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Sleepy Eye Lake


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I know your all thinking why is he asking?? Is there bigger panfish in this lake?? Or anything else for that matter?? I have an 8 year old daughter who likes to fish. Would this lake entertainer her?? If so what part of the lake do you fish?? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

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Have done real good getting nice sunnies and crappies drifting of slow trolling with tube jigs 1/32 or 1/16 tipped with crawlers or minnows across the center of the lake in between the weeds. Caught northerns and walleyes with same presentation, both were small though. See alot of people anchored jigging or slip bobbering. Every time Ive been there we caught fish and always had my two boys along. Dont really know contour of that lake but I know in some spots its 20 feet and right beside its only 6-8 bacause of weeds

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Where you using the tube jigs with a slip bobber at certain depth or bouncing off the bottom?? Thanks for the tip. I didn't think there was much in this lake, but now i know better.

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I know there is northerns and bass in there but I have never seen walleye. Is there any walleye in Sleepy Eye lake?

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Partimer

Ive never used bobbers, just drifted. With a tube jig that small I dont think they go much deeper than about 6 foot and if you get into weeds they tend to drift over the top. Usually use the smaller ones if I have them. Check the dnr stocking reports for the fish in that lake. Just checked the dnr site and looked at a lake map. Look at one of the later numbers and you will see what I am talking about. In the center to south east there is a ridge at about 13 feet. Ive always fished that line. As for walleyes the report doesnt have any but I have caught some. Maybe the sportsmans club stocked them or whatever. Bean lake never was stocked but al of a sudden they were catching 15-18 inchers like crazy one year.

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Again thanks alot for the info. Its hard to find a place close to home to fish, you either have to go 50 miles one way or another. At least if I come up empty handed 25 miles from home I don't feel quite so bad. Thanks again.

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Can`t go wrong entertaining a youngster on Sleepy Eye Lake, took my 8 year son out there on Memorial Day and had a blast catching one after another on just a jig with a twister tail.

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to my knowledge there are no walleyes. when they killed everything off and then dredged some years ago, the DNR only stocked panfish, bass, and northerns, they never intended it for walleyes. unless some fisherman have dumped some in there comming home from some other lake and maybe not wanting to clean one or two small eyes. but as far as fishing for the kids, its a great lake to keep them interested. friend of mine really caught some nice sunnies couple weeks ago, said they were tasty too.

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if i remember right they just dredged it again last year.. i know there used to be some HUGE crappes in there years ago...took them with white beetle spins.. and if you have a boat and are a bassin guy.. the lake is loaded wiith bass.. i have had my best bassin along the northern and western shores.. in the pencil reeds

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Well guys, I probally spend the most time on Sleepy Eye of anyone around here, 2-4 times a week in the boat. Been doing good on bass, the far shore from the access has been good, floating cranks, countdowns, and X-raps have been the top producers, did good in the pencil reeds all around the lake today, buzzbaits were the ticket, dragged right through the weeds, there is many many more nice bass (caught 8 over 15 inches this year) in there than people think, Please practice C&R as a few people taking limits out could put a dent in the population quick. The sunnies have been crazy like always, shripos and ratsos in 2-6 ft of water, pitched inbetween the tree limbs has been best, lots of nice fish being taken, all C&R by me, can't say that for other boats, but I don't keep fish in this lake. Haven't found the northerns yet, saw a few icefishing early ice, but thats it. Bad news is the clear water in the lake, and the lack of snow on the ice has led to insane weed growth, the whole public park is to weedy to be fished much from shore, the back bay area is solid weeds, has been since ice out, the reed bed to the left right of the launch is all weeds ( spinners over the top for bass ) weedline varys in lake, seems to be running about 10 ft depending on bottom structure. Good news is there isn't many "junk weeds" and if you can fish the weeds, you can catch fish. Also the far shore line there is weeds till you get into 6 ft of water, onto the gravel, then they stop and you can fish easily. The lake has been getting green in the lase 7 days, used to be able to see bass from a distance and cast to them, now its just go looking for likly spots as the lake is loosing visiblity.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
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    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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