Prior or spring lake?

[wall-i-king]

Hey guys,

I am hoping to hit the water this weekend and am wondering if there are any crappies to be had for the guys in the boats. Any info would be appreciated and just let us know how you are doing out there. Hope they start snapping here before too long. Good luck to all that get out this weekend.

keep fishin'

wall-i-king

[tophopper]

I made it out on Saturday, caught 5-6 nice crappies on ...

er uh, prior lake

Note from Admin: Sorry no dead fish pictures

[wall-i-king]

Me a friend, his dad and another guy all made it out on the lake and decided we would try one of the bays. Starting out we didn't find them right away must a couple of bass but then we got to one spot and just started catching them on every cast. We ended up getting a limit of decent crappies and some more sunnies to add. I would bet that maybe three of the crappies were 11" but all the rest were between 8 and 10 also of note I added to the livewell a sunny that would have been 9" easy but never measured it. Fun day to be out and if I had to guess I would say we got around 175 fish in about 4.5 hours of fishing. Great day to be out and felt good to be in a boat.

keep fishin'

wall-i-king

[picksbigwagon]

you weren;t the four guys I saw from highway 13 in a gren adn tan alumcraft were you?

[wall-i-king]

Nah we were actually in a bay that you can't see from 13. It was really nice out there with the access on the north side being closed. I expected there to be way more people but it was really pleasant to get out and not have to be around a bunch of boats on a nice spring day.

keep fishin'

wall-i-king

[tj417]

Is the Sand Point access open yet?

[tophopper]

Quote:

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Note from Admin: Sorry no dead fish pictures

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sorry, but speaking technically, when that pic was taken they were not dead

[fishin789]

I went out to spring lake on sun. It was like fishing in a barrel. I was catching a fish with almost every cast. Used a tube jig.they didn't seem to care what color. I used blue with white tails, yellow with white tails,red with white tails. caught fish on all of them. I was catching them from morning till about 3:30 pm till some guy decided to motor through where I was catching them then poof they were gone.sure was a blast though.

[wall-i-king]

Were there any size to those fish? I think the biggest we caught last weekend would have only gone 11" but man they are definitely a blast to catch when you can find a pod of them and get one every cast.

keep fishin'

wall-i-king

[fishin789]

thats about the biggest I caught too.I did do some searching for them huge perch but never did find them.

[TylerFlom]

what kind? sunnies, crappies or perch?

[SCONASOTAN]

new to the area.

where should a guy start to look for some crappies this week? Prior or Spring? What depths?

Any info would be great!

[fishin789]

Tyler. I was catching crappies.

Sconasotan. If you go to spring just go where all the boats are congregated.I was fishing anywhere from 11-17 feet of water. I would cast the tube jig out and barely let it sink and start reeling in slow.

[rangerforme]

Went out on Spring last night and got a nice limit of crappies. There were about 10 boats in a 100 yard area so we decided to go elsewhere and found a flat where you could just see a ton of crappies swmimming around. The bigger females weren't in there yet though.

[CanOCorn]

Hey Fishin789,

What kind of advice is this "If you go to spring just go where all the boats are congregated."???? I live 2 blocks from both Prior and Spring but it is people like this that are the reason I barely fish these lakes anymore. People are so rude. Either find your own spot (work the lake a little) or be respectful enough to wait until a boat moves off a spot. I think 100 ft is pushing it, let alone the rude SOB that pulls within 50 ft of your boat. Aren't there any other lakes closer to Farmington?

Sconasotan,

Welcome to the area. Good luck fishing. Spring has as many nice crappie as you can expect for a small overfished lake. There are plenty of tiny crappie and you don't need to bother other people to find them, just work the lake a little and you will have success.

[Fishing-Around]

CanOCorn,

Come on bud, relax. I guess you dont ice fish much, 100 feet between shacks? There are several instances where boats are close but also respectfull at the same time. You are lucky to live next to two great fisheries and after your comments about finding good spots closer to someones home I shouldnt be seeing you at LOW, Red, ect....? Ease up a bit and enjoy the ride.

Fishing-Around

[Riverfishin]

Does anyone catch crappies in the shallow mud bottom bay on upper prior? I think it might be called mud bay.

