Prior Lake Today

[picksbigwagon]

I will be hitting Prior Lake today, dragging rigs and pulling cranks looking for the alledged walleyes. I will post later on my results......two days left 'til I head back to work, man what a short summer.......

[picksbigwagon]

gave up at about 1 and then dealt with the dewitt landing....That is one worthless landing, the city should just sell it and let them put up a house. Anyone know how much longer sand point is closed for???

[fireline267]

Curious about fishing on Prior lately. I was out early on Lower Prior about 0630 -0700 on Sunday and had no luck trolling or just throwing some crankbaits to the shore. I fished some weedlines to the left of Sand Point and the shoreline to the right. I even went over to the island by the rocks. Just really a quiet morning for me. Please let me know what some good spots are or what is really good right now.

[buzzin for bass]

I'm kind of in a rut myself. Lately it seems no matter where I go, how long I'm out or what I throw I get one good bass per outing, and no little kickers, just one. I was on Lower Prior last thursday and had a 4 pounder explode on a buzz bait, only fish I got in about 3 hours of fishing. Like you I tried deep weedlines by sand point and the shallow stuff around the rocky island. I did have two other bass roll the surface behind the buzzbait when it was about two feet from the boat but they didn't hit.

[FI Guide]

Easy answer for you guys. Change lures switch up the presentation. Here is the ultimate secret. FIND A PATTERN. That saying is the #1 way to put fish in your boat everytime you go out and fish. Also get a good lake map of prior and eliminate "dead water." If you guys do this I can guarentee that you will catch more fish.

[picksbigwagon]

where can I find a "good Lake map" of prior lake?

[fireline267]

The metro area regions map book of metro lakes is a good book. Also Fleet Farm sales a good map of Prior for about $5 it can get wet even and comes in a plastic sleeve. They have Prior and many other larger Minnesota lakes.

[fireline267]

In regards to patterns are we looking at where the fish habitat or structure in the lake that fish hang around(i.e. rock bed in upper might find fish in rock bed in lower) pattern of a depth.) To me this is a part of a pattern that i look at everytime I am out. Explain patterns a little more please. If not maybe we can get together sometimes and do some fishing. I can learn a little. I just started fishing this summer with a boat on Prior. I am out on Prior quite bit and have the next 2 days off. Wed-all day & Thurs morning. Post here if you are free I check this site often(a couple of times a day) for updates to local lakes. I can give you my number then.

[FI Guide]

Yes the $5 lake map is a good map I would recommend it. Also if you can find a map in 2ft contours it would be even better. Ok now now to a pattern.

Now a pattern in my terms is defined as a set of location and presentation factors that consistently produce fish. For example If you catch more than one fish off a submerged tree then your chances of catching more bass in such places are excellent. This is commonly called "establishing a pattern". So then you can use your map to find out if there are any other places on the lake that have the same type of structure and water temp to catch more fish.

This is the most overlooked thing that amateurs dont think of. When you are out fishing and you catch a fish remember what you did with the lure, water depth and temp, lure speed and the structure you were fishing. In order to help with this create a fishing log that you write all of your fishing trips in. There is a good one if you email me I will give you the link.

After you take note of all the factors you can then eliminate the "dead water" which is water that you most likely will not get a bite. Once you disperse the dead water you can focus on the areas that you found on the map which you have better odds of catching fish.

If this isnt clear to you email me and I can give you some more help. [email protected]

[picksbigwagon]

thanks guys, I moved here over a year ago, and bought my first boat this spring. Spent a lot of frustrating hours on this lake. I don't have a bow mount trolling motor yet so bass fishing was always dictated by the wind. I did however learn that the big bull blue gills hug the bottom in 30 feet of water straight out from sand point. I have trolled on this lake a couple time, along the northern shore from the deep bay to the beach on lower prior with nothing to show for it. I am looking forward to getting this map and trying to nail down these fish.

I am still learning things about my boat too, in fact last month I discovered that my 9.9 trolling motor on the back of my boat will troll me at 1.8 mph for 3 hours straight, of course I didn't catch anything, but I didn't have to hang on to it either. I can't wait until I head back to Mille Lacs, I will have to learn how to troll cranks and lindys and spinners now.....

If you see a gray cresliner fish hawk (89) with a 40 and 9.9 evinrude on the back, swing by and say hello.........

[JDZWART]

Trolled all over on lower prior this morning, didn't get anything and didn't mark many fish. Didn't see or talk to anyone else catching fish today. The 20 hours of thunder and lightening on Sat/Sun must have gave all of the fish lockjaw. Is anyone cathing walleyes out on prior of late?