fishing reports Metro Area Minnesota Fishing Reports by Matt Johnson

[Matt Johnson]

chiroguy,

Wish I had a good report for you down that way, but I haven't been on Prior much lately. I do know you should be able to catch a few near the channels on Tonka though... put on the warm clothes and soak some minnows... you'll catch fish...

[Sandervitreus]

Thanks Matt, I'll have to give it a try over there soon. I think I'll try the pier near the channel at Maxwell's Bay and the pier in Harrison's Bay.

[Matt Johnson]

For those hitting the water I would look towards the shallows at low-light periods and pull cranks for walleyes. The bite has started to pick up. We got a handful of nice walleyes on Friday pulling cranks on Chisago in 3-7 feet of water early in the morning. Once the sun came up the bite slowed down... the bite picks back up when the sun hits the trees... this bite has started to take form on Tonka too...

Otherwise we've still been getting pike on spinnerbaits on the outside weed lines and steep banks (up on the flats though). Coon Lake was good yesterday for numbers but not a lot of size... still a lot of fun though...

[KrappieKilla]

Good report Matt! Have you been chasing panfish in the last few weeks?

[Matt Johnson]

Funny that you mention pannies... I snuck up into a back bay the other day and found some warmer water and low-and-behold there were sunfish up there just like you would find in the spring. Awkward and I had to check what month it was, LOL. They were hesitant to bite but we got a few, nothing huge but still cool to see that given the time of year and conditions. But in regards to hardcore panfish action, we've found some over deep structure, actually stacked-up like cord-wood. Crappies and sunfish mixed. A lot of active dinks but a few decent ones... dropped the camera down and saw some big ones but they were very lazy... otherwise I really haven't hit the pannies hard lately... might try this weekend for some crappies though...

[KrappieKilla]

That's what I have been finding also Matt. Deeper structure, crappies with sunfish mixed in. Just stacked, suspended off the bottom and in "feed for winter" mode. However, I haven't been out since last Thursday so I am sure the bite has changed.

[Matt Johnson]

Here's one thing I know... WE NEED ICE!!! I know the fall walleye bite is still going for those willing to venture out, but I've been so trapped in the ice fishing world that I'm beginning to shake! Looks like the 10 day report has some COLD in it! I'm ready! What about everyone else???

[metroslayer]

im ready just wrapped up my deer hunting tags r filled, im spooling lines, i missed first ice two years in a row due to bowhunting two states, i love being the first guy out into some of these metro spots you can really get into some good fish, im pumped

[Hammskie]

Matthew??? Tell us about an ice adventure.

[Matt Johnson]

Sorry it's been a while since my last report... I've actually spent some time fishing across the country in between shows. It's been a busy winter so far!

As far as the Metro Area goes, I've been hitting it hard the last few weeks. A lot of fish coming in if you can dodge the cold weather. Today was brutal out there! We actually spent some time on some of the lakes in the west Metro... Was on Lake Sarah today, did well on panfish but nothing huge. Otherwise I've been out in the Chisago area several times... Tonka... Pelican... Hennepin, Carver, Anoka, Ramsey, Chisago, Wright counties...

Tonka has a good weed line bite right now for panfish... walleyes moved out onto the humps and rocks. Main lake for the walleyes. Put a tip-up on top of the structure and jig the edges with a jigging spoon or #4 Chubby Darter.

Pelican has been picking up during the day. Don't be afraid to move towards the shorelines and fish that 6-8 foot range. Most people are hitting the basin (10+ feet) but our better fish have come shallower.

Chisago/South Lindstrom has been picking up and more fish are schooling. 18-24 feet on South Lindstrom and up in the weeds on Chisago. It's like you're fishing two completely separate lakes once you go on either side of the channel. Attack it like so.

One thing I've found consistent on all bites right now... motoroil/watermelon colored plastics are HOT!! I typically start out with blood red, pink or white, but motoroil has been on fire and I can't take it off! Size 10-12 hook or 3-4mm tungsten jig and a motoroil flick-tail and leave everything else at home! I've had this work better than everything else on Chisago, Pelican, Sarah, Tonka, Linwood, you name it... hot bait right now!! The Maki line of plastics are my favorite too...

Will be heading up to Ashland, WI tomorrow for the weekend to attend the funeral for fellow Ice Team Pro and close friend Jim Hudson. Many of you know Jim from the forums here on HSO, he was a great ambassador for the sport and has probably taught most of us something at some point or another. Please keep Jim's family in your prayers. RIP Jimmy.

I plan to be back on the ice on Monday and I will report back next week...

