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Big Birch


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went out and got two nice northerns about 10 and 8# and one 14 inch walleye and alot of bass I saw alot of walleyes on the camera but as usual could not get them to bite most ofthem were in about 17 to 19 feet of water in front of the narrows if anyone has been getting any walleyes Iwould appreciate some help thanks Josh

[This message has been edited by sjogren (edited 08-22-2001).]

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Im planning on going to BigBirch tonight was wondering if anyone had any good info Iwill be fishing for walleyes I herd they were bitting but all small ones. If you could help me out it would be greatly appreciated thanks Josh

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  • 3 weeks later...

well it's just like the new guy to pop on to the message board with a bunch of questions but here goes.Big Birch is my absolute favorite haunt and although I seldom limit out when I'm chasing walleye's I think I've done allright in the past, however the past two outings have left me a bit miffed.Labor day weekend was a bust for me personally but I figured that it had as much to do with mis-timing the weather and the recreational activity at the time.This morning I hit the water at 5am. with a game plan and although the barometer and the wind direction told me things would be slow I never thought I could spend all day on the water and not catch a single keeper.It seems I go through this every year just before/during turnover and I was wondering what tactics /bait/etc. you more successful anglers are using. Thank you in advance for any and all reply's to my first ever post. Perhaps the lightning and storms from the past 36 hours affected the fishing more than I want to admit. I know people on the lake and all accounts lately from them have been pretty good regarding the low light periods.The only eager biters I found were 8" bass and small sunfish.

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Kudos to all involved on this board! I have been following this and many other sites for well over a year it seems and I am absolutely amazed by the accuracy of the information from day to day.I feel pretty psyched about finally getting registered and hope one day to put someone and their family on some fish like Scott s,gullguide and others have done for me. thanks again. Keep the Big/little birch posts coming pleeeaaase.

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A new day! An awesome sunday morning! What a difference a day makes.Yesterday I was contemplating boat storage and wondering if a new lake was what I needed and today ,...WOW! I have just got to go to Big Birch and find those 10oz sunnies! But wait,..the vikes open the season today with all those forgotten failures of yesteryear and especially LAST year.I should stay home and watch the game just in case the team shows up for the opener.And who could forget the lawn.Well I have and it is a good eight inches high! Should I do what I'm supposed to do or do what I want to do which is to head west on I94?This is torture!!!! The barometer has been holding steady for the last 12hours,the sun is shining and virtually no wind.I have decided,...I'll watch the game until either the vikes are up by 40 or down by 10,mow the lawn and if I have any energy left I'll take my sweetie and my four year old to boulder ridge for nine holes of cussing and swearing.I gotta be nuts! P.S. if you do go fishing and the fish do bite please keep it to yourself,.....I'm not sure I'm man enough to take it.

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I was hoping someone would reply sooner or latter. hope you got preoccupied befor the game and did not waste your time watching.should have gone fishing instead. I havent gone to Big Birch Lately I was out on Two rivers and Kings lake Thursday and Friday I cought two nice walleyes on two rivers and a small mouth bass. On kings lake lots of small sunnies and the biggest bullheads I have ever seen. planning on going to big birch this week I will post a reply when I get back

Josh

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Hi Aqua Eye and Josh,
it's very nice to see a couple more avid St. Clould anglers on the board.

A lot of the guys are upat Leech this weekend fishing the FishingMinnesito Championship tourney.

I'll bet ScottS and GullGuide will be happy to see a couple more like you two.

Thanks for the posts.

Take care guys and
GoodFishin : )
Rick

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hey Josh-thanks for the post my wife was starting to rip on me about how often I've been checking the board for one. I did watch the game until the late game touchback and that finally motivated me to hit the yard work. I finished mowing in the rain just so I don't have to think about it for another month,he he he. I have been holding tight to my vacation this summer so that I could use a big chunk on some fall fishing! When the weather cools down enough that golden shiners are more readily available I'll pay a couple more visits to birch.This coming weekend is all planned out for me thanks to my wifes side and although I'll be on my second favorite haunt ,( near pequot lakes) I need to tow the trailer and leave the boat at home. Keep me posted and I'll do likewise. Troy p.s. I couldn't tell you what the water temp. was this past weekend but the shorter days have definately affected the weeds.Things are turning brown fast.

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sjogren-

Haven't been out to Big Birch lately but have a buddy who fished it all weekend. He had no luck with walleyes- just all the largemouth you want to catch. Also did well on sunfish. Any tips you could give me for fishing walleyes on Two Rivers? My new girlfriend has a cabin out there and I was pretty confused on where to fish eyes. Any help would be appreciated!

