Crankbaits on Minnetonka

[Lowlight]

Been pulling crankbaits on shallow flats with some success but having troubles with all the milfoil. Seems like it's grown up to just under the surface. Even the floating Raps are forever snagging. Anybody got any tips for working the shallow weed flats effectively?

Thank you to all of you who make this site so helpful.

[markkstanley]

If you can find an inside edge about 20ft out from shore troll that - should be about 5ft deep or so rock best but sand OK. There are some places on Tonka that fit the description. Ought to be relatively weed free right now. You should be able to troll in 8ft to 10ft of water without collecting too many weeds this time of year. The milfoil tends to lay down on the windblown shorelines. But you should be hitting weeds from time to time - necessary evil. No way to drag any lure around milfoil without getting messed up that I know. I'll take cabbage anyday. But if you are just getting too frustrated move to the deep weed edge. The fish are there too. Oh one last trick is to remove some trebles - front hooks don't do much anyway and three sets of trebles is overkill. Most of my fish are hooked on the back trebles.

[Tonka Boy]

MedEvac,

That is something we have to deal with. There is no way around it. You certainly can cut down on the weeds by moving inside. By inside, I mean right up by shore. You'll just want to stay as close to the weeds as possible because that is where the fish are.

I've been at the shallow troll for a few weeks now. On nearly every pass I'm snagging leaves and/or weeds. Often times I can give a swift pull to clean them off. This tends to trigger strikes from time to time.

[Lowlight]

I'm glad to see I have the right idea... just wanted to see if I could be doing something else to make it more effective. I have been fishing the west side primarily - Cooks Bay down to Eagle, Crane and Boy Scout Islands. Thanks again for the info guys... I really appreciate it.