Lake Osakis Memorial Weekend

[StrosLit31]

Was up fishing Osakis this last weekend and I saw a lot of boats out fishing but didnt see anybody pull in any fish? Just wondering how everybody did? We took home 3 nice walleyes sun. night (20" to 22") trolling in 7-8ft of water with rap's and also got 3 northerns and about a 5 lb dog fish, but no walleye until after dark.

[alaskadreamin]

I was up this weekend, Thurs did well a couple of eye's at dusk, lots of small pike. Sat and Sun, again lots of small pike, but boated several in the 6-8lb range, some bass, eye's didn't come in until late, guessing boat traffic, but some nice ones were being caught.......

[fishinphilth]

Caught plenty of eyes in 12-17ft, right at the weed line. Bobber fishing with a red or green hook and leech or shinner. Caught more northern with the shinner though. Between 7pm-10pm. Caught some nice bass during the day casting spinners in 7-12ft. Water is really clear this year. Darker colors are your best bet. Probally have about 1-2 weeks before they start moving deeper. Like to know where else people are getting them.

[This message has been edited by fishinphilth (edited 05-27-2003).]

[bendaryesterday]

Did not get a chance to fish much shot a rod threw the motor sat after noon. friday night caught a few eyes no keepers 17ft jiging
The bass and pike were HOT have to love mid day action. I never tried to troll raps for eyes before on the lake where abouts did you fish? I talked to an old timer he said he never puts the boat in the water durin the weeked to much pressure little bite . Im heading back up On sun threw wed Hope to have as nice weather as last weekend

Good luck to all

SHOULD HAVE BEEN DAR YESTERDAY

[NELS-BELLS]

Hmmm, Bass and Pike...sounds like fun!
Bendaryesterday- How were you getting them? and please don't say, in the lips. I am heading up this weekend and I would like to bend the rod for a change, walleye fishing ain't cuttin it.
Nels

[E.Martin]

Fished Friday and Saturday evenings. We casted shadraps over the bull rushes from 2 1/2 mile to 3 mile, caught lots and lots of northerns, but no walleye. Sounds like I quit too early.

[bendaryesterday]

Nels bels the best bite seemed to be on a brite jointed rapala casting in the shallow rushes for bass. The pike came trolling with raps east side by four mile.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL

SHOULD HAVE BEEN DAR YESTERDAY

[mnwild]

Sounds like the fish are bitting pretty well on the lake. Do you think they will continue to bite this well? I am heading up there June 13th and 14th staying at the Linewood resort and plan on doing alot of fishing.

[E.Martin]

mnwild:
The bite should be pretty good on the 13th, but the 14th will be tough. The annual lion's club tourney fall on th 14th & 15th. You should be able to find fish on the breaklines and humps 17 - 23 feet. Looks like you are staying at Linwood, it is pretty nice. I worked there five years in High school. Well Good Luck!

[mnwild]

e.martin,
thanks for the info. I have been going to Osakis for about 20 years now, my friends parents own Just Like Grandma's and use to have a cabin on Battle Point, sold that and bought a house on the lake right in town. I am pretty familiar with the lake but never really fished hard for Walleye's, always the Northerns we would fish. I did see that the tournement is going on that weekend so maybe I will have to watch where they are fishing and follow behind them.
Im glad you said that resort is pretty nice, I feel much better knowing that

[Finlander]

Go watch the take-off for the tournament on saturday or sunday morning from the public access in town. It's pretty cool watching 50 high powered boats take off full blast!
There are 100 boats total so only 50 are allowed at a time!

[mnwild]

That would be cool to see, I see they start at 7am so probably have to get there around 6:30.

[This message has been edited by mnwild (edited 05-29-2003).]

[alaskadreamin]

For Pike we troll Spoons on the reed lines, easy for kids and downrite good time if they are biting, and the little pike always seem to be biting. Gotta sort through them to get some decent ones. Fry the tails and pickle the rest!!

Then towards evening we switch to Shads, perch usuall work the best and work the same reed lines. We fish the southwest corner of the lake, mostly. Why run all over the lake when you get everything right in front of the house? Heading up in the morning, good luck fishin......