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Maybe someone on this board could give me some info on a couple of lakes I used to spend some time on before I started devoting most of my time to Big. One of the lakes we used to do pretty well on was Big Swan for walleyes as well as crappies. Of course this was 4-5 years ago and I haven't seen anything on this site about how the fish have been hitting this summer and I was just a little curious. If anyone has been playing around on Little Birch could you share some info there also? I don't know the lake personally as well as Big but I hear from trustworthy sources that the fishing is as good if not better on Little Birch. What do you think? thanks for your time----troy

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Hi Troy I fished Big Swan last year late sept and caught a lot of nice crappies on the north side of the narrows towards the east shore in 10 to 15 feet of water. planing on going back this year I will post a report when I go.
I did fish little birch this year a few times for walleyes but did not do very well caught a lot of small mouth but not very many walleyes. I must be doing something wrong because I have also heard its as good as big birch if not better.
Josh

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Baitcaster,
this is the first year I have fished two rivers lake in the summer time. and found out you have to fish in 4-8 feet of water with a long snell and nightcralwer. I usually fish the north part of the lake where the river runs in on the east side near the mouth there is a bar that runs parrell with the shore to the north and if the nightcrawler dosent work I'll troll with a shallow shad. another good spot is the island do the same thing there in 4-8 feet. If you have an aqua-vu take a look you wont belive all the fish down there.
Hope that will help
Josh

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Glad to see some new names here. Welcome guys. I went away for one weekend and the Big Birch section exploded. I can't wait to get back out on the water. Unfortunately I left my boat up in Park Rapids, as I will be back there this weekend. Keep the posts coming. The walleye bite will really be turning on here in the next couple weeks and I am ready. Again, Keep the posts coming guys!ScottS

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ScottS
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to all the readers of this board--We live a fortunate life up here in the north of this country and today please take the time to set your life in order,..hug your kids if you have them tell your family you love them and remember those less fortunate people today and in the days to come.Those of you who know how to pray,...your services are needed immediately!The whole world is watching.

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Hi everyone and thank you josh for the reply once more. Scotts I have been paying a lot of attention to your posts for quite a while now,your words carry a lot of weight with me back in st.cloud.I have relatives on Rice and the Chain, and a childhood pal living on Browns lake and your info has been right on from all accounts.I have a question for you,... do you remember a fishing legend who went by the name of Twerp? jps---Right On!!! p.s. josh those were some nice slabs weren't they?!?!

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Hi everyone and God bless you all! I have Big Birch slated onto my weekend schedule,most likely early morning to mid afternoon on saturday. I'm hoping for westerly or south breezes on my favorite structures to do a little slip bobber fishing. I love slip bobbering with gold shiners.That's what I seem to have the best luck with,personal preference I guess.I just anchor on the very edge of the weeds in about 16-18 feet and keep that minnow lively and in their face.Of course the zercom tells me the fish are there and the aqua view tells me what kind they are and what kind of mood they are in. Anyway it's been a couple of weeks for me and I really miss being on the water.After this past week and the sports free weekend I was able to plug away at the "to do " list so now I can exercise my hookset!!!! Did anyone give fishing a shot to clear their mind these past few days? If so,how did you do? Josh? Scotts? Anybody? Thanks again----Troy

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Troy
I have not been out but im planning on going out tomarrow morning to sauk lake I heard big sunnies were bitting. Might stop by big birch and see if I can get a walleye to bite I will post a reply when I get back.

Josh

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HI
I went out to big sauk lake and launched by Diamond point and caught a very nice bunch of crappies and sunnies pretty much anywhere in that bay in 6-8 feet. A good spot to take your kids.
I did not make it to big birch I was having to much fun on sauk.
Josh



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Troy-
Just got back from sauk again and caught fish nonstop I used a meps xd spinner instead of baiting my hook every two seconds
and caught alot more northerns but not as many crappies did get one very nice sunnie about 12 inches.
The water is pretty dirty but I ate the ones I caught last night and they were good.Some of the northerns had black spots on them what is that or what causes it and are they all right to eat?
Josh

