2020 Alexandria-Miltona area Fishing Reports ( Lake conditions)

[CaptainMusky]

Nice job Harvey Lee. Not picking on you, but isn't 5/10ths 1/2 mph?

In correct its is actually .5mph LOL

[carpmanjake]

hey guys! havent been on in a while, having been working 5 days a week at napa. lol. how has the fishing been? i have been way to busy lately to fish. but the past few weekends me and the girlfriend went on fishing trips. hoping to maybe find some decent fish around town this weekend

[harvey lee]

Nice job Harvey Lee. Not picking on you, but isn't 5/10ths 1/2 mph?

Ok, 1/2mph.

[hhguide]

Thought I should post a Fall update as I haven't posted a report for a few weeks been busy fishing. The fall bite has started and the Jig bite is hot on alot of Lakes in the Alexandria area. Most the fish I have been catching with my clients have been in the 16 to 22 foot range. Jig and Fatheads have been key. Colors really depend on the Lake you are fishing. Some of the lakes I have been fishing blues or whites have been good. As for the trolling bite thats been hot all summer long on many of the lakes. I have been trolling the edge of the drop offs with leadcore line doing well. Others have been trolling on top of the structure and catching good fish also. Overall its a great time of year to get out and enjoy the colors, weather and fishing. When looking for big fish use big minnows, the biggest you can find. The past 4 days have caught some true monsters with a couple pushing very close to 30 inches but not over. I will post pictures at a later date when I get the pictures off the camera. Good Luck to all those heading out. Feel free to call or email at any time if anyone wants to get out or has any questions about lakes or fishing.

[Prairiefire]

Lots of action and a great day to be on the water.

[MN Shutterbug]

The smiles say it all.

[Chad Peterson]

Very nice,and it does not get any better than that.

Sniffer

[hhguide]

Well with all the ice talk and no ice here I thought I would post some pictures of some of the trips over the past few weeks and even up to yesterday. The open water bite is still unreal right now with big fish and numbers. Most fish are coming in that 18 to 23 foot range or up real shallow in any creeks or rocks that the lakes might have. When I mean shallow I mean like 7 feet of less. The best for the numbers bite has been a jig and minnow but for true monsters we have been using redtails, shiners and suckers. anything that is big! We have been using minnows in that 5 to 8 or even 9 inch range to catch these big girls. If you still have your boat out I suggest you get a few more on warm days... which I hope will happen because I still have a couple trips. (keeping my fingers crossed) If you can bear it to the night trolling bite has been good too. That has been up shallow on sand and rock flats with big stick baits. Sometimes we have even trolled a few smaller muskie baits around and caught a couple. This is the time of year where big baits and trigger big fish. Bring lots of clothes and hand warmers and the action will keep you moving.

Here are a few pictures of some of the big day fish. The night trolling bite I havent downloaded to my computer yet.

[carpmanjake]

was out on the ice yesterday on a small lake. caught a few crappies. nothing great.

[Wayne Ek]

Fished perch on Tuesday up by Fergus Falls. Caught good numbers of perch and some small walleyes. Perch running 9.5 to 10-inches. Had about 7.5 inches of ice.

Today we fished closer to Alex. on a back bay of an area lake. Lots of small crappies 8 to 9-inches, some small perch and a couple of northerns. Ice had lots of standing water on it, but still had 7-inches of good clear ice.

Cold weather to night should take care of the standing water, I have been using a wheeler on my lake, Lobster... but stopped running it when the weather warmed up so much this past weekend.

[BartmanMN]

God dang that is a box full of eye's.

[harvey lee]

[hhguide]

I figured I better get an ice report up while the fishing is hot. For the crappies they are being caught on many of the smaller lakes... Look in the weeds any green weeds that you can find or suspended over deeper holes down 10 to 15 feet at most in the 30 to 40 foot holes. The best bite had been with a small jigging spoon but with the high pressures we've been having lately the dead sticks have been doing better for me at least. chart greens or reds have been working well. CrappieSniffer may tell you different and I would go with him for the crappie advice and he could school me anyday on those!

For walleyes the big had been an allday bite but it is just starting to turn into an evening and morning bite. The best depths for me as been that 21-23 foot range during the day and then sliding up shallower in that 17 to 18 foot range as the peak times come. The best color has been gold or red by a long shot! As for to jig or dead stick it really depends on the day. Some days the jigging will work and others the bobbers will be far out fish the jig experiment with both. The key was moving. I found this picture online and it was a good represtation of what our ice looked like. I would drill and drill more holes and we would move around with the schools jigging in a hole for only 10 minutes or so and if you didnt mark fish you moved to a new hole. I credit the fish to the humminbird ice-45 for my fish and the other guys had vexilars. We would switch colors catch some more eaters and then it would die again so we would switch again. Overall we caught a bunch of fish keep enough for a meal. So my suggestion over everything would be run and gun! Good luck to all those heading out. Wayne was right in saying be careful out there with all the ice and lakes really shifting around. Feel free to email or call at anytime I will try and respond as fast as I can with emails!

Here are just a few pictures from the clients the past week.

Tony with a nice 23 incher.

