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HELP!! Where are they?


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Sheesh...I thought the fish would welcome this lifelong North Dakotan to Minnesota by jumping right out of the holes in my fish house. Found out the past couple days I was wrong!

Maybe the things that worked in ND don't work in Mn. I noticed most of the lakes in the Hawley/Detroit Lakes area are much clearer than most I fished in ND. I tried down to 30' from the weeds in 5'. Not only am I not catching them but I'm not seeing them on the LX3 or AquaVu either. (Except for the very cool looking tiger muskie I saw on Middle Cormorant today.)

Anyone have any tips?

I've fished Silver (not on the top of the list but close to where I live, hoping for catfish)nothing, no bites!

Sand (saw some small perch)no bites.

Upper Cormorant (carefull...bad looking ice in the middle!)No bites, no sites!

Middle Cormorant (half a day, drilled 30 holes, only saw Muskie) no bites!

None of these had activity on the LX3.

HELP!!

Scott

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Hey....at least you're finding time to get out. I bought a new house and an LX-3 and haven't even used them yet!!

If you're interested in lakes with lots of walleyes I'd head over to Pelican, Big Cormorant or Sallie first--but that's just me. There are lots of good lakes and I'm sure some of the friendly folks on this forum who've actually been out already will steer you in the right direction.

Right guys?? grin.gif

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Hi ScottND

You're going to find the fishing quite a bit different than your probably used to. This isnt devils lake, lake of the woods or any number of small resevoirs, you are going to have to adapt.

You might want to dig around in the ice leaders site here at fishingminnesota and look for an article I wrote a few years ago called icing prairie lake trophy walleyes.

It sounds like your moving around alot! This is all fine and dandy for learning a lake in a hurry BUT the fish might only be active in feeding areas for a half hour or less each day, trick is to be there waiting. The fish are always "biting" otherwise they would soon starve to death..

I think I'd spend the winter looking around, feeling out some of the lakes then pick one or possibly two and get after them! When you get one lake nailed down you can go looking for similar situations on similar types of lakes.

I wonder if that was a tigger on middle c you saw? If it was it came a long ways up from pelican!

Keep your ear to the ground and you'll find the opportunity your looking for, been some decent hints in the ottertail forum lately, dont be afraid to drive. My dad always told me after I had a tough day on the water "what the heck is yer problem? the fish didnt get outta the lake!" lolol Happy hunting!! Paul

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Hey! I went and did some diggin around in the archives and found it! To all, dont be afraid to go looking back into fishingminnesotas archives, TONS of good information in there, free for the reading..

heres the article, see if I get this right, lolol

http://fishingmn.com/fishinfo44.html

Heres the archives, or the boneyard or the gutbucket or whatever you want to call the area where old articles go to fade into fishing history.How many of ya knew where this was? I lost it in the last update. I had also forgotten that thats how fishingminnesota looked when it was first born..Happy reading!.

http://fishingmn.com/fishinfo1.html

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Thanks for the links Paul...I'm on FM as much as I'm on the water and it's cool to see the original format. Probably the same thing I should be doing on the water...getting back to basics.

But what about all my toys??

Since I got my Aqua Vu & LX3 late last year I got spoiled right away the first time. I drilled and checked with the LX until I saw action then dropped the camera in for the first time...WAMMO...crappies...big ones!! 11" to 15", that wouldn't even move the bobber when inhaling the jig, but since I saw it in their month, set the hook, and had a dozen with no movement of even a neutral floating bobber. Lots of luck until ice off too.

This year I've seen a couple dinky perch, a carp and (yes, definitly) a tiger muskie! in about the same time as all the action last year. confused.gif

Which lake should a person go to to see the most fish?

Just fish, walleyes aren't a priority yet.

Thanks,

Scott

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well here is my advice and i put this to the test consistently last year when i was new to the area and had lots of luck.

i'm looking for about 17-22 feet of water. the catch is.. its this depth after it slopes off of a sunken island or rock pile or ridge, etc. i use a vex. to find where it drops and where it starts to flatten out on the bottom into a basin. then i set up right on the edge or maybe up to 20 yards away. the crappies will often suspend at the height which is the same as the top of the sunken island ridge. etc. stay late. glow jigs. and i have a innovative way to hook minnows to. remove the tail and feed the hook along the back and poke it out right where the dorsal fin is.

good luck. and maybe we can just go fishing together sometime.

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Scott,

Hop on the DNR website and check out some lake maps to find drops and sunken islands. Find the general area and then start drilling. I dunno about the marcum but the vex can giev depth right through the ice as long as you clear the snow away and put some water on top of it so just walk around and find a nice break. Gophish and I have used this to our advantage more than once on a new lake.

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ScottND

New to Hawley, eh? Well I don't know what to tell you. I was spoiled when I first started fishing the area hard in the late 90s. My fishing has gotten worse each season.

My buddy and I did ice our first 'eye last night. We have had aboiut 10 trips to various lakes or ponds in the Hawley area and we finally got one. We missed one at about 6:50 p.m. but nailed one at 7:15. It was about 17 inches and a fatty.

We didn't mark a fish all day except for a pesky pike that we saw on the camera. He hit each of our four minnows but didn't swallow. It just teased us. That reminds me of another story ... This one time, at band camp .... No time for that now.

I don't know what to say ... Hang in there.

You can e-mail me directly if you want. I'll try and let you know where I've tried and my luck.

Hey Zelek -- who are you?

[email protected] -- You must send it to NET or it won't work.

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Hey there Gophish,

Tried your technique today on Sand (east of Hawley 7 miles) I don't think this is a lake with the type of fish I'm looking for. I used the aqua vu (great clarity) and saw hundreds of stunted perch and a few small snot rockets. Caught some of each (the snot rockets LOVE chubby darters!) Thought, by the DNR stocking report, I might see/catch some walleyes/crappies/bluegills but no luck. If your'e going out in the next couple of days (Sat/Sun) let me know...I've got the maps/clam voyager/LX3/Aqua Vu/Jiffy, and lots of auger gas. I'm always ready to burn some holes and do some fish hunting! Now...hmmm...which lake next?

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ScottND,

i'm sick of home so i'm heading back up to fargo tommorow.

leave your email or cell number on here and i'll get a hold of you sometime during the week while i'm up there before school starts.

gophish

[email protected]

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