[Matt Johnson]

Spent most of the day targeting panfish on Prior Lake and Spring Lake. Found some decent crappies on Spring but really had to hole-hop to stay on them. Started out there bright and early and managed 20-25 crappies before 9am. Biggest was around 11" and thick, the rest were 8-10" fish. All came on plastics tipped on a tungsten 3mm-4mm jig, firetiger in color. Most productive depths were 14-18 feet, but we tagged a few in that 20-25 foot range too. Once we moved up shallower than 14 feet we landed nothing but perch and smaller sunfish. Stay mobile out there.

As far as Prior goes, we hit quite a few spots out there and managed a lot of nice sunfish, but not as many crappies. Did land a handful of sunfish that were flirting with that 9" mark and very healthy. Good to see a nice year class of 8-9" fish out there. Of course you had to sort through a pile of smaller fish too, but the larger ones were mixed in. The most consistent depth for the larger fish was 8-12 feet with weeds. The deeper holes produced more fish, but they were much smaller in size on average. We also had a riot catching bass in the shallow weeds too, I think we pulled 5 out of one hole at one point. Fun on panfish gear! Once again all of these fish came on plastics, motoroil in color.

I'm planning to head back down that way again at some point this week, will also be in the North Metro hitting the Chisago area and some lakes in Isanti... going to put some miles on the truck in the next few days!

Good luck out there!!

[jjohnson5150]

Great report. Thanks for the info. I usually move on to deep basin areas this time of year for Crappies. It seems as if the fish are staying a bit shallow (12-16') on the bigger lakes. Are you noticing anything similar? I thought perhaps the fish were staying in shallow due to the weeds still standing from limited snow cover through Jan. I can't help but wonder if the snow cover we now have will shift the fish to start roaming the deep areas.

[KrappieKilla]

Good report Matt, I spent most of Sunday on Spring Lake, and found similar results on crappie, it was a good morning bite and a lot of 7-8.5"ers with about 1 in 5 going around 9-10" and one nice 12" slab! You know you live in the metro when you are calling a 12" crappie a nice slab

[Matt Johnson]

Yes, I've been seeing a similar pattern as to what you just described. A lot of fish in that 12-20 foot range. I really haven't been beating up the deeper holes all that much this winter, but to be honest I typically don't either way. I prefer to fish shallower if I can... I've found that while you're numbers might be less, the fish are generally larger.

As far as why they are in the shallower depths, I think a lot of it could have something to do with the weeds and light penetration, but it could also be forage movements too. I watch a large schools of baitfish on the camera in 4-5 feet of water the other day, so the forage is staying up shallow... and so are the fish eating them

We ended up back on Prior again on Wednesday and did well in less than 15 feet for sunfish and crappies. Sometimes we found ourselves in 7 feet of water amongst the weeds chasing the gills. Biggest fish was flirting with 9" but most were 7-8". The crappies were decent right away in the morning, but as the day went on we had a hard time finding anything over 10"... all of the better crappies came within an hour after sunrise...

I plan to hit some North Metro lakes tomorrow and Sunday... I will report back to see if the pattern holds true up there too...

[Matt Johnson]

Hit a couple North Metro lakes this weekend and had to really move to stay on the better fish. We found fish all over, but many small ones. Many lakes are kicking out numbers for the kids right now, but focusing on mobility is important if you're going to find the larger fish.

We caught fish as deep as 36 feet during the middle of the day and as shallow as 4 feet. It pays to find some sort of structure, especially if you're looking to find the larger fish. The larger schools of fish seemed to hold mostly smaller fish, so if you could break away from those and find the smaller, rogue school of fish then you were in business. Largest fish of the weekend were about 12" for crappie and 9" for sunfish... and LOTS of 6-8" crappies and 5-7" sunfish

We used pretty much exclusively plastics to catch all of our fish (we were targeting panfish) and tungsten jig heads. Tungsten fishes plastics so well, tough to beat in my opinion.

The weather sure threw a curveball today though... LOL... definitely needed the IceArmor parka on today!!!

Looks like more snow tomorrow... so travel safe for those on the roads...

[Matt Johnson]

Ended up fishing the Chisago area this past weekend and then Tonka yesterday. Caught most of our fish in less than 10 feet of water near or in the weeds... Sunfish, crappies, bass and pike. The shallow bite is really good right now. Plus you can fish fast and cover a lot of water in a shorter water column. I prefer to fish shallow if possible.

