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prior lake for opener


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I am going to stay home for opener. i am fishing prior lake. i usually troll cranks in the shallower water but haven't had a whole lot of success on the opener until the water warms up. what would you guys that fish prior lake do for the opener. should i troll lindy rigs,jig or crank. and where would you start i think i am going to start around frost point and reeds island. would bobber fishing also be a good idea.i am fishing in the dark, like i usually do for walleyes on prior. i know there is a few guys that fish prior for walleyes so please give me a hand and i wil let you know how i do.

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PL -

I will be out there at the crack of dawn on Saturday - I am going to cover some water pulling #5 shad raps and see where that gets me - I'm sure you can catch fish other ways, but I just get bored and I have done well in the past on shad raps. If I were going to change methods, I wouldn't fish until I found some eyes on a steep drop somewhere with the Aquaview, then I would go lindy rig with a leach.

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I'm not sure the water temp would prevent you from using cranks. I was at Pepin a week ago and it was sub 60 degrees and we landed some trolling cranks.

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Trolled #5 shad rap over a lot of different water from 6am to noon today - 3 13" walleyes, 2 10" perch, 6 big bluegills. Never saw another guy catch a fish. I would guess that if you got 3 eaters like I did, you did well on Prior.

Anybody else care to report?

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I managed to get out Sunday panfishing. Kept about a dozen decent crappies and 5 or 6 nice sunnies. Nice day to be out. The crappies were holding tight to structure along the shoreline in 6 to 8 FOW and you really had to get your bait right in there to them.

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I was out Sunday afternoon 2-6, nothing biting. Went back at 9-midnight managed two decent fish 21" and 23" trolling cranks. Fish were pretty shallow. Otherwise it was a slow opener for me.

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Hey TJ417,

I hope the 3 eaters were 2 perch and one of the sunnies! I know that there is not a min now but come on.... 13"!! I keep crappie that big! If 13" was my personal limit then I would have limited by 5:30 am yesterday. I am still in the 15"-19" range.

I would actually like some feedback on this. Am I just being stubborn or am I right in thinking that the no min is ridiculous and you still need to practice some self-control when keeping fish?

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I have heard this conversation on this website too many times.

Keeping a 13" fish for dinner is both legal and tasty. If your opinions/ethics are different from another on this site then petition your lawmakers instead of bashing another angler for keeping fish that he is legally entitled to keep.

JMHO

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wastewaterguru: You and I would get along great, extremely well said.

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From his # of posts I would say CanoCorn is new & hasn't seen the endless amount of conversation around this topic - give him a break.

Not only that, but it's a valid question, if perhaps not asked in the most delicate manner.

Can, I'd suggest that if you want a lively discussion on this, post the question in the "Outdoor Discussions" forum (or whatever it's called now) towards the bottom of the main index. I guarantee you'll get some strong opinions from both sides. smile.gif

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I wasn't trying to start anything and I may actually agree with CanoCorn.....just trying to point out that Canocorn's comment was likely to start a conversation that has been repeated on here so many times that I was hoping to keep it out of the Prior Lake topics.

Anyone else been out there in the last couple days??

I am surprised with all this rain the lake level is still pretty low for the spring. Anyone else notice this??

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nice to see your still posting all that BS, waste! i've

been out fishing for trout the past few days, does this

count. and if your askin the fishing has been as good as

always. lets hook up again this winter. later Dogg

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Did anyone else see the news about the paint in Prior Lake???

If anyone is interested, the paint spill in the lake was estimated at less than 2 gallons and is not expected to have an impact on the aquatic life. I was in contact with the MPCA today and talked to them about the incident. It was from a road painting crew.

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Thanks for the info! That's certainly better than what it sounded like on the news.

...the boat's still up north 'till I'm done fishin' there next weekend, so I'll be out on Prior in the early AM on Memorial weekend after some 'eyes. I suppose it'll have to be early to beat the other anglers on that weekend!

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thanks for the update wastewater - i started was wondering what the deal was. water level on spring has come up a ton in the last few days so i am sure prior will as well. plenty heading that way right now. been out pike fishin yet? thinking maybe bring the spiner bait with to work and stop by there some day. have not been out on prior myself yet - nor spring for that matter much - i can tell you it was very cold, rainy, and windy on mille lacs for the opener. see you one the water!

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Actually Waste Water and Max12, I am on this site almost daily. I don’t post a lot but I read a lot. I brought this up on this thread because Prior Lake is the lake that I do about 80% of my fishing on. I live 2 blocks from the lake and have a boat slipped there. If you want to keep dinks on Winnie or Leech or any other of the 1000s of lakes, be my guest but if you do in on PL, I may have to give you a little grief. I am sure TJ417 is over it.

I see this discussion a lot and it does bother me that people can now make a decision to keep a small fish that are easier to catch a number of because of the no minimum limit. It would be different if it were some guy that said, “I caught a bunch of 17” and a few 13” so I threw the bigger ones back cause I like eating the smaller fillets.” This is not the case though and 99% of the time it won’t be.

Metro area lakes get a TON more fishing pressure than a lot of lakes and if all of the 8 million people that fish Prior Lake in a year kept the dinks, we would have a problem, don’t you think? I would understand if it were the occasional recreational fisherman that is just excited to have actually caught a few fish but this is a guy that is on a fishing website for cripes sake… I don’t think he is your 4-5 times a year angler.

TJ417, sorry to point you out. I just worry about this lake.

I see a lot of you guys are from PL so I may run into you out there.

So, I have a question. What was a road crew doing with 2 gallons of paint by the lake? I know they weren’t down there fixing the launch!!

tongue.gif

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Guys I too live near Prior.. About 2 weeks before opener Me and my significant other took a walk down to the Sandy point dock. Well I am not sure who we need to call, or if someone actually cares, but we were standing on the dock, there was a little overcast and I saw at least (3) 50 gallon drums fully submerged off the dock.!! I fish prior all the time and visit the beach frequently, I think a diver and a dnr officer should check into it! I noticed the barrels about 30 feet off the front of the dock and 1 off the west end of the dock. It must of been early enough so the weeds had not developed. me and my significate other would be willing to go and meet someone down there and point them out.

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I am not sure who to contact at the DNR about this but try the general number and I am sure they can get you to the right person.

DNR Information Center

Telephone: (651) 296-6157 or (888) MINNDNR

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I would bet that those drums were under a swimming dock and filled with water and driffted around and sank. I Really don't think Prior has became a dummping ground, but it may explain the 3 eyed fish i caught!

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