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Buffalo Lake Fishing Reports by Jiggin Jim Guide (Annandale Area Lakes)


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The sub-zero fishing has been fair, need to move around, sometimes lake to lake. I caught some nice sized to over 13" Crappie from a local puddle. I tried for pike today, but the holes froze in fast, I even tried jigging with rattle baits for an hour. Buffalo lake has slowed down for many, but if your willing to really work, fish can still be caught. Several fishermen have been doing alot of searching area lakes. Sunfish could be in 20ft today, then move to 12ft the next. I have found some crappies in 8ft. even then they can be 3ft. from the bottom. I have been looking for any green weeds or some that may just starting to die off, on the smaller lakes. with the warmer weather coming in this weekend, time to really hit it. Ice conditions seem good, but as always, you still need to watch where your going. Some areas I was drilling through over 24" of ice.

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I'm going for pike this weekend. I may hit about 4-6 lakes, with a tip-up and jigging rap.

As for the Crappies, I'll see if photos work? [img:left]pelcrappies001_zps2e8f98e5.jpg [img:center]http://pelcrappies002_zpsd3e8799d.jpg

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Tried Waverly Lake this afternoon, Only 1, 7" inch Crappie, the ice was popping like crazy. The wind didn't help matters, drill out a hole 10 minute later, the holes would be filled with snow. I spoke with guys fishing, not a single fish caught, they had spend 3 hours with only nibbles. Dean lake tonight had a slow bite as well, though the early morning bite had produced a few bluegills. The public ramp (near the bay club) on the west section of Clearwater Lake is rough, several people blazed their own trail but you had a high truck, or AVT can use it.

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Found plenty of dink walleye's out on Waverly a few weeks ago but nothing of size like you were saying Jim.

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Fishing this weekend, was both hot and cold. Pelican saw alot of panfish just both the front blasted in, they were not very big but if you pick thru several, and put some time in, you could find enough for lunch. I tried for pike Saturday afternoon, but the wind and cold would freeze the tip-ups. eek Thinking of making a sputter can, maybe that would work on those days.

Dean lake had been fair of sunfish, but if you were to use minnows you may catch some of the cigar walleyes, that were stocked not long ago. Did see guy that had 3, 10-12" walleye in his pail froze up, he did have a couple fair sized gills but "he thought the walleyes taste better that size.". I personally would have let them go, but if that his bag oh well. crazy

I fished Constance today, sunfish and crappies bit ok, Sunfish an hour before sunset, the crappies came after about 20 minute. I didn't keep any of the fish.

I just want people to know, I Don't keep very many fish when I'm out. The most I would keep is 5-6 crappies, maybe 7-8 sunfish, some days I just fish and release everthing caught. As some may think I fish so often, I may have large bunch of fish in my freezer, FAR from it.

I have given some of my catches to an older lady, who lets me bowhunt deer on her land.

Last thing, I was driving past Pelican Lake tonight on 117. Notice a guy fishing the pond on the west side. Curious about why he was fishing there? I walked out to chat, (5-10 minutes) saw he had several bullheads (7-9 inches) in the pile. sick Asked if he has caught anything else? his reply "Nope only the bullheads, I like eating bullheads from cold water". Been catching 7 or 8 bullheads the nights I fish here even caught a dogfish fish one night. I'm thinking ok, said "You have fun, good luck." sicksick So much for fishing there.

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You know what they say about bullheads... freshwater lobster! Or is that eelpout? smile

In a few days there will be a bunch of guys out there seeing what all the fuss is about.

Btw - nice crappies - it's always fun to locate a pod of slabs!

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I'm thinking of hitting some of the local sloughs that feed into main lakes. Could be another Pelican lake situation, First guy on the fish, sneek out the slabs before others even know what they are driving past. grin I have seen guys fishing little known lakes and ponds. A couple I think had been walleye rearing ponds. Like Green Mountain once was, would be nice if a person could get a list of the lakes and pond the are DNR rearing waters for walleyes. Some that may not have used for a couple years.

13yrs ago, guys found the pond behind the Target store in Apple Valley, was a walleye pond, for 2 years the fishing was great. Until the road work and run off hit the lake, along with sunfish getting into the pond. was great fun while it lasted.