In the Chisago area we targeted shallow weed flats... 5-10 feet. Find the thickest weeds you can and camp out in the pockets and/or edges. A few of the spots we fished had deep water nearby (within 20 yards it dropped to 30 feet). This mix of structure/area seemed to produce the best. The crappies would hover only a couple feet below the ice, while the sunfish were on the bottom. Didn't have a chance to mark some of the crappies on your Vexilar because they would come in so fast and devour the bait... I fished a lot of plastics again, dark colors worked best. If you're going strictly after crappies then I would put a crappie minnow on a deadstick a couple feet below the ice then hole-hop with a plastic... a great one-two punch... biggest crappie was approaching 12" with several in the 9-11" range... so the crappies are roaming the shallow weeds...

As far as Tonka goes, we took a group from the Boys and Girls Club out on the ice yesterday. Dave Genz and Jimmy Kleinsasser joined us for the day too. Caught a bunch of small sunfish and a handful of bonus pike on tip-ups and Arctic Warriors. Again everything was shallow... 10' or less and in the weeds. It was fun to watch the kids reel in the pike and get excited about catching the panfish. Awesome to see the future of our sport out there enjoying the day and having fun! Here are a few photos from yesterday...

One of the pike we caught

Another pike... the girls caught most of them!

Smitty taking the kids out onto the ice

Rigging the tip-ups and teaching about bait

And the group shot!

A great way to spend the day!

Plan to hit the South Metro area this week now... will report back...

[Lusid]

Great report Matt! Those kids look like they had a blast.

[clayton08]

Looks like you guys had a blast fishing. Its a good thing you did for those kids. Fishing is a good sport for kids I know thats all I did when I was a kid and still is all I do as an adult.

[Bogie04]

Nice pics! Looks like a fun day on the ice

[R. Miller]

Great pics Matt!

[Matt Johnson]

Fished a few South Metro lakes this past week/weekend. Hit Prior and Spring lake over the weekend... fun lakes for those who are down that way!

Prior was a good morning bite in 15 feet or less. We focused on the weeds and edges. A lot of fish holding in the shallows and the larger ones were off the outside weed lines. 10-15 produced the larger fish, while less than 10 produced the numbers of smaller fish with an occasional decent one. There were always fish under you but we moved from hole to hole to pick off the larger ones. Also try switching to plastics to catch the larger fish... and don't be afraid to try and BIG plastic too... even those 8" sunfish will smack a 1.5" plastic! A fun way to fish too... and effective! We spent most of our time on Lower Prior.

Spring Lake was a more interesting bite. We stayed away from the schools of people and fish a large flat in 10-13 feet of water. We had to stay mobile to stay on the fish but we ended up catching quite a few crappies and sunfish. You would catch one or two out of a hole and the school would move on. We made 15-20 yard moves to stay on them... smaller moves didn't pay off... they were cruising hard!! Again we fished plastics to draw them in a seal the deal. Also tungsten jigs because they get down fast to intercept those fish.

Overall you couldn't complain about the weather this weekend, especially yesterday afternoon... wow! Felt like spring! HOWEVER... we still need another month of productive ice fishing

Heading up to Brainerd this week for a little fishing and then back down in the North Metro this weekend... will report back...

[tj417]

Matt,

Have you caught any keepable perch on Spring his year when you have been out there?

Also...are you on the rocks when fishing 10 to 15 ft on Prior? I have been doing well on Prior on the rocks with no weeds.

[Matt Johnson]

We caught some nice perch on Spring a couple weeks back. However, a few of the teams yesterday caught some really nice perch out there... true jumbos and they didn't even have to drive to Mille Lacs

As far as Prior goes, we were not on the rocks. Soft bottom with a lot of weeds. If you hit that 5-7 foot mark then you had weeds everywhere... needed to stay just outside of that unless you found a pocket in the weeds...

I heard there was a good bite on/near the rocks out there but we never ventured that way... we might have been missing out...

[Portlis]

Thanks for the awesome update Matt. How thick is the ice out there on Spring right now if anyone would be so kind?

[Matt Johnson]

I didn't measure but I would imagine 24" or so... a lot of good ice out there...

[Matt Johnson]

Spent the last few days chasing down fish in the North Metro... well, almost even outside the "Metro" ranks up in Isanti county...

We targeted panfish of course, but ended up landing more crappies than sunfish. We really wanted to key in on some of those big gills up there but the weeds were in rough shape and all of the gills were out with the crappies... but the 8-10" crappies were so aggressive the gills didn't stand a chance. We fished off breaklines in 22-28 feet and did the best in those areas. Most fish were 2-4 feet off the bottom so not suspended too high in the water column. However, they would race up sometimes 10 feet to crush the bait on the way down. Makes detecting the bite a lot easier when they do that! Oftentimes the line would go slack because the crappie would hit the lure so aggressively. We'd catch 8-10 fish in a hole then move on... bite lasted all day too, so that was nice. Finally didn't have to deal with a "window bite" where they only bit during low-light periods. Must mean March is here

We used maggots and plastics throughout the day, however I stuck to mainly plastics because you didn't have to re-bait and deal with that. Plus it seems like they preferred the plastics at times... movement and profile played a role here. Color didn't seem to matter a lot, I know we have on white, red, glow, orange... you name it... just get their attention. And if one of the fish would rise up but not take it, just snap the jig up about a foot and let it sit... they would race up and smoke it every time! Play a little cat and mouse with them and very few could resist. The feedbags are coming!

