ottertail lake

[frabillfisher]

wondering if anyone here has fished ottertail lake in ottertail county..its a big lake so wonderign if anyone has some good spots

[arbuck]

You may want to post this in the Ottertail section you may get better results.

arbuck

[Gissert]

I LOVE fishing Ottertail, even more so in the winter.

Good perch and walleye fishing, with occasional big pike. There is a slot size on pike now, however.

Get yourself the Fishing Hot Spots map. It has a lot of the better structure identified. There is tons more of structure to fish shown on the map, and even more places that do not show up on the contour map.

Stop in an Ken's tackle on the west end of the lake, and they are very good at pointing out where you should start.

[Mopad]

Ottertail is a very nice lake. Its a great lake to fish perch and walleye. The best fishing is in the beginning of the season. Start fishing the first breaks and as the season goes on start heading out to the humps. Find a good map of the lake and you will be amazed at the structure of this lake. For starters i would recommend to fish straight out of the pelican bay access on the first break.

[frabillfisher]

ya ive got a map and i fish it quite often but only about 3 years ago have i ever left with my limit...never seem to do to good maybe i have to fish it during the 4in time usualy fish it late...worst ive ever done is last year got 3 walleyes out of 10 days so took house of for year o ya and 3 pouts

[Mopad]

I agree about not being able to fill out on a limit. Last year we moved our fish house off of ottertail after many nights without a single bite and moved it to Walker lake to find some panfish. The slow fishing was also due to the mid winter warmup when there was 6 inches of water on top of the ice. There are big fish in that lake, they are just hard to find. This year we are going to try Rush Lake, hopefully there will be alittle more action.

[ironman]

I'll have to desagree. I went out to OT five times last year from first ice, mid winter, to late ice and did well, really well every time. In my experience, the key to doing well out there consistently is to find, and excuse the cliche, the spot on the spot. Look at your map....I mean really look at your map. When you see your typical, classic structure...look around it. Why are they there...where are they coming from or going to....try to intersept them. Move...Move....Move...Move. Only one of the five trips out there did I not have to move. Plopped the house down...and the fish were stacked..all day. perch...and the occasional eye...then after dark....eye fest. Those days are rare however. In fact...one day..the slowest, to begin with anyways. I notice that a school of perch would come in about every 45 minutes or so....with the Aqua-view I noticed that it was the same exact school everytime....one of the fish had a distinct spot on it's tail. After I realized that these fish "knew" me...I moved to my secondary spot..and it was loaded with fis the didn't know me...and therefore...mmmmmmm, tasty. Other than my first ice spot which is no secret...honestly...I have only two spots I ever fish out there and they dont let me down..at least not yet. Good luck. And no you cant have the gps coordinates.

[frabillfisher]

ya true true but most of the good spots I usualy fish are packed with people later in the year or if theres no one there tht usaly is telling u something..

[ironman]

Ok...here's what to look for. You know those spots that have a ton of people on it...look around there...look for a smaller spot in the near vicinity. My two spots are these kind of spots, in my opinion this smaller spots that people dont fish, their fishing the main sturcture, act as a refuge for pressured fish. I fish a small reef which is about 100-150 yards from a large fairly popular one. I've been catching fish on that sturcture when the people over there were getting very little. You need a good map these spots are small....the one main one I fish is probably only 30- 40 yards long.