CRAPPIES/SUNNIES???

[buckmaster_89]

Hye i will coming up round this area for my yearly fishing trip. I was wondering if any of these lakes have got hot yet, detroit, cormorant, lida, franklin, meadow, melissa, sallie,star, rush, and many others. We have fished these lakes forever and sometimes they are hot and sometimes not just lookin for any information on the local bite.thanks

o yeah i am coming up on the 17-24 thats prolly to far ahead but any info is appreciated thank you all

[fishermatt]

C'mon all you Friendly DL area guys! Give up some info!

Don't tell me you're coming down with a case of the Perham area Lockjaw! What's the hot lake(s) over there right now?

[shae1986]

Hey we dont have lock jaw over here

But honestly, i dont know what to tell you, I haven't chased them yet, but i will, then i will let you know.

Andrew Shae

[DEADhead]

I haven't been fishing for pannies since early ice, so I couldn't tell ya. Good luck though!

[fisherdog19]

Not a whole lot of info to give out. I haven't fished any of those lakes on your list except for little detroit and that was early season. I would think any of them could get hot this time of year.

fisherdog

[gonefishin11]

I caught some sunfish on upper cormrant while trying to catch crappies but I have never targeted sunfish through the ice and have been chasing walleyes instead of crappies every other trip.

[Dahitman44]

I think I would try for Rice Lake near Frazee. That haas a nice panfish population. Little C is another good lake. I don't know where to go, but I would guess you could follow the tracks.

That's all I have.

[ludzy7700]

i was out on franklin earlier this season and did pretty well, think we ended the day with about 40 bluegill and a handfull of nice crappies.

[Dahitman44]

Nice one Ludzy --

When did you pick those up? How big were the crappies?

[ludzy7700]

it was late january, the last weekend. the crappies were about 9-10 inches. we were straight out from the zion church right on the point where the branches stick out of the water. i think it was about 10 feet deep. all i know is you could count the rocks on the bottom. it was fun to watch the fish take your bait.

[Dahitman44]

Nice. Keep us updated. It is fun to hear when people are gettin' some.

[ludzy7700]

i think im going to try sand lake this weekend, well, on sunday. see if anything is cooken out there.

[Dahitman44]

Where is Sand lake?

[ludzy7700]

it is just north of praire lake on highway 59 i havent been there this year but if i remember right it is between praire and dunvilla.

[Dahitman44]

I hear prairie Lake can be good.

[Scott S]

Has anyone been out on Rice lately, Ive done well in the late winter and was wondering if they are biting yet??

[Dahitman44]

Which Rice Lake?

[White-tips]

Fished Sand on Sun March 5, for 3 1/2 hrs. 8' to 15' depths on the north shore. LOTS of fish on the Vexi that rise up quickly to just slowly disappear back to the bottom. Only two pike there.

We then went to Grove Lake to try with about the same results. This time the fish were so thick they "Red'ed" out the bottom 7ft of the 10ft of water we were fishing. Most 'Gils were so small the couldn't get their mouths around the wax worm. One 8"er thrown back right as we decided to leave.

[ivegottabite]

I think Grove got hit really hard last winter. Hope there are a few nice gills in there yet

[fisherdog19]

Is that the grove lake between the Ottertail and Becker county line. If so, 2 years ago we did well on big gills and some nice crappies. I heard they had a kill but can't confirm.

[ivegottabite]

that is the one f-dog. last year at late ice i drove by and must have seen a hundred ice mounds from augered holes. i never made it out but heard it was hit hard last year. i have only seen a few guys on it this year, still looking to give it a shot yet this ice season.

[ludzy7700]

im going to a private little pond this week end that has never been fished but we know for sure that there is bluegill in there. they have been there for about three years. do you guys know how fast they grow? or how many inches per year they grow? thanks

[Corey Bechtold]

Here some info from the DNR's website, if you want some more information check out the "Sunfish management" section on their site...

Sunfish are particularly prone to "stunting." Lakes that have good spawning habitat but not much food can produce swarms of small adult sunnies that never grow larger than four or five inches.

Many fish managers are beginning to believe that overfishing -- not stunting -- is the reason some lakes do not produce the big bluegill they once did. In such cases, growth rates are normal and food is plentiful, but anglers simply catch and remove all the good-sized fish, leaving behind the smaller bluegill, which multiply without the controlling influence of the large fish.

If this is true, the solution seems to be more straightforward: more big sunfish must be left in the lake if people are going to continue to enjoy catching them. Again, a diverse approach seems most promising. A few "trophy bluegill" lakes could be managed with a restricted harvest of big sunfish -- perhaps even a catch-and-release requirement. Most lakes would continue to be managed with a liberal bag limit to provide panfish for the pan.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[DEADhead]

Alot of the Area Fisheries Supervisors are starting to put special regulations on lakes for sunfish and crappies, trying to increase the size structure of the panfish populations. Many lakes in Southern Otter Tail county have these regulations in effect. Are they working? I don't know since I don't fish those lakes, but it's a good start to bring those big bulls back!

[Skitterpop]

Grove had some fantastic sunnies in it until it got pounded last winter. So the only kill I am aware of is the one brought on by fish harvesting. The lake is a good 20-25 feet in the middle with a lot of deep water in the main portion of the lake. I hope the decline in sunfish does not affect the bass population.

[fishermatt]

Most of the "status of the fishery" reports I've read on the DNR website for area lakes say that sunfish reach an average length of 7 inches at 7 years of age. That being said, I've been on big schools of bluegill that were 7 inches one winter, and were not 8" the next, but maybe 7.25 or something.. so their growth may slow when they get to be 6-7 inches.

[ludzy7700]

thanks for the replys, i will try the pond this weekend. like i said we know they have been in there at least 3 years most likely longer but we are not sure. i think it only has bluegill in there so it might not be that good. we will give it a try and report back.

[Dahitman44]

Nice.

Keep us updated.

[ludzy7700]

if for some reason this little pond doesnt pan out, (pardon the pun) where could i take my wife to catch some fish? we would have to be able to drive our truck on the lake.

[DEADhead]

the only lake I would consider driving on after the rain yesterday would be little detroit. you'll get fish there no doubt, but will have to sort through all the bait stealers and the occasional hammer handle.