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Loeb Lake

nofishfisherman

By nofishfisherman
in MN Twin Cities Metro Area Fishing Reports - Hunting

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nofishfisherman Grand Master

nofishfisherman

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Anyone ever fished Loeb lake in St. Paul?

I gave it a shot for a couple hours tonight and only had one bite, a small bullhead. I worked some ares from about 6' out to about 20'. I didn't have a vexilar so I was flying blind but I did try to work the entire water column in each spot.

Just curious if anyone has had any luck in the winter. I did see a few old holes people had drilled and a spot someone had set up for spearing so I know people have been out there.

On a side note if you were the person who was out there spearing next time I'd appreciate it if you marked the hole for me. Luckily I knew the lake has an aerator so out of an abundance of caution I brought the spud bar with and used it while walking around. Thankfully the spud bar found your hole just before my foot did. Doubt the 1" of ice and dusting of snow over the hole would have kept me dry.

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Maximum12 Mentor

Maximum12

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There are a few fish in Loeb, but not many. If you live right next to it (like I used to) it's not a bad place to kill an hour or two, but don't expect anything but 4" sunfish.

My friend did hook a monster pike through the ice out there about 10 years ago, but it broke his line right at the hole. Only big fish I've ever seen in person out there, though I've seen pictures of other decent fish.

And that spearing hole...might have been a spring. There's a spring on the east side of the lake, not too far from shore, about halfway between the dock & the aerator. It's nasty even in deep winter, & I saw a guy stick a foot through the ice in February in that area. Be careful. Not a real safe lake.

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nofishfisherman Grand Master

nofishfisherman

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I found the spring you were talking about. The spearing hole was not to far from it but you could tell someone had set up a house there. once i found the hole I opened it up a little and it had pretty square sides.

Not sure I'll put a ton of effort into this lake. Its nice that its only a few blocks from home and there is a bait shop nearby so i can make it a quick trip. But there are other lakes in the area to try that might be better.

Have you fished any of the other local lakes in that area? I tried Mccarrons lake 2 years ago but could mark a single fish anywhere on the lake. Tried maybe 30 holes all over the lake and never marked a fish.

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Tom7227 Grand Master

Tom7227

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I think the DNR stocks Loeb once in a while with panfish. Maybe you could get some info from their website.

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Maximum12 Mentor

Maximum12

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I lived up the block from Loeb for about 10 years so I've fished most of the lakes in the area, some a lot harder than others.

McCarrons has always been a mystery to me. I don't know if it winterkills or it's just cyclical, but sometimes you could go there in the summer & catch panfish until the world ended, other times (like your experience) the lake appeared dead. Never did hit it very hard, though. Always liked Johanna, quality, but not quantity in that lake from the boat, but never did fish it from the ice.

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nofishfisherman Grand Master

nofishfisherman

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Looks like I'll have to keep trying some of these lakes to see if I can figure any of them out. I don't have real high expectations but it would be nice to get into the pannies for some entertainment. It is also nice to be the only guy out on a lake in the middle of the city.

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Tom7227 Grand Master

Tom7227

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It is also nice to be the only guy out on a lake in the middle of the city.

Might be a hint there about what sort of experience you can expect. If you really like that Zen experience why not just grab a 5 gallon pail and go sit out on a field someplace. You can speed things up if take your clothes off. Once the core body temp gets to around 90-92 you get a whole new perspective.

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nofishfisherman Grand Master

nofishfisherman

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Ice anglers always preach get away from the crowd if you want to catch fish, thats what I'm trying to do. I'm also not expecting a honey hole full of 10 inch gills and 14 inch crappie, I'm just looking for a place close to home to kill some time and maybe catch a few pannies for entertainment.

I also think alot of people think like you do and pass lakes up because they don't see the crowds out on them. You never really know whats in a lake until you go out and give it a shot. Worst case scenario I spent some time exploring a lake by myself without the annoying crowds, I'm ok with that.

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  • 1 month later...
pxrocks Newbie

pxrocks

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How did you do nofishfisherman? I popped a few holes last year on the lake an coaxed up a 3 inch green sunfish.

I live in St. Paul in St. Anthony Park and have been looking for some lakes locally to hit for late ice instead of driving down to Prior.

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Nigel Rookie

Nigel

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Never fished it during the winter, but during spring and fall, in open water, ive caught some decent bass and channel cats. Even saw a walleye pulled out of there. If I wasnt with to see it, I wouldn't have believed it. I always wondered about how clean that lake is, but about 2 yrs ago we were fishing off the dock and one of the local colleges (hamline/st thomas/macalaster i dont remember which one) was there testing the water for a biology class. Its a lot cleaner then i thought it was.

The DNR does stock the lake.

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nofishfisherman Grand Master

nofishfisherman

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I only had a chance to fish it once this winter and only caught a small bullhead. I've been wanting to get back out there but just haven't had time to get out on the ice this winter.

I do remember reading something about the lake that said its actually fairly clean because it has a fairly small watershed so it doesn't collect much surface runoff.

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MN BassFisher Experienced

MN BassFisher

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Fished it last year once in the winter. People walking around thought we were crazy to be ice fishing out there. Not a hole on the entire lake. We punched about ten holes and hopped around with my flasher. Didn't mark too many fish, wound up with a few sunnnies (tiny), a 3 inch bass, and a 4 inch walleye. We had one flag go up, and it was peeling out line (in my experience that usually means small fish) and we didn't get hooks into that fish. Interesting little lake.

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dilleyo Community Regular

dilleyo

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Me and a couple of buddies iced it quite a few years ago. We punched a lot of holes, but mostly stayed on the deep area close to the east shoreline by the pier - not the hole in the middle. Caught quite a few small crappies and sunnies and never had a flag go up. It was one of those lakes that the DNR survey was a little old and made it look better than it actually was at the time.

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nofishfisherman Grand Master

nofishfisherman

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That's a beast of a bass. Hope you released it so I can catch it once it cracks the 5" mark.

I have seen a guy out there a couple times this winter when driving by. He sets up with a folding chair right by the aerator. Not sure if he's catching anything or what kind of ice he's setting up on but he seems to like being close to the thin ice signs.

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MN BassFisher Experienced

MN BassFisher

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That's a beast of a bass. Hope you released it so I can catch it once it cracks the 5" mark.

Haha I released it last winter, so it might be pushing the 4" mark as we speak!

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nofishfisherman Grand Master

nofishfisherman

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Guess I should get out there then and see if I can fool that trophy into biting again.

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