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If you want a suggestion, try sandy lake near sugar. I have heard there was fish in there, but am scared to try with what looks like moving water under the road. I'll send a pm of another pond if your willing to try it. I have absolutely no idea if it has fish, no idea how deep, not listed on dnr website, etc. What I do know is I saw stuff jumping in it last spring. I just have no time to check it out myself. Disclaimer: if it turns out to be a 2' max deep giant puddle thats completely dead, I claim no responsibility for wasting your time. grin

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If you want a suggestion, try sandy lake near sugar. I have heard there was fish in there, but am scared to try with what looks like moving water under the road. I'll send a pm of another pond if your willing to try it. I have absolutely no idea if it has fish, no idea how deep, not listed on dnr website, etc. What I do know is I saw stuff jumping in it last spring. I just have no time to check it out myself. Disclaimer: if it turns out to be a 2' max deep giant puddle thats completely dead, I claim no responsibility for wasting your time. grin

It's about 4-5 feet deep I do know northerns will run up there in the spring to spawn

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I think I may finally break down and try the "secret slough" on saturday. It is a little hike, especially with this snow. Hopefully it turns out to be reasonably deep. I will be thrilled if I find 10'+.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I fished pelican Friday through Sunday for pike. My suckers are so small, not a fish. Others in same area around me seemed to be getting some nice pike, largest I saw was 35inches, but they had extra large minnows. Fished buffalo lake later Sunday, a friend in his house, only one good hit. His house has been in one places for the past 4 weeks. He hasn't caught much, but it's more that weekend get away.

I did fish a small pond west of Pelican before the snow hit. Got some nice crappies ( up to 11in.)and reasonable bluegills ( maybe 8in). I guess the guy I had talked with a couple weeks ago had been fishing the very bottom. I now wonder if the lake may make it this winter. Not from freezing out, but smothering due to the light of sunlight for the weeds.

You can walk out but need to on lake across the road, as the ditch is has a 18-24inch drop off around it. I may start a few guide trips out there, just using flip over house. Gps grid can be e-mailed, you would not believe the location. As every one drives right pass it. this is the first part. North 45º 12.4__ West 93º47.___. If you guess let me know.

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Great report Jim. Sometime those tiny ponds can hold some nice fish. I have found a hand full of good ones over the years and have also fished quite a few that didn't have anthing in them. Once in a while the exploring pays off wink

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Mo Gator, My fishing web site is down being redone. Prices are for open water are 8hrs./$300.00 4+ hrs/$200.00 for 2people. 1 person $200.00/8hrs 4hrs/ $150.00. I do not furnish accommodations, but there are two hotels in Buffalo, several of my clients have stay at the Country Inn.

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oh sorry, I wasn't very clear. I was referring to ice fishing rates/ accomodations (such as the fish house you put clients in)

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I normally don't do many ice fishing trips. I do have a 2 person flip over shelter. I rates for winter trips, are half price, the summer / open trips. I will be doing open water trips starting in March, for walleye and Sauger fishing.

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If the fish are biting they are healthy and have O2-if 02 is low they will usually be high in the water column. If they survived the winter B4 last(and they did if they are over4'') they can survive anything.Sounds like a cool little lake.

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I am going to take my Gf out to Buffalo to visit her sister in the nursing home tomorow and want to kill 2 birds with one stone. just wondering if any fish have been cooperating on buffaLO LATELY and where i might want to look for some? a depth or something would help anything would help thanks

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I was on buffalo tonight. Marked plenty of fish but only managed a few crappies. Just weren't in the mood. I was at around 14 fow most guys were still fishing deeper.

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I have never been skunked on buffalo before, but yesterday was the first time. Usaully able to catch 1, but yesterday it was only missing a few light biters. I was working 12-28 ft of water mid lake structure, but notice most of the houses were set up on the first break of the shorelines. So maybe they are getting some there. Hope this helps

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Alot of guys will start pulling houses off, now that walleye and pike season is done. A few may still go for the crappies during the next week, but once the over night removal starts only the portable guys seem to venture out. The lake has gotten rather dark and cloudy, as some guys are having a hard time seeing down very far for spearing.

Special Thanks to guys plowing roads around to different areas, on area lakes.(buffalo and Pulaski)

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  • 3 weeks later...

With the snow we have gotten in the past few weeks people have already hung up the ice equipment. Driving is either a real pain, or some just like to shovel snow if stuck, and then there are people with high raised trucks and extra large tires. Almost like mudding only the truck washs of easy. The guys I talked with and a couple places I went, had fish on the sonar some would hit while others seem to just swim past my offerings.

Maybe it is time to go very very small, a size 18 or 20 hook with only waxies or a few maggies. Buffalo lake water had gotten almost a dark brown on the south side. I can tell spring is starting, saw my first large flock of Robins, the water is starting to flow more and more over the deer lake dam. Watching for the pike run to start.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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