[fishin789]

Canocorn?

Chill dude. If you would have gone out there you would have known that all them boats were spread out in a string over 1/2 mile long.And in some places three deep. And I was not camped out in anyones way. I was one of the first ones out there and I didn't have a boat within 200 feet of me when I dropped anchor.So by your standards I did find my own spot.Others just fished by me when they showed up.I don't mind people fishing close to me as long as they don't drop anchor right where I'm fishing.all the boats that were out there pretty much kept at least a cast away from all the other boats. Nobody crowded anyone.All I was stating was that they didn't need me to tell them exactly where the fish were. All they had to do was look for the string of boats on the north side.If they can't be respectfull and not crowd someone that is already there thats not my fault.besides the people that were all close to me were all real nice people. we had some good chatting going back and forth between a bunch of us while catching fish.Geez some of these guys were inviting other boats to anchor close to them.It was a fun crowd out there when I was out. everyone was sharing what was working for them.Helping out the ones that weren't catching anything.Nice people like that I don't mind having anchored close to me.

[mtreno]

water temp???

[fishin789]

I'm not sure what the water temp is. sure was cool out there today. seems the weather moved the fish. could only find fish around the ski jump.

[HoleHopper]

Thought aboiut going out to spring today to wet my boat but thought the cold front had shut em off. Thanks for the info fishin 789. You can fish by me anytime. I fish for the fun! I think it is fun watching other peaple catching fish too and have no problem with other peaple fishing around me.

I was out there last sunday about 5:oopm and could not get em to bite.

Oh ya, I fish all over the state, not just in Savage.

[CanOCorn]

Fishin789, I'm glad that you don't mind other people anchoring right on you. A cast away is way too close. It is just too hard for me to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. I have had too many problems with other boaters (sadly, many of them are fishermen). Where I grew up fishing, you stayed clear of other fisherman. It is about respect for your fellow anglers. Check out the thread on Boat ethics. I am not alone in my frustration. I understand there is a lot of fishing pressure and many other anglers to deal with but if you want the spot, get up earlier.

[mtreno]

anyone been out???? cold front shut everything down out there i think. have not had the boat in but the night dock fishing has been real slow - unless your goal is to get cold!

[fishingsfinest]

The water temp in Spring has dropped almost 6 degrees from early last week and the previous week. Temps are at about 52.6-52.8 degrees. I was out on Thursday night alone on Spring and REALLY found the fish. My locator starting reading the schools of crappies as bottom, fishing in anywhere from 20.5 to 25.5 feet of water. Fish were suspended all over, but most fish I caught were on a slip bobber about 10 feet down. Saw a lot of people fishing by the ski jump, but I felt I was really catching about four times as many fish as them. I have only started to fish the lake this year because I am new to the area, but I have never caught crappies like this, one after another with such good size. A couple of my crappies we in the 12-13 range with the majority of them around 9-11 inches. Many of them still were very fat. All were thrown back!!!

Just wanted to pipe in with some ideas for those looking for spring crappies.

[mtreno]

thats funny because i was one of the boats by the ski jump thursday. tied right to it beacuse i had no anchor or trolling motor yet this year. fishing was good but could have been better. all of our fish were in the 9-10 inch range.

[gotcatfish]

I think people need to do more exploring on thier own. There are A TON of spots to catch early season crappies on Prior. I have been fishing it for 20+ yrs and i have more than enough spots away from the crowds. The other thing I have noticed is nobody, and I mean nobody takes advantage of the night bite for crappies on Prior. Well after dark can be killer in the spring time. We have had many nights of 150+ plus fish. Just thought I would put my 2-cents in as I am done fishing Prior for the year. Too many river miles to cover this year.

[korn_fish]

gotcatfish - shhh on the night fishing

See ya on the river. You gonna be at the tourney meeting Sunday?

[gotcatfish]

Korn- I thought I was the only one that knew about it. We'll have to get together for an evening some time. What time is the meeting? I am supposed to have dinner with mom since it is mom's day. But I do plan to make it. Email me.

[gotcatfish]

Korn you might need this to mail me [email protected] Talk to ya later.