Spring On Whaletail

[JBMasterAngler]

I've never fished whaletail before, I want to check it out this spring. I've heard for years it's loaded with crappies, any size to them? I was planning on going there the 2nd weekend of april, I'm guessing it'll be plenty warm by then.

[Caesarfishinguytoo]

Crappies have gotten tougher on that lake since the record white was taken out of there. It started getting hit hard. My buddy lives just off the lake and he said he couldn't believe how the traffic picked up.

On a side note that record didn't even make it into the regs, was broken same year and I think maybe broken again!

[markkstanley]

Lots of little crappies with an occasional keeper. Fish the tail - the main lake is fairly shallow.

[iFishMN.YT]

Whaletail is overloaded with mini-crappies, there are a few big ones if you can find them, but this can be difficult to impossible some days. The tail gets hit pretty hard some winters but dont be afraid to fish the main body which is shallow. I dont have hardly any open water experience on this lake so I dont know what to tell you there, good luck.

[Mr. Pike1]

My father used to fish Whaletail back in 60 and 70's when there was actually a place you could rent boats there. The lake used to be a hidden gem for monster pike and yes as mentioned it could put out some true monster crappie.

Those days on this lake are a thing of the past. I still go to Whaletail once a year with my father. The main reason I love to go with him is to hear him tell a tail of a 10 or 15 pike caught here or there as we cruise the shoreline. I also like his classic story that he tells me each year when we go to Whaletail.

It was cold windy day and they were fishing pike with "strip ons" Strip ons are a leader and treble hook ran through a live sucker minnow and trolled. Not used much now but was by the old timers of that time. The poles they had back then had little if any give and the line was like fishing with cable. Anyway they got into a fish that stopped them dead in their tracks on the trolling pattern, bent the unbendable pole, pulled the 30lb cable line off the drag like twine. Keeping in mind back then that a drag was nothing like today. If a fish was able to pull the drag it was a beast. The fish pulled them about and they occassionly tried with the motor to pull the fish but to no avail. The unbreakable cable eventually fell victom to the monster and either broke or the hook came lose. Over the years this part of the story has varied from trip to trip. The fish was never seen but my father believes it was in the 30-40lb class. Imagine that a 30 lb pike in the metro. It must have been something in the water or perhaps the floating bogs that you can occassionly in back in the tail.

To hear the story and see the eyes light up is worth its weight in gold. I have personally landed some 10lb pike, monster bass, and 14" crappie from this lake but that was 10 years ago.

The recent trips have produced what has been mentioned by others. The lake is now loaded with 6-8" thin crappies that can be caught all day long. It is a great place to try a variety of different presentations and plastics to see what might trigger a stike. Also good to keep kids busy. You will get an occassional 12" crappie, and a nice bass and pike on occassion but overall I would not put in high on your fishing list except for a good story from my Dad of the glorie days of the 60's and 70's.

[JBMasterAngler]

I suppose you could duck hunt on the lake back then too? I hear stories from my dad about all the lakes in washington county he duck hunted on when he was a teenager. When I see these lakes now (demontreville, big marine, etc) I can't imagine ever being able to duck hunt them. Yeah, stories from the "good ol' days" are fun to hear.

[WALLEYENUTZ]

you can still hunt Whaletail

[R. Miller]

If you go...keep a watchful eye for the legendary ice angler that does the "war dance" around his ice hole to call the Largemouth in. I believe he hits the lake year 'rond. Good luck.

[Ranckenstuff]

Yep, if you don't know the legend already he's the gent who uses a lake trout rod and 30 pound XT for crappies.

[Rainman]

There was a 30# pike caught out of there a few years ago. 33# to be exact.

[Scott M]

The record white crappie was taken out of Constance in Wright county.

Those are some cool stories about Whaletail. I can't imagine a pike that big. The lake doesn't get a lot of pressure. I used to work at that access. I heard all the old timers talk about the crappies so I tried a few times in the winter. All I caught were potato chip crapps. Lots of fish. The lake winterkills partially almost every year, so there are always a few fish lost. BUT, a regularly occuring partial winterkill can be a great thing for encouraging excellent growth in crappie populations. I'm sure there are some big ones hiding in there somewhere, but I never found them.

I actually ran into a lot of bass anglers who sought refuge from the mid-day water sports crowds on Waconia. I heard some stories about some BIG bass in there. One guy offered to take me out, but I was too busy to ever get a chance to go. There isn't a lot of development on that lake, so there is still lots of great bass habitat, and the "tail" part of the lake, the shallow end that winterkills, is chock full of vegetation and habitat.

[JBMasterAngler]

I like the undeveloped shoreline part. Yeah, I hope I get a chance to go out there. I have never really ventured anywhere in the west metro, whaletail sounds like a good place to start.