Prior Lake

[Sutty]

I am looking for some advice on Prior. I fished it for the first time a few weeks ago. I stopped in the bait shop and they told me to go to the access off of 42 by the watertower, the crappies were hitting and I should use crappie minnows. Just go by the the village.... So I get out there and everyone I talked to said good sunfish bite use waxies no one has been catching anything on minnows...Oh and nobody has been catching crappies...

So anyway I live in rosemount and would like to get to know the lake better and just have some basic questions like is it safe for me to drive around with my 4 wheeler? Are there typical trouble spots? Should I fish for pannies? I hear there are nice numbers of eye's as well.

Anyway any advice would be appreciated and if anyone wants to go fishing sometime even better.

Thanks,

Sutty

[Lucky Dogg]

how thick was or is the ice around sand point? saw a f-150 roll of the lake on the south end of lower. on another out to the east of S.P..

trying to get my house out for a couple of days,i hope. later Dogg

[Sutty]

when I was there it was about 8-10 inches but that was before the recent cold spell.

[fish&taters]

Was out today, ice appears to be 12-13 inches, people driving all over....a little sketchy for me yet. Tried 3 different spots until we found the sunnies in 22-24 ft. Real tight lipped, however we did get enough for dinner. (Kept 7 nice ones) TASTY!

[caj99]

I have fished prior alot this winter and have caught many crappies but they are not on the bottom. I have been sitting in 20 to 22 ft of water and they almost all have been coming in at 8 to 10 ft off the bottom. they don't always show up on the vex but I just leave a minnow and a red glow jig there and out of now where they show up. They have been kinda slow the last 2 times out but they where still there but a bit fussy. Hope that helps ya out a bit

[GreyGoose]

I hit Prior on Tues. nite for the first time this year. I fished a spot that had produced for me in the past and it was holdin fish again this year. I action was pretty intense for atleast a couple hours and they were still biting somewhat when I left at 9:00pm. Most prefered a jigging technique w/a minno head or tail,but I also got several on the bobber too. Over all size was there too, most being 9-10 inchers with atleast 3 over 12in. and man where they chunky. It was hard to let'um go, they looked like they would fillet up nicely. I too was fishing 24fow, and most that where caught where suspended 10-15 feet up from the bottom.

[fish&taters]

What time of day have you been getting the crappies? I have been out only during the day, out from sportsman's in front of the island, have seen nothing but sunnies there. Any spots I should try?

[GreyGoose]

I was there from about 5:30-9:00pm.