[james_walleye]

Just got back from my week on Osakis. I would say the fishing was pretty good. I'd say we boated 60-70 walleyes into my crestliner. All caught from 9:00pm to as late as 2:30am. All caught on lighted bobbers and leeches in about 11-12'. Biggest was a 24" released with a lot of fish in the 16-17" range and a lot put back that were about 14". I honestly didnt try walleye fishing much during the day, i wish i had, im sure i could have found some. Big sunnies were up shallow. We did catch six 13-14" crappies last sunday afternoon in the pencil weeds. Where we caught them was right in the thick stuff and with the wind blowing in there almost every other day we didnt have as much luck with the crappies after that. Reservations for next year are already set!

[E.Martin]

The tournament take-off is now a one-by-one boat ordeal. Three years ago it was changed from the shotgun start because off safety concerns.

[mnwild]

thanks for the update on Osakis. I still have 2 weeks before I get up there. Hopefully the fishing stays hot. Where abouts on the lake were you fishing catching the Walleye's?

[This message has been edited by mnwild (edited 06-02-2003).]

[bennybear]

The walleyes, bass and northerns were biting on the north side on memorial day weekend. I long line trolled most of the afternoon on sunday and caught 3 Bass, 6 northerns and 4 walleyes. All fish were released. The bass were all cought on 4 3/4 in floating raps in gold color in 5-7 feet over weeds, and the walleys and northerns came from 12-15 feet over weeds with a silver hot-n-tot. Largest bass 18 in, largest northern 31 in. largest walleye 19 inches. They seemed to like speed. I would expect with alot less traffic and pressure they would be even better now.

[james_walleye]

We fished this spot 5 nights last week. It was memorial day evening when we did the best. About 25 eyes with 10 keepers all 16-18". The night before we only stayed until 10:00 and we only caught 3. We realized monday evening that the eyes didnt really move in until about 10:30. Tuesday through thursday we caught about 10-15 eyes each evening with anywhere from 3-6 being keepers. We were always the last boat left, everyone else left too early, about 10:00, except for 1 boat at the end of the week that was at our resort. We told them what was going on and they caught some fish the last 2 nights also. Seemed like when the walleyes moved in they really pushed the rock bass out.

[StrosLit31]

James_Walleye,
You say you boated 60-70 walleyes so was that like 10 walleyes a night or did you get most of them on one night and slow other nights? Also was there alot of other people out fishing compared to how many people are out there on the weekends. Well im glad you got some walleyes. any info you have would be nice.

[NELS-BELLS]

We fished the Big O last Sat. from 10 to 4PM. Because it was mid day we decided to troll for northerns and caught and released about 10 or 12...mostly small and a few Bass. We found most fish in the pencil reeds. We used white spinnerbaits tipped with a small sucker minnow. We went to the Head of the Lake Resort for lunch and saw lots of Sunfish, crappies and bass in the shallows around the docks. The water sure is clear right now.
Nels

[mnwild]

I have been hearing the water has been clear compared to the past years, does anyomne know why this would be. For the Sunnies, I think this is going to be the weekend that you will be able to catch them if they are still spawning.

[NELS-BELLS]

My friend told me that a few years ago they put a new sewer system in the town of Osakis. I think before that a lot of people along the lake had old leaky septic systems and also the runoff from the streets went into the lake. My info may not be totally correct so don't quote me. But the lake seems to be a lot cleaner than years past, which makes for a harder day bite for walleyes.
Nels

[Finlander]

I have fished Osakis since 1967 to tell you to wait until the first 90 degree warm spell and you will see the algae bloom bigtime!
The water in Osakis is always clear until then and then boom, the algae will cloud up the water and the fishing will get better!
The DNR put a sediment pond on Curtis Creek to allow the sediment to settle in the pond therefor restricting the sediment, cow manure, etc. to continue downstream to Osakis.
As said previously, the sewaers and septics have been improved and or removed to eliminate seepage into the lakes from homes and cabins which will result in cleaner water!
But I still think the algae bloom is just the first heat wave away!

[Hoyter]

I agree that the water is noticeably clearer this year. I think having a "normal" water level so far has helped out a lot. Two years ago everything around the lake flooded picking up a lot of fertilizer and farm run off. Last year the high water began about this time and kept rising right when the farmers were hitting the fields again.

However, I do agree that the first significant heat wave will certainly add some green to the lake. But for now, I'll enjoy sightfishing panfish in the shallow clear water!

[mnwild]

I HOPE THE WATER STAYS CLEAR UNTIL AFTER NEXT WEEKEND AFTER I AM THERE. I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT SPOTFISHING THE SUNNIES. WE HAMMERED THEM ABOUT 3 YEARS AGO UP THERE DOING THAT. GOT SOME NICE SLABS OUT OF THEM.