Central MN bass fishing

[TheEyesofanAngler]

Hey there, i'm new to the forum and very passionate about bass fishing! I'm from the saint cloud, MN area and i'm looking for good bass fishing locations? I prefer to fish ponds and lakes and im definitely willing to travel. Anyone willing to share a few spots? 

[Rick]

Welcome to the forums. It's great to see you here. 

Check out the Minnesota Fishing Reports Club for more specific information on that.

Generally they will share general fishing report information in here. Otherwise too many lurkers see the info and specific locations can get crowded in a hurry.

Check out some of the reports, follow the guys you're interested in and feel free to ask in their fishing report threads. Especially follow those who are part of the Official Fishing Reports Team. 

Again, check out the club for the best info only members can see.

[MinDak Hunter]

Grand Lake is a local lake that is quietly one of the best, Two Rivers and Pleasant would also be good choices. Big Fish, the Chain, Kronis and Rice to the West also are good.

[IceHawk]

Welcome to the site!

[TheEyesofanAngler]

@mindak hunter thank you i will definitely check those lakes out. Have you been to any of them this year? 

@icehawk thank you for the welcome, very excited to be apart of  the site! 

[Rick G]

Welcome to to Fishing Minnesota, TheEyesofanAngler. My favorite lake for bass in our area is definitely Clearwater. It takes a bit to learn the lake, but the rewards are more than worth it.  Littlerock also holds some very nice Largemouth with a few bonus smallies mixed in... I know you said lakes and ponds, but the Mississippi here in town and  the sections above the Sartell and Blanchard dams all are exelent smallmouth fisheries.  

[gim]

I like Clearwater too.  I haven't fished in in a couple years now but I used to and we caught a lot of fish out there.  The one negative was all the competition - there seemed to be a tournament almost every weekend.

Another overlooked place to target smallmouth: RIVERS.  The Sauk River and the Mississippi between St Cloud and Elk River is plum full of bass and receives minimal fishing pressure (its just my opinion but rivers in general are very under fished here in MN).

[DonkeyHodey]

agree with gimruis.  look to the river.

Your chances of catching a 3# bass or better are exponentially better on the river.  (There's a reason SC/mississippi was chosen for the Gov's opener last year--the Mississippi around here is really a world class smallmouth fishery.)  (most river rats will tell you that you can essentially catch smallies any time of year and often as by-catch while targeting other species.)  Below the SC dam is pretty much catch and release only (all 12-20 inchers must be released) but it's quite loaded with big smallies! (and lots of good shore areas on public land)  Just be prepared to lose a few lures on snags...

Frankly, If you want to stick to lakes, I think you can pretty much pick a lake in a 30 mile radius...--most produce bass in good quantity, it's just years may vary in terms of sizes.  Clearwater is good.  Consider Bass lake adjacent to it.  (...it's not just a clever name.)

[ANYFISH2]

Welcome TheEyesofanAngler!

A ton of good bass lakes around the area.  For numbers of 2 to 4 lb bass, the eastern Todd County lakes near Burtrum and NW Morrison county are hard to beat as well.

[Borch]

Welcome to the forum.  Lots of good options already given.  Have some fun!

[mrpike1973]

Lake Sylvia is great for bass also lake Francis near Kimball is good too a little smaller but great action! The Mississippi sounds fun I should try it myself.

[ZachD]

I agree the Mississippi I love the river I don't know much about it up there as I live more south

But I fish the Mississippi just south of Elk river and the Rum river for Small mouth. I will take a 3lb river smallie fight over a 5lb lake bass any day

Plus Get some bonus walleyes and big Northern as well

  

[gim]

I'm not sure why rivers are so over looked here.  Its probably because we have so many lake options.  Plus some of these stretches of the river are quite shallow/rocky so I think that turns people off about launching a sizable boat.

[TheEyesofanAngler]

I’ve heard phenomenal things about the rivers, willhave to pull the kayak out and get on it. Thank you everyone for the feedback. I’ve checked out Clearwater, I really enjoyed it but lately it seems to tough for my 14ft boat to be stable out there on a windy day.  I’ve had success in Avon lately. 

[Rick]

Nice outing and very nice pics.

[Rick G]

Those are some nice fat bass. Avon area is fun, lots of good water out there. Spunk chain has nice green bass and a bonus walleye now and then.  . Pelican and Pine are both worth a try a couple times a yr as well, have done very goid on Pine when its been too windy to get on the bigger lakes. You mentioned a kayak? St Johns lakes are awsome, though I haven't been out there in couple yrs

[TheEyesofanAngler]

it definitely is a good area! i appreciate the advice i''ll definitely get out there a couple times to give it a try. Yes, i do have a kayak. My friend is always talking about st johns.

 

Side note: Has anyone ever had a chance to get out to Calhoun or Lake of isles?  I heard the bass are there in fairly large size.. 

[Wanderer]

4 hours ago, TheEyesofanAngler said:

Side note: Has anyone ever had a chance to get out to Calhoun or Lake of isles?  I heard the bass are there in fairly large size.. 

I used to fish the City lakes quite a bit many years ago.  Calhoun was a go to for me to have a fun bass fishing day.  I can’t tell you how things are now but back then (1990’s) I’d not only expect numbers but at least one 5 lbr each outing.  My best from there was 6lb 4oz caught on a 10 inch black/blue Power Worm.  We used Carolina Rigged lizards as our second best bait.  We lost some of those to the muskies though.

Lake of the Isles was not as good to us but had more interesting Muskie stories than Calhoun did.  

Heck, is it even called “Calhoun” anymore?

[TheEyesofanAngler]

it actually was renamed from my understanding, but its easier for me to go with the old name.. i definitely would want to head out there. Thanks wanderer for the feedback. might've been the push i needed to go wet the lines next week.