Spring Lake- Prior Lake

[WildFan10]

Anyone fishing spring lake in prior lake? If so, how much ice is there? How has the bite been? Thanks! 

[Crappie2760]

Not yet but possibly this weekend.  I drove by the access on the far north shore of Prior Lake and saw two portable shacks out there last night.  I figured there'd be more.  The small access road had a lot of traffic on it so I'm sure Prior Lake will be busy this weekend.

[FLAG!!]

Walked on Prior this afternoon out of SandpointBeach for a couple hours, managed a surprisingly nice perch, a small largemouth bass and a couple eater walleyes. Only 6" +/- of ice though so keep your vehicles off.

[WildFan10]

Thanks for the update. Was thinking about waking out from Sandpoint this weekend. Good to know a guy still has a chance at a couple walleyes out there. Good to know about the ice as well. 

[FLAG!!]

Go get em. It's a super short walk. Found the couple walleyes in 15' and 20' off the break of that hump thst comes up to 7 or 8'. Lost another one at the hole too. Good luck. 

[Walleychaser]

Has anyone been on upper prior in the last few days and checked ice thickness? Thinking of heading out tomorrow and seeing if this cold front has shut down the bite or not. Thanks!

[FLAG!!]

Thinking about hitting lower prior again this afternoon, anybody know how the ice is? Would guess we gotta be getting close to driving but I don't like to be one of the first and don't mind a short walk either 

[crappie todd]

tackle terry is on the  air right now 9( 7: 45 ) .sounds like he is driving on his favorite south metro lake.  i drove on coon, anoka county and found 12 to 15 inches.  crappies half the thickness of the ice though.

[FLAG!!]

Even though many were driving (even some trucks with wheel houses) on lower prior, buddy and I walked to our spot which did not produce btw. 11" of ice. 

[WildFan10]

Fished lower prior Sat.  Half tons and wheel houses everywhere. Lake was packed. Ice was anywhere from 11-13". Only managed a handful of small gills. Where do people suggest as the best place to fish bluegills during the middle of the day? Seems so many people set up right out in front of the sportsmans access in somewhat shallow water. Anyone have any tips? Thanks. 

Edited January 25, 2016 by WildFan10

[PLfisherman]

Actually most of the area in front of sportsman's access is 18 to 24 feet. You can go way left of the access and do a lot better. It's all one big basin.

[picksbigwagon]

my son and I walked out from sand point on Saturday, walked across the lake to an area that should have held fish, and then walked closer to the crowds at sportsmans.  I was shocked at the number of permanents and 1/2 tons driving out of sportsmans, we drilled a lot of holes and never found more than 10".  On Sunday, we walked out of sportsmans access figuring the ice was the same, in fact I warned a guy driving his suburban and pulling a vikings themed ice house out that he needs to double check the ice because I didn't think there was enough ice.  When I drilled my first hole, I couldn't believe how much ice was there, no where near 18" like the guy from the suburban said he heard was out there, but there was 15" of solid ice.  until someone busts out the landing (it will happen, it always does) I fell confident of driving out on Prior through sportsmans access

[Crappie2760]

I hear ya.  I parked on land and walked out onto Lower Prior 4 days ago.  I went out into the big crowd, drilled some holes, caught one small gill, took a look at the ice and realized there are way too many big rigs and trailers out there for 10" - 12" of ice.  I left right away and went to a different lake with no crowds.

AND it's going to be at or above 40 degrees the next 5 or 6 days so I wouldn't have anything out on that lake.

[scherm the worm]

Was looking for information on the ice thickness on Prior and Spring Lake. Can you drive on yet?

[FLAG!!]

scherm read the couple recent ice reports above, while you'll see others driving all over, I'd stay off..

[scherm the worm]

Thanks for the fast reply. Not confident in driving on the lake. Any reports on other lakes in the area?

[WildFan10]

Thanks for the tips on prior. Anyone fished Spring lately? People driving on the lake as much as on prior? How's the bite been? Thanks. 

[mjk]

Either I am way too cautious, or others know something I don't.

I drove by the fishing tournament today, and could not believe how many vehicles were out on the ice, in a very small area.

That is just plain stupid, and of all lakes, Prior.

End of rant.

 

PS- If ice conditions are better than I believe them to be (barely 12"), I apologize.

[Walleychaser]

I was on Prior as well today and parked by the shore. The number of people parking side by side was crazy. We jumped around to different spots and the most ice we found was 13".The fishing was slow except for a decent northern on a tip-up that broke me off at the hole (my bad technique) Fished Spring lake yesterday and had clouds of small 5-7" perch attacking the bait all day. Same 12-13" of ice there as well. Buddy got a nice walleye just after dark so that was a nice way to end the day. Good luck!

[concretekid]

We had 15" of ice on upper where we had the wheel house at.  Fishing was slow fished from Thu til Sunday had a limit of walleyes, a few pan fish, and huge bass that I almost landed on my Camera. We pulled off before the snow to wait and see how the ice holds up with all the additional weight.