Ice Fishing on Lake Minnetonka

[wobert]

Best bays and depths to find walleye in Lake Minnetonka and best times to go out? Plan to go out tomorrow.

[Wanderer]

I’ve always experienced a pretty narrow bite windows out there - typical of heavily weeded lakes.  2 hours max around first light and last light.  Never did over nights on that lake though.  I’ve also caught walleye in just about every part of the lake with my biggest coming from Stubbs.

 

My best water was more main lake structure on either the upper or lower main lakes; upper probably having the best average.  Spring Park to the Narrows has tons of fishable water.

 

I preferred points that extended beyond the weed line and would drill the whole area out from 10 - 30 fow within 200 feet so I could run a tip up over the weeds and jig the deeper holes until the eyes started moving.  DO THIS WELL BEFORE THE BITE WINDOW.  You could see or catch them deeper and keep moving up the point to the shallower holes as they moved up.  Once they hit the weeds it was usually over and I’d head home since it was also usually a week night I’d go out after work.

 

I suspect this pattern works quite a few places but it played out pretty reliably when I was there.  I have caught walleye in that lake in 4-8 fow also.  Find some scattered boulders on sand or gravel flats for that.

 

Be quiet and keep the lights low.

 

Give us a report back please.

[Grayson Everett]

You're right. Really great place for fishing.

[Pigmeat]

As long as we're on the subject, any current info on ice conditions on Carson's Bay?

[Hookmaster]

A buddy was on Carson's last Sunday. He sent me pics of trucks and wheelhouses. He didn't say how much ice though. Use this info at your own risk.

[gimruis]

I would not pull a house with a truck on Lake Minnetonka, anywhere.  Just because some other fools did it without checking doesn't mean you should too.

 

Last week the east arm had about 15 trucks out there on less than 10 inches of ice.  Some places only had 5 inches.

[Hookmaster]

Just texted my buddy. He said there were 15 inches of ice and about 100 trucks. After the mild week we've had and the melting the past 3 days I would not drive out on the lake with a car/truck.

[Wanderer]

That’s a lot!

 

@wobert, any report from Wednesday?

Edited January 14, 2021 by Wanderer

[ozzie]

odd that Minnetonka has more ice than smaller lakes north of it...not saying it doesn't have 15" of ice but that surely surprises me when areas of the state with colder temps have less ice than that.  I would certainly check for myself before I just drove aimlessly onto a lake let alone one around the cities

[Wanderer]

Carson’s is a pretty sheltered area as far as Minnetonka goes.  Always been one of the early ice spots on the lake, especially with the access convenience and shelter from the big winds.  I agree, 15 is surprising but possible.

 

I talked to a friend from the Cross Lake area today and they’ve been hard pressed to find more than 9.5 on lakes they fish.  We’re running 9.5 - 12 in Central MN and I had up to 14 in Ely on New Year’s Day.

 

Never assume and always check, especially when going away from the crowds.

[gimruis]

13 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

access convenience

 

I used that access one time in the spring but there's nowhere to park.  There's no lot and the parking on the shoulder of the road requires some kind of designated parking pass.  Needless to say after I launched my boat and realized this, I had to load back up and go to another access.

[Wanderer]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

I used that access one time in the spring but there's nowhere to park.  There's no lot and the parking on the shoulder of the road requires some kind of designated parking pass.  Needless to say after I launched my boat and realized this, I had to load back up and go to another access.

Winter access.  I’ve never launched from a south side access.  I always used Wayzata, Spring Park, North Arm or Maxwell Bay when boating.  There were a few winter access spots scattered around but they were never marked.  And who knows, they could’ve been shut down since the last time I was on Minnetonka ice.

 

By the looks of the feedback, I’m either posting too much about this for some people or experiences with the lake have really gone down hill over the years.

 

I’ve sometimes considered going back to the Cities just to fish my old spots out there.  At one time I could’ve drawn a map of the lake from memory.  Of course looking at Navionics I see I was still missing a lot!

[gimruis]

15 hours ago, Wanderer said:

Winter access

OK so where do they park if the ice isn't thick enough to drive on then?

[Hookmaster]

What part of the lake do you want to fish?

I grew up within a 1/2 mile of Maxwell Bay. There are a lot of nooks and crannies and old fire roads. I don't know if all are still open in the winter but knowing the part of the lake you want to fish will help find access locations and maybe parking.

