Whats Your Opinion???

[Guest]

O.K guys this is just something I thought would be fun to hear your response and talk about. I along with my three boys love catching and eating a fresh meal of sunfish. ( we keep only enough for one meal--no freezer stockers )
In the spring we do also go after the crappies for a while, but the rest of the summer we are usually on a constant search for the best "sunny fishing" As we dont have a cabin up north anywhere or anything like that we go around all over to explore new waters that look like they might be good? The D.N.R website gives me the sunfish numbers but I am more interested in the quality of fish than the quantity of fish in a lake. I am not asking anyone to give up theyre own G.P.S cordinates to theyre favorite summer honey hole or anything. ( those should be e-mailed to me privately ) But just your opinion on wich lakes are the best sunny lakes. Of course in the wright county area of lakes-- (we fish these quite a bit allready) but also anywhere else in the greater minnesota area

I'll go first, In the short time I have lived near and fished the annandale area lakes I have had pretty good luck finding "eater size" sunnys on Sugar Lake.
Nothing huge but enough to get a couple fillets off of without haveing to do maybe as much sorting of the real small ones as on other lakes. I dont know for sure , but think the muskies in the lake might have something to do with keeping it from getting overpopulated and stunted. I do however know for sure that they eat the panfish--last summer as my son realed in a sunfish a VERY BIG MUSKY deciced it wanted that fish and clamped on--it didnt let go of the thing untill it was halfway in our boat and left us with half a fish After seeing that my small dog is no longer allowed to play fetch in that lake!!!!

[hydro]

Pete,

Clearwater is always a good bet for nice sized sunfish. Because of the lake's size there are innumerable spots where you can find the fish and this can sometimes be a bit daunting. I've been fishing there for many years and have always received the same canned answer from the local bait shop of "fish at 10-12feet on the weedline", which narrows the structure down to about 50 miles or so of weedline.

To save you some time, here are a couple of spots that you can try to start. Fish the bar in front of Camp Friendship in the east bay. Start at about 5-7 ft and work in and out from that depth along the bar. Another spot is just inside the entrance to Glendale bay. Anchor where you can see the bottom and fish the other side of the boat in the deep water.

Over the years both of these spots produced well for guests at our resort.

Good luck

[Fish-n-Freak]

Well, Pete -- I'm kind of in the same boat. I have a wife and a three year old (boy) that tend to get tired quickly. I can't spend too much time sorting out the little ones, because my total fishing time is limited. Lakes in the area that we like -- Sugar, Clearwater, Twin/Sylvia and Rebecca. All these lakes have great populations of BIG predator fish (Musky,Pike and Bass) all of which help to keep the numbers in check and the average size up there. The down side of the BIG fish, is that they keep the sunnies tight to the cover, you need to fish deep in the weeds rather than out on the edge.
Good Luck -- Nothing better than taking the family out for a day of fishing!

[fisherman]

I don't fish for sunfish all to often, but I do know some decent lakes up in the north country. Try gull lake up near bemidji, not the one in Brainerd. You will have no problem up there getting decent fish. Also, check the lakes up near perham dead lake star lake should be sure bets to get size and numbers. Thats my .02 cents worth, those lakes would be very good choices with a lot of opportunities to catch other fish also.

Good Fishin'

[This message has been edited by fisherman (edited 03-17-2002).]

[Guest]

There are numerous honey holes for nice sunfish in the emergent weed area that separates Maple Hill from the northwest half of the lake. It is often difficult to get in there, but once you find passage you'll know how to get in and out with relative ease.

An often overlooked panfish hole is the black hole at the northwest public launch. This hole drops to over 50 feet (often called "black pool" on commercial maps) and can be easily fished all around the edges. The key usually is getting deeper than the little guys so the slab 'gills can get to your bait. You won't burn much fuel if you launch right there and work the hole.

On Pleasant Lake, you can offer a good outing without bothering with the boat. Go to the public fishing ramp just west of the north launch ramp (off Hwy 39). Use spinning gear and toss slip bobbers out so you can reach deeper water. You'll see little guys congregating in the clear water around the dock. When the kids tire, they can hunt "treasures" along the fairly long public shoreland adjacent. And, there's a porta-potti at the ramp.

[Guest]

Pete, if you are familure with Sugar another lake close that has a good size and quantity is Limestone. I have not fished it a lot but when I have I have not been disapointed with the sunfish.