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Josh-I really think you need to get a job like mine,how unfair huh? My father-in-law has this saying,..."If I had what that guy has and he had a feather up his BUTT we'd both be tickled." Right now YOU are that guy!!! I would have guessed that the fishing would have been kinda slow lately but obviously not.Why call them SUNfish right? The last couple of days the weather has been,...well....kinda crappie.So two days in a row you are the man.What do you work nights,go to school,retired or what?! Congratulations and thank you for sharing the info. As for the black specks I have always thought that they looked a little like "chiggers" but as long as there aren't a million of them and you don't eat your fish raw I don't see how they (the chiggers) could hurt you.I would just deep fry them and lemon pepper 'em and eat'em. Do you think you'll be out on BIG this weekend? If so I'm the guy in the blue metallic bass boat with the outboard so big that it looks like it would sink the boat! That's not really my dream package but that is how they made those motors back in '79. Someday hopefully soon I'll get my hands on an Alumacraft or something. I have been eyeing one out on CR75 by st.joe for sale but I just can't justify spending more on a boat than I spent on my Jeep. Okay.That's a lie,...I can justify it easy enough but what I'm not able to do is justify it to my wife. Now you did it.First you catch fish while I'm slaving away at work and then you get me going on "the boat",now that really hurts.Talk to you later---Troy

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Josh-you dog! Way to go! Thanks for the post.I have been noticing quite a few crappies mixed in with sunnies,smallies,largemouth and the occasional Walleye on a weedy point of the big grass island on Big Birch. I drop the camera down there just to see if the locator is working and there they are !That is part of the reason I have been so frustrated the last couple of trips to the lake, I couldn't coax a nibble out of anything with any real size and I just didn't have the time to wait them out last trip.Did the fish bite pretty steady all day or were there some definate peaks. Perhaps a quick shutdown followed by a northern or big largemouth and then back to catching panfish again. Did you keep a meal.Just curious because although I have never fished Sauk I was told by someone last summer that the water is real muddy.True or false this year?Sounds as though you had a great time and that's what keeps us coming back right?I'm hoping for a day like that Saturday although I'll be flying solo. Talk to you later-----Troy

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Troy-
I did not make it out today my list was getting pretty long. I do work but im recovering from surgery. I did see that boat in St joe (Alumacraft) Looks like a nice boat if were talking about the same one.
if you bought a new boat and pulled it with your old truck you wouldnt be the olny one with your priorties right.
there is a leech lake guide selling his boat its a very nice alumacraft tiller for a fair price.
I will not be out this weekend I have to go to a wedding in the cities. I have a blue lund with a yamaha tiller Im sure Ill see you out there sooner or later. let me know how you do this weekend (while you are sitting in a nice cushin air ride pedistal seat Ill be sitting in a hard wooden curch pew) have fun!
Josh

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Josh-No better way to recoup from an injury in my eye's than to sit in a boat on a lake somewhere and catch a tasty meal.Fish is healthy as it gets too,and that can't hurt the healing process.Thanks for the note on the alumacraft but I'm 99.9% sure I'm not ready to take on the payment right now.Maybe this time next year,maybe not.The idea is hard to let go of,but even if money were not an object to consider,that boat by st.joe is perfect for what I do now as well as what else I could do with it.Such as fish some bigger water,or tournaments or whatever.I feel somewhat restricted in a few areas with what I have now.Anyway,I hope to have some sort of good news for you when I get back.I'm taking shiners, fatheads,crappie minnows as well as crawlers so if the fish feel like chomping I'll do a little entice-ing! Enjoy the wedding,don't over-do it and if there is something worth sharing I'll let you know later.-------Troy

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Josh--No plan,no matter how thorough can predict what will happen when mother nature takes over. I left town and the wind was light out of the northwest.I get to the lake and the wind is south-easterly but light.Clear skies above me with light clouds approaching from the southeast as the sun rises.What has my attention in the far edge of the northwest horizon is a lightning show from a far off thunderhead. I thought to myself that the storm I'm watching must have passed by except it seems to be getting bigger not smaller.
Over the next couple of hours the storm blew right in and although I stuck it out until about 8am the fishing in my area didn't amount to much.I tried to sit the storm out for an hour in my jeep but it looked like we were in for a soggy day so I packed up the boat and disgustingly headed home.
I'm going to try and take a day or two in the middle of the week if the schedule at work lightens up enough.The water was very scummy looking,I'd say the lake is turning over.Talk to you later---Troy

PS. If you had to go to a wedding this past weekend was a good one for it,huh?

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Troy-
It was a beautiful weekend to go to the cities and a much better day for a wedding.
there is nothing worse then sitting inside a church on a nice day.
Our car broke down in the cities so we had to barrow one to get home doesn't sound like it was a very productive weekend for either of us. let me know if you go to big birch this week. I might try to make it out also.
Josh

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Josh-
Well I have tomorrow as well as friday off and guess what? You guessed it, I'm heading west. I think it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow so I may give up on the walleyes early if I can't find a steady bite by mid-morning. My better half says I better come home with something this time so I may be fishing for panfish. I would like to find a couple more spots that I can use this winter. Maybe I'll see you out there ---Troy

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