Cannon Lake

[DH]

I'm located in the Mankato area and Yesterday I figured I would try a new lake. So Monday early morning I drove over to faribault and fished Cannon Lake for the first time. Thought it was a nice side lake but found it pretty odd that everyone was so far spread out. Most lakes there seems to be a mini town on the lake... Also it was a  pretty shallow lake.  most of my morning was pretty slow and I figured it would be since it was a new lake to me.... I'm thinking I might give it another shot tho since it wasn't a bad drive from Mankato 

[therat]

It's an amazing fishery! It's not an easy one to figure out though. A good lake map is almost necessary. 

[DH]

What makes it so hard to figure out? I noticed a few humps and maybe two point out there. I would love some info if you don't mind sharing. I know some people are pretty secret about that stuff but if you would even wanna shoot me a private message that would be awesome! Hopefully I'll get back out there shortly 

[Harpenter]

I fished it for the first time ever last weekend.  The best fishing we found (we were targeting Perch) was to find a hump and fish just off it.  Pretty much every spot we checked had around 10' of water.  Then we found a big area in only 6' of water.  We fished just off the hump in about 9.5' and did well.

[geliason]

We have done fairly well there too. Im curious if you were using light rigs with crappie minnows or medium rods with larger jigs and fatheads. I've used both with similar outcomes. Have not had a bit on waxies.

[Rick]

2 hours ago, DH said:

What makes it so hard to figure out? I noticed a few humps and maybe two point out there. I would love some info if you don't mind sharing. I know some people are pretty secret about that stuff but if you would even wanna shoot me a private message that would be awesome! Hopefully I'll get back out there shortly 

Cannon lake is a reservoir. There is an old river channel as well as old roads under the water. There is a huge expanse of shallow water 6' deep and under where fish can spread out to feed. Very tough to find concentrations of fish. Ice fishing I like to focus on the old roadbed and the old river channel areas. Turns in the channel, humps by the channel or roadbed, and faster drops into deep water (deep being 9' to 12') seem to be the easiest way to find fish. The deepest hole goes 14' - 17' deep.

The walleyes, crappies, sunfish and perch I have caught there always seem to be nice fish.

The reason you don't see tons of people there is because it is a river system reservoir with current flowing through and some of the best fishing can be where the ice is thinner so use caution. Hope that helps.

[DH]

2 hours ago, Rick said:

Cannon lake is a reservoir. There is an old river channel as well as old roads under the water. There is a huge expanse of shallow water 6' deep and under where fish can spread out to feed. Very tough to find concentrations of fish. Ice fishing I like to focus on the old roadbed and the old river channel areas. Turns in the channel, humps by the channel or roadbed, and faster drops into deep water (deep being 9' to 12') seem to be the easiest way to find fish. The deepest hole goes 14' - 17' deep.

The walleyes, crappies, sunfish and perch I have caught there always seem to be nice fish.

The reason you don't see tons of people there is because it is a river system reservoir with current flowing through and some of the best fishing can be where the ice is thinner so use caution. Hope that helps.

That's some good info thanks! I didn't know it was a reservoir! So you kind of just sit in a good spot and wait for fish to come to you since it's hard to find a concentration of fish? How big of perch are we talking about?

thanks!

[Rick]

38 minutes ago, DH said:

That's some good info thanks! I didn't know it was a reservoir! So you kind of just sit in a good spot and wait for fish to come to you since it's hard to find a concentration of fish? How big of perch are we talking about?

thanks!

I'm not saying to sit tight, just saying it can take a bit or work. They are very shallow more often than you might think and hard to locate that shallow without spooking them. Drilling a bunch of holes over a long distance and then working them later isn't a bad way to go on nicer days. I've caught 14" perch but when you get into a nice size bunch 10" - 11" perch.

[fishin_magician2]

9 hours ago, Rick said:

Cannon lake is a reservoir. There is an old river channel as well as old roads under the water. There is a huge expanse of shallow water 6' deep and under where fish can spread out to feed. Very tough to find concentrations of fish. Ice fishing I like to focus on the old roadbed and the old river channel areas. Turns in the channel, humps by the channel or roadbed, and faster drops into deep water (deep being 9' to 12') seem to be the easiest way to find fish. The deepest hole goes 14' - 17' deep.

The walleyes, crappies, sunfish and perch I have caught there always seem to be nice fish.

The reason you don't see tons of people there is because it is a river system reservoir with current flowing through and some of the best fishing can be where the ice is thinner so use caution. Hope that helps.

 Rick I think your mistaken Cannon Lake is not a reservoir, It has always been a lake. And that being said there are no sunken roads in Cannon. It may just be different bottom structures.

 

 

[Harpenter]

10 hours ago, geliason said:

We have done fairly well there too. Im curious if you were using light rigs with crappie minnows or medium rods with larger jigs and fatheads. I've used both with similar outcomes. Have not had a bit on waxies.

We were using Ultralite Noodle Rods with a 1/16 oz Tungsten jig tipped with Spikes.  We did have a small spoon with a minnow on a deadstick in the holes next to us.  We kept 40 Perch on Friday, threw another 20 or so back.  Caught 2 on the spoon/minnow combo the rest all came on the Spikes.

[Rick]

1 hour ago, fishin_magician2 said:

 Rick I think your mistaken Cannon Lake is not a reservoir, It has always been a lake. And that being said there are no sunken roads in Cannon. It may just be different bottom structures.

I am not mistaken, The Cannon River runs through it and the dam is located at Kings Mill Dam Park in Faribault. The road is there you just don't realize it is a very old road. 

[fishin_magician2]

https://books.google.com/books?id=7U40AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=cannon+lake+history&source=bl&ots=WcU3m-Z46e&sig=IbDKgQaaigSwEkkDXGuERKAtQVw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3q4eRu8vKAhXLk4MKHUowCQI4ChDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=cannon%20lake%20history&f=false

Only way the road would be there is if it was built pre 1853 or the lake got bigger than 1451 acres.

 

[247outdoors]

Thinking about fishing that lake myself, are people driving on Cannon? Are there springs on that lake?

[DH]

I only seen one person driving on it with a ton1/2 and two small cars

Edited January 28, 2016 by DH

[247outdoors]

How thick is the ice?

[geliason]

I haven't been out there for about 10 days, but it was 10"-11" then. Didn't even register a foot. Not sure if we have gained a lot since then

[brian6715]

I hope every one understands that Rick is right, this is a reservoir, and the Cannon runs right through it and there is in fact quite a bit of current in the lake. Take caution when driving around on Cannon, that lake always has strange ice (I grew up on Wells, the other reservoir just down stream from it). Do not go anywhere near either bridge/channel at each end, stay way away from them with any vehicle  

[Harpenter]

That makes a lot of sense.  We were wondering why we didn't see any vehicles on Cannon.  We saw lots of French & Roberds, and we measured around 10"-14" there.  On Cannon we measured up to 18" in one spot, yet no vehicles.  Another guy reported only seeing 8" of ice, so I'm guessing it's too risky with big swings like that.