspended fish too.

[natertater83]

Silver creek used to be THE place to go but with the big northern kill and now that everyone goes there, it has died down a lot. I hope it doesn't get fished out

[northernfishin]

I've fished this hole for the past three years and have noticed a change in even that time. I live in boarder land where I am able to fish plentiful waters responsibly. What sickens me is people harvesting 6-8" perch and any crappie or gill they catch. The dnr did a good job of stocking over the years but the population over harvesting negated any efforts. This hole has a lot of potential but people need to be ok with CPR and not trying to fill a freezer with small fish.

[natertater83]

I'm taking my 5 year old out to willow creek tomorrow, it has been a few years just wondering if there are any reports? from what I remember it was just a lot of little guys but the walk is a lot easier then other reservoir's in town.

[Redbeard5289]

natertater83,

The walk into willow creek is easier, especially if you drop off your gear in the handicap area and park your car at the top parking lot. The fishing is pretty good, my son and I were pulling up 5-7in gills before xmas. I have notice that the gills that we were catching were smaller than what I remember but hopefully the new restrictions will restore them to proper size in a few years.

Another good bet for smaller kids is foster arendts. The sunnies and gills are pretty small (less than 4 inches) but they are numerous and hungry little buggers that will keep the action hot for little ones. It is also an easy walk in from the parking lot. Took my son to foster arendts for a number of years because I knew the bit was hot and consistent for his level of attention and enthusiaism.

Redbeard5289

[natertater83]

Well we did pretty well (for a kid) Saturday on willow creek. lots of little sunnies and gills, even got a few bass but everything was small. He had fun which is all I cared about

[minnesotahusker]

I was out on saturday at chester woods and landed a nice largemouth and a bunch of sunfish. 22 ft of water and the sunnies were basically laying on the bottom.

[507_MRcrappie]

Took the family out on beautiful day on a heat wave

, we ended catch some good size rainbows on slender spoon wow they put up a good fight on 3lbs test.

[JIvers]

Mmm, grilled trout...

If I didn't love ice-fishing so much I'd be looking forward to stream trout season.

[507_MRcrappie]

best time to eat them are in the winter when the meat are cold less fishy tast, bacon wrap them up some butter and garlic in the oven they go.

[northernfishin]

Any ice conditions report. I'm coming down for Christmas week to visit family and would like to take my brother in law from oklahoma ice fishing for the first time.

[northernfishin]

Fished willow creek today. 5-7" of good ice. Lots of slush. Marked a bunch of lookers but no takers.

[dispatch1313]

How's the ice, or lack thereof, on Lake Zumbro? I am ready for some open water crappie fishing and this ice can't come off soon enough.

[fivebelow]

anyone been fishing foster arend since ice out? looking at coming down to the area in the next week. want to wet a line.