Branson and carston with some nice fish. Once they got done missing their first few walleyes bites they both got hot catching their first ever walleyes!

I got this one at high noon! Actually 12:05 Moon set fish! 28.75 inches.

Steve with a nice 22.75. At 12:15.

Tony with a 20 incher.

I got this 26.5 incher about 45 minutes into the trip.

A few of the eaters!

[Chad Peterson]

Well done Drake. Looks like you have them dialed in.

Sniffer

[Shorty54]

Wow! Thats what I have been trying to do. Was on Osakis last night, fished 17-22FOW, only one very small Eye. Geneva last Friday, same thing but a small keeper at 15". I must need to fish a lake with more Walleyes, or go back to Panfish:)

[FinnFisher9]

I am heading up to Lake Ida this coming weekend. Can anyone give me any insight on where to find the walleyes? My cabin is just south of Schwabs Bay on the southwest side of the lake, I do have a snowmobile for transportation. I am also looking to try on Little Ida for some crappies. Anyone have any luck there?

[Chad Peterson]

Drake can help you on the walleyes but I know that they are getting some crappies in Betsy Ross Bay. Late afternoon to evening.

Sniffer

[HighBoard]

Any one know how the ice has held up out near on reno over the warm weekend?

HardlinePro

[Chad Peterson]

Is it not bad. Would not drive out there, but walking is good.

Sniffer

[RangerJack]

A few from Saturday:

[hhguide]

Just wanted to give everyone the walleye report for the weekend before I head down to the Chicago muskie show. Over the past week and weekend the fishing has slowed some and the size has decreased too. While were still catching a good amount of fish you can start to tell that it is the middle of January. The best bait this week was the bobber with a plain hook. black red or gold. The stuff that was working last weekend of aggressive jigging and such has slowed to a much more suttle bite where you really need to play with the walleye's to get them to bite. We did two things on the past few trips either we downsized to small baits or went really big on some baits to see what would happen but the plain hook still took over. The depths of the fish has changed some as they have slide alittle deeper to 21 feet. Look for big points with little fingers or inside corners for the best action. Good luck to all those heading out. I will probably be away from the computer and cell for most of the weekend but feel free to email or call at any time. There are still fish to be caught.

[Chad Peterson]

Panfish Report:

The panfish bite is still going strong on several of the Alexandria lakes.The crappies and sunfish are near the deep weedlines chasing food and stay by the oxygen. Ice conditions are great now that we had the deep freeze come down from the artic. Most ice is anywhere from 11-17" now and many anglers are driving out now. I would still be careful out there until you check out the area's of concern.

Yesterday, Ben and I got out to check out some new lakes and on the first one we punched over 100 holes. The outcome was some small sunfish and crappies. So, about noon we decided to hit another that Ben knew of and we packed up for another run.

Once we got there, the fish were biting right away. The sunfish were in the 14-16FOW and crappies ran out about 15-18FOW. We were fight 30 MPH winds and light snow as the afternnon approached. The fish started to bit when the weather became more nasty. We finally pull out the one man shelters. I know that I needed to get my hands warm. That wind was nasty.

The fish were hitting on Lindy Jigging Spoons and Ben was getting them on the Northland jigging spoon. The color was glow green. I caught a few on the Lindy Ice Jig, which is my favorite when fishing crappies. In this case, the bigger bait brought in the bigger fish. When the fish are active during a barometer change, go with a jigging spoon. They will chase it with no problems and you will be surprised at the larger fish you catch.

Ben with a 12.5" Crappie.

The one thing that I would say is to is to keep looking for new lakes. The more area you work the fish will come to you. It is OK to have alright day's, it happens! But you will have day's where you hit the homerun. Those are the day's you need to understand what you did right. Learn from it and the more you fish, the more successful you will become. Be safe and I will see you on the ice.

Sniffer

[basssmasher*]

awesome report chad!

[hookie]

Any ideas on where to fish Osakis for eyes and crappies during the winter?or would you suggest a different lake? Looking to pull a 16’ out for a weekend of fishing.

[TheTuna]

Best luck for crappies has been 18-20fow and eyes 24+fow

[hookie]

Thanks Tuna

With this weather how are the ice conditions?

[hhguide]

The ice is thick and the weather isn't doing very much if anything at all to the ice right now in this area. Most places are 14 to 17 or 18 inches of ice right now. In the end though its always good to be safe when your heading out. Good luck.

[eyeslayer20]

Hey guys, a bunch of my college baseball teammates are heading up to Lake Oaskis this weekend to my cabin, and I'm just wondering how the ice is up there and if any action is going on? Any information would be great!!! Thanks guys!!!

[Chad Peterson]

Ice conditions are very good on most lakes. The panfish action is always very good in the early mornings and late afternoons. During the day, go to the deeper parts of the lake to get on the crappies. The past week, the bite has been hit and miss but as the weather patterns become stable the bite will pick up.

As always, be safe and i will see you on the ice.

Sniffer

[fishnowworknever]

Heading up Friday for the Le Homme Dieu tourney this weekend..then plan on hitting the ice again afterwards. Any reports from Ida?

Thanks and good luck to all who attend!