Prairie Lake Near Floodwood

[charliepete2]

Does anyone have any tips on fishing this Lake? I can't tell if it's the dead sea, or if I just don't know what I'm doing. The first time I tried it I went with waxies and crappie minnows and fished the crappie town that pops off just East of the island. I got there a bit late and got blanked from 6:00 pm to 12:00 am. I did pass the time by watching some highschool aged kids get rip roaring drunk and fall around on the ice.

The second time out was last Saturday and I fished just off the south east side of the big island. I was thinking it might hold some Walleyes as I see from the DNR site there are a few in there. I managed to catch my first Northern ever through the ice on a sucker. It wasn't anything to brag about, but I was pretty pumped anyway.

I drilled a bunch of holes and did some jigging with a swedish pimple, jigging rap, and bucktail jig. I had one taker in about 7 hours of fishing, but I lost it about half way to the hole. I wish I could have got at least a look at that one.

Any suggestions on times to fish or other locations to try would be appreciated. My buddy and I just purchased some hunting land and a crappy trailer in the area. I'm trying to figure out Prairie Lake as it's only a few miles from the trailer. I'm pretty green to ice fishing so I've been sticking pretty close to vehicle tracks. Any areas that I should avoid because of the ice and the rivers coming in and out would also be appreciated.

I tried Roosevelt Lake up the road from Prairie. It's a tiny little lake and it had lots of tiny little crappies. I'm talking 3"'s max. It might be fun for someone with a little kid, but it's about a half mile walk in.

[bogman]

Prairie has little to no nightfishing action due to the dark water.

It has a good population of crappies but the action can turn on and off quickly.

The walleye population is solid but on the smaller side, very hard to find them in the winter.

Northern action can be good, and will only get better due to the imposed slot on them.

For crappies fish daylight hours in the deep hole east of the big island or the sunken island to the north of the big island.

[charliepete2]

Thanks for the info! I think time of day just might be my problem. I haven't been getting out there until right around dusk. That is usually the best fishing on the lakes I'm familiar with.

I just got an underwater camera for $85 at Harbor Freight. I can't wait to try it out on Prairie. Hopefully the water isn't too stained to see. I've tried it in the North Metro and having been having a lot of fun with it. I like checking out the bottom and watching the fish even if they aren't biting.