We did punch a lot of holes though, probably close to 100 per day, so we had to cover a little bit of ground. Once we found a pod we would cut around a dozen holes in a 30x30 yard area and move to stay on them. The nice weather made it easy to do that.

Looks like some snow is here for a few days now... then more 30 degree weather the rest of the week... so comfort weather! Good luck out there!

[Matt Johnson]

Whew... these last few weeks have gone by like a blur!! I don't think we can ask for much better conditions if you're an avid ice angler! It's March 25 and you would think it's still February out there! Excellent ice conditions and now we can move around a lot easier on the ice with the snow being packed down. However, it does look like we're going to see some warm temps the next week so ice conditions (near shore especially) can start to deteriorate fast, so please be careful and always check conditions before heading out.

As far as the fishing goes, I've been all over the Metro area the last several weeks. North, south, east, west... kind of like a chicken with my head cut off at times. LOL. However we've been finding some nice fish in the shallows and they seem to be hungry too. Finding the weeds is very important, or at least softer bottom. A lot of hatches and insects are starting to move around a lot more and activity levels are picking up.

We've been chasing fish in the Chisago area still, the bite up there is great! I would recommend hitting some of those lakes if you have the chance, as the late ice bite will only get better. Stay mobile and don't be afraid to fish shallow... like less than 5 feet even. The fish are there.

We also hit some lakes on the west side near Annandale and down near Plymouth. Same bite holds true... a lot of fish focusing on the shallows. Panfish in the weeds on Clearwater Lake and panfish on the shallow basins on several lakes near Plymouth. Chase them with plastics so you can stay mobile.

We hit Prior and Spring Lake again with shallow results too. These fish were cool because it was crappies, sunfish and perch all schooled up together. Never knew what you were going to tie into, especially on Spring because a few larger perch were mixed in. A fun bite!!

I also spent some time up on Leech Lake but battled the snow/slush. We were up there right when they got dumped another 12" on top of the already 15" standing on the ice, LOL. Yea, it was tough conditions and my body still hurts

Overall I would say we're shaping up for an amazing late ice bite. We might be limited to ATV/walking in the near future if these warmer temps and sun continue, but we still have some exciting ice fishing opportunities ahead of us! Good luck out there and be safe!!!!

[Lusid]

Great report Matt!

So I take it you were driving out on most the lakes to current? With the warm weather.. It will be all huffing and puffing to my spots.

[Matt Johnson]

Yes, I drove out this past weekend as well. Ice is still in great shape but like I said, always use caution. We are going to get some warmer temps now and with the sun having more of an impact the shoreline ice can breakdown fast. We start seeing 40's with high suns and we can loose stable access ice in a hurry if things start to melt. They are also calling for 50 and rain Saturday in the area too. Just use caution and don't risk anything...

[Matt Johnson]

Well, it's April 2 and we're still on the ice in the Metro Area, MN! Last year at this time we were out in the boats, LOL... so no complaints here. We spent the day in the company of good friends and play around with some new products and take advantage of the late ice. To be honest, the ice is still in great condition. We had no issues getting on or off the ice (we walked out but could have took ATVs but only had to walk 50 yards). Still a solid 18-20" of ice. Some shorelines are starting to weaken a little, but as of today things were in good shape. We will see some warmer temps the next couple days (50s with sun) so please be more cautious if you venture out this weekend. We plan to hit the ice again later this week and I can report back on how things look.

As far as the fishing tactics... we used Maki plastics and tungsten jigs in 6-12 feet of water. A lot of the bigger fish came within 3 feet from under the ice and some were darn-near hugging the bottom of the ice. It was important that you started your jigging sequence as soon as you dropped your jig down the hole, because it wasn't uncommon for a fish to crush the bait the second it broke the water column under the bottom of the ice. Definitely a fun bite!!

Here's a few photos from today...

Dave Genz works over a fish during sunrise

Dave and me with a nice multi-species double!

Dave Genz with the big gill of the day!

A nice crappie I picked up on a jig/plastic combo

Enjoy the late ice this year and be safe out there!!