Edited January 15, 2021 by Hookmaster

[gimruis]

That's not the issue.  I'm wondering where people park if they're using the Carson Bay access.

[Wanderer]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

OK so where do they park if the ice isn't thick enough to drive on then?

I don’t know dude and I’m not going to debate it.  I’ve never used it and always came in from the lake side to Carson’s and there were always people there.  
 

Besides a certain spot I know in that bay you now know most of what I know about it. 

[gimruis]

I haven't fished that bay in years.  The times I did go in there I did pretty well though.  The entire bay is minimum wake so there tends to be less man-made waves than on other portions of the lake.

[Hookmaster]

During the summer I've seen rigs parked down by the pickle ball courts to the west of the access. I don't think there is a permit required there but not sure. There were spots open right across Mtka. Blvd. from the access when I've seen rigs by the pickle ball courts. Don't know if it's plowed in the winter. In the attached pic it shows this lot as parking for the Deephaven City offices which are in the nearby. See "P" in the lower left of the pic.

Maybe I'll swing by there this weekend and see. I need excuses to exercise the truck.

[mulefarm]

You can park along Minnetonka Blvd.  The enforcement is from May1 to October 1. Just watch for the signs. Also the lot by the pickle ball courts is plowed and open.

[gimruis]

On 1/15/2021 at 6:38 PM, mulefarm said:

The enforcement is from May1 to October 1.

 

OK, so where do you park from May to October?  It basically prohibits anyone without a special pass from launching their boat there.

[Wanderer]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

OK, so where do you park from May to October?  It basically prohibits anyone without a special pass from launching their boat there.

Seems intentional, I would say.  They’d probably have too many and maybe too congested there?  Or just more of closed residential perk?

 

Nice to have some discussion on it even though the OP didn’t seem to care after all.

[mulefarm]

I believe the city of Deephaven owns the ramp and the parking on the south side of Minnetonka Blvd. Residents have a pass to park there and along blvd between the signs from  May 1 to October 1. The lot by the pickle ball courts and the lot by Deephaven Elementary are open to people without city pass. You don’t need a pass to launch your boat at the landing.

[gimruis]

14 hours ago, mulefarm said:

I believe the city of Deephaven owns the ramp and the parking on the south side of Minnetonka Blvd. Residents have a pass to park there and along blvd between the signs from  May 1 to October 1. The lot by the pickle ball courts and the lot by Deephaven Elementary are open to people without city pass. You don’t need a pass to launch your boat at the landing.

 

Ok so I'm not a Deephaven resident so I can't even get a pass to park there.  In other words, there is no public parking someone with a trailer at that access then.

 

Guess I won't consider that a an option or real public access if there's no parking.

[Wanderer]

Here you go @gimruis You can feel like a resident for at least a little while.

[Hookmaster]

26 foot and it has 3 fishing holes.   

Attached are a couple of pics of the bay where the access is. The larger part of the bay to north has way more houses than this.

[Wanderer]

Looks like the shanty town that sprung up around my house in central MN.  Just moved it off to a new, less populated spot and now have someone drilling by me.

[gimruis]

On 1/23/2021 at 10:20 AM, Hookmaster said:

The larger part of the bay to north has way more houses than this.

 

 

Any idea what the target fish is?  I know there's a nice weedline along a deep edge in there but I can't imagine that many people chasing pike...

[jlang_04]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

 

Any idea what the target fish is?  I know there's a nice weedline along a deep edge in there but I can't imagine that many people chasing pike...

Hey gimruis I was there Saturday morning (my car is the silver equinox in the pic) and my vex was lit up with gills all morning. I took three decent sized ones from there before heading to Black Lake. Guy next to me left around 10 with his limit if crappies. Another guy pulled a decent (looked like 14-16" bass on his tip up. Black Lake had bigger gills but same thing there-numbers were insane! 

[Hookmaster]

Panfish. A lot of sorting on the sunnies. My buddy usually puts up a tip up also and will catch an occasional nort. This one looks like it has some small sunnies in it. 

[gimruis]

3 hours ago, Hookmaster said:

Panfish. A lot of sorting on the sunnies

 

Ya there's no shortage of dinky sunfish in that lake