Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

BEST OVERALL TOWN for fishing....


Recommended Posts

Quote:

Maybe our definition of small town is not the same, Hooterville’s population when we moved in was less that a thousand.. We moved out here from Apple Valley 5 years ago and have never encountered any of the problems you speak of. They maybe kept an eye on us when we first got there but they have ALWAYS been friendly from the very start. I have left a lot of stuff laying about over the years and nothing has ever gone missing. In Apple Valley though anything that was not screwed sown was gone in less than a half hour.

I like fishing lakes near small towns, lots of times they are little hole in the wall places but then again there are not near as many folks on them, and those that are will chat with you all day long. Don’t get me wrong, the chat part will happen between fishermen a lot, just look at this page. Have a good one and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo


I don't know what neighbor hood you lived in when in Apple Valley, but I have never heard of any of what you are talking about. I grew up in Apple Valley and I think it is a great town.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a muskie nut Hayward (Phipps cool.gif) or Eagle River would be good bets for WI.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

anything north of the iron range would be my choice. I'm bias coming from the small town of orr, but you can't beat the fishing anywhere around here. granted anywhere in the state is a good choice, but up here is where the action is. this is small town living with a kick. we got vermilion to the south. the border lakes rainy, kab, namakan, sandpoint, crane to the north. to the east we got the bwca. to the west we got action in many smaller lakes along with all the small lakes in the entire area. and not to forget we got pelican in our back yard which al linder was qouted as saying is the best trophy bass fishery in the state. he did a show here a couple weeks ago. and its all within an hour drive from where i'm at. i'd live anywhere there is water to wet a line in. to live in any of the places mentioned would be fine by me (except maybe minneapolis), but i really like it right where i'm at right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definately Bemidji - go North to Red, LOW or Rainy, go East to Cass or Winnie, go a little south to Leech, or stay right in town and fish Bemidji or take a day at one of the other hundred or so lakes within a half hour!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

being that i live and work in alexandria, im at home as far as lakes go.with more lakes then one could ever dream of fishing, pull out a good detailed map and you will see im in the middle of gods country. with in a 15 min drive i can be on more lakes then most people have ever fished.

otter tail co to the NW and a litle beyond that is detroit lakes. im 10 min from osakis, 30 min from sauk center. and 3 hrs 15 min from red lake. i live right down the road from geneva, i can be on the water in 5 min.

lakes around here have everything one could want to fish for. walleyes to small mouth, muskies to monster panfish. hidden honey holes to pleasure lakes. and the ice fishing is awsome to sat the least.

now if i could just live long enough to fish all these lakes..........

jim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyplace I can catch some fish. Brainerd, Bemidji, Duluth/Superior and Ely areas would be first to mind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lived in Mn and Alaska but i'm in washington @ the moment chatch'n monster eyes on the columbia river in washington scratchin my head wonderin what the heck am i doing in minnesota.

When you can catch eyes 4-12lbs every 10 minutes wtf is wrong with minnesota is the ? i have..A state that grew eyes from some illeagel fishermen transplanting them to the dnr taking over and putting a limit on eyes then charging us fishermen a small amount to catch these fish..I look at minnesota dnr now and think WTFFFFFFFFFFFFF is going on...We have twice the water as washington..twice the fishery but 25 times the amount of fishermen...

so whats the problem??????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first pick would be Grand Marais up the shore. My second, would be the ely area. Duluth my third. Hell, they're all good. laugh.gif Junky..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ksdog

Have we been of any help to narrow down your list???? cool.gif

Aint MN great!!!!!!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, everyone. Definitely gives me a couple of towns to look into from the git go. Question is....how good is good ? Guess it is all relative as to where you live. I mean are we talking good numbers of fish, good size, etc. That I need to determine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to agree with msm and cheffrey that Duluth is a sweet town to live in, but overall I am very partial to the Iron Range. From where I live it is a hour to Duluth and a hour to Ely, how can you go wrong.

Ryan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

longville mn you have the choice of a small lake or the big one all withen 30 min big crappie and musky and everything else you can think of and its a small town everyone is nice

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The previous posts mention some great towns/areas to live. The Brainerd area has changed population-wise quite a bit since my wife and I moved here from Chicago in 1970. In addition to 465 plus or minus lakes nearby, we have the Mississippi River flowing thru Brainerd which gives us some top drawer muskie and smallmouth bass fishing. We have stream trout fishing as well as lakes and mine pits stocked with trout. Mille Lacs Lake is only 20 miles away (walleye, smallmouth bass, perch, crappie, and muskie). We have Lindy Tackle, In-Fisherman, Lindner's Angling Edge, Babe Winkelman Productions, Mr. Walleye Specialties (Gary Roach), Marv Koep's, Sportland, S&W Bait, Reed's, Mill's Fleet Farm, and Gander Mountain (within three weeks.)

But, there is more: top-notch medical facilities, excellent school system (K thru four year degree), and probably the most important asset for my wife and me ( as our boys, their wives, and our grandchildren live in southern Oklahoma and central Arizona) scheduled airline service from Brainerd!!

Our favorite place to visit is Grand Marais ( as well as the whole North Shore and Duluth). Living in Brainerd we're within 8-9 hours of additional hunting or fishing (Montana, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Ontario, Manitoba). The grouse, woodcock and deer hunting is excellent right here. I guided grouse and woodcock hunters from around the world for four years for a friend of mine.

Whew! Having said all of that, remember; beauty is in the eye of the beholder!!!

dockehr

Dr. Roland E. Kehr, Jr.

Lindy Tackle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I live in the Brainerd area. Don't get me wrong, love it here, but I would recommend Bemidji or Grand Rapids.

The only reason I say this is because the Brainerd area is selling its soul to development. Quite honestly, your hard pressed to find true wilderness up here. Heck, even the river is seeing a housing boom.

As a tie in to the over development, property values (and taxes) have soared. Keep that in mind if you plan to build in the area.

Its a tough spill to swallow, but this area is detroying itself. I sometimes refer to it as St. Cloud Jr.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

bluegills, crappies, perch, walleyes, pike, muskie, pout, catfish, smallies, largemouth, sturgeon, rock bass, brook trout, brown trout, loopers, steelhead, coho salmon, king salmon, lake trout, splake along with many others i am forgeting all can be found in Duluth. probally the reason i don't think i'll ever be able to leave this place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

grand marais and the gunflint trail would be a close second in my opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quick, you've got a point....

My vote is for Brainerd or Bemidji though, two great places to live and fish!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would say pick a small town in the Grand Rapids area. The country is beautiful up there. They call it "God's Country" for a reason. I think it is the nicest area in the state. You have all types of fishing up there. The only argument for Ottertail County is that your summer would be a little longer. Myself I prefer the big woods over a bunch of farms but that is a personal preference. Of course if I moved to the Grand Rapids area I would budget for at least a months vacation some place warm each winter. One more thing I would have a place on a lake not in the small town. At the cabin I get up early just to sit and look out at the lake. It is so peaceful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • 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. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.