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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | It's April 7,2003 and it's time to start this years reports. Last years report went to 6 pages and over 10,000 views. Wow, that has to be a site record! Remember that this thread is intended to be for both West and East Metro lakes, keep that in mind, that I live on the East side of the cities so my reports will mostly deal with lakes on that side of town.
So to get this years report rolling I have the following, Went for a little ride around White Bear and Bald Eagle Lake. I would estimiate that Bald Eagle is about 90% open water. There is a large patch of ice about 1/2 way up the North end of the lake. But then there is open water on the very North end of the lake.
White Bear is about 40% open, note that I didn't get all the way down to the Mahtomedi end of the lake, The large shallow bay on the N.W. end of the lake is open water and there is some open water over Ordways bar, but the rest of the lake looks to be ice bound yet.
I heard a report that Clear lake (tiger 'skis) was open, this is just south of Forest Lake. I haven't been into town yet to see if Forest Lake is open water, but again heard that part of lake 1 was open.
Granted this is a early report and not much will happen for awhile, but it was good to get out and do a little scouting. I hope that this years report goes to 10 pages!! Think Spring !
Edited by fishpoop 4/7/2003 8:47 PM
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Thank you for the report sir, I am sure this will be bigger and better than last year! When does the Muskie season in the Metro open? |
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN | We can't start fishing until June 7th! Seems like a day that will never come. It's not so bad on the years when the ice lasts until early/mid May, we only have to stare at open un-fishable water for 3 weeks. This year we are seeing open water 2 months before we can start tossing wood.
I will do my share of posting, live in the NW Metro, so I fish Tonka, Eagle, Forest, Clear, Mississippi and a few others. I also will fish Sugar (Annandale)and then I head north.
I usually try to hit the lakes early and leave by noon, the lakes are just too busy during the day. I also will go out in some nasty weather, when those "boaters" aren't out.
Let's keep the posts going this summer, my boat comes out of storage SATURDAY!!
Freak |
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Posts: 229
| Well I live in Rochester, MN and will be making trips up to the cities to fish some muskies mostly on Tonka, though I may try and hit Independence this year. I have worked out a few days off during the week so I hopefully won't have to fight weekend boat traffic in my 14'Lund. For those of you up there, if you ever need a boat partner let me know. Thanks.
P.S.> Since everyone seems to have a Lake X this year I also plan on giving reports on my new Lake X I'm going to start fishing this year (or in my case Lake Z would be more appropriate.) 
Andy |
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | A couple of friends were out on the Bear last week breaking in his new boat and motor. According to his Pinpoint water temps were 41 degrees! They should be warmer on the shallower lakes. Things are heating up! |
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Posts: 346
| I normally fish French (from Owatonna, MN), a specific WI musky lake, Mille Lacs...I hope to hit Tonka, the Mississippi and the St. croix more this season.
MJB |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | I will be fishing Baldy, WBL and Forest alot this year. I live within 8 miles of all 3. Just purchased a 98 Pro V so my 15 and 14 year old sons and myself can all fish a little more comfortably than in the old 14 ft. If you plan on fishing WB, don't forget to get your launch permit for Matoska (by the island). Price is $25 for non WBL residents this year and I heard they were not going to give out as many as in the past.
Seeya on the water
Dave
P.S.
The crappie action is heating up. Last weekend with the south winds and warm temps they were really hitting. |
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Posts: 3165
| since the seaon for skis isnt here,Has anybody ventured up to the north shore rivers or wisc brule for steelhead???? any info??? |
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Posts: 925
| Just like Hugo, I live within about 7 miles of White Bear, Bald Eagle, and Forest Lake.
I have spent most of my time on White Bear the past few years. I think I am going to concentrate more on Bald Eagle this year and see if I can't up my numbers a little more.
Midge |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | Midge
Where you at?? You do Forest much?
Dave |
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Posts: 925
| Hugo:
I live in Hugo. Fished Forest quite a bit two years ago. Only once or twice last year.
Hope to hit Baldy and Forest more than White Bear this year. |
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Posts: 182
| Hey Midge!
The only place to go from "0", is up!
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Posts: 129
| Fished Deer yesterday for crappies and bass. I wasn't even in the 90% of fishermen who catch 10% of the fish.
Surface temperature ranged from about 49 - 52. The lake seemed a little
behind previous years. We saw no muskies, but I think bass and crappies will
improve over the next several weeks. We saw a fly fisherman catch a number of panfish, however
they were unresponsive to our flies yesterday, so today after the family stuff is over
it is time to make a few steel leaders. Thanks to fishpoop for starting this thread.
tom |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | Fished Bald Eagle last evening. Caught a 34" muskie on a jig and fathead. Very fun. Nice healthy spotted fish. The walleye were biting very well, me and one on my boys caught our limit plus threw back 20 or so. Lots of people fishing the area, bite starts in the late evening.
Dave |
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Posts: 15
| I live in Woodbury, I have my own boat so if anybody would like to hook up for some metro skis e-mail me.
[email protected] |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | I also fish WB, BE and Forest a lot. And like the others I also intend to fish BE and Forest more this year. WB's been pretty good for me, but want to expand my horizons.
Already fished WB for pike a couple times this year. The pike are hammering 6" Jakes and baby DRs along the emerging weedlines, but are mostly small. Got a couple nice bass (3-4 lb range) and saw a couple ski's. Not targeting the bass or ski's but they eat the same baits as the pike.
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Posts: 129
| Any thoughts on Deer or Bone this weekend? We fished Medicine today for bass.
We will probably fish Tonka for bass tomorrow and then try musky at either of those lakes on Monday.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Tom |
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN |
Edited by Fish-n-Freak 5/27/2003 2:17 PM
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Posts: 633
| I talked to a friend of mine who fished Bald Eagle Saturday, and he said they caught 2 bass in 4 hours, but raised 12 muskies, and caught a 40" muskie. He said the majority were in the 36" - 42" range, but one was pushing 50". He said these fish were all chasing bass-size spinnerbaits. I didn't see anything on White Bear on Monday, but I was fishing for bass with my son and nephew.
Lance |
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Posts: 925
| Fished WBL on Memorial Day for 1 hour. Caught two small largemouth.
Cabbage is looking real nice, I can't wait to start tearing a Rad Dog thru it =O) |
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| I was on Bone last weekend. The caught two (35 and 30 inches) on twitch baits. The fish were still spawning and really only saw ones sitting deep in the weeds and not moving real fast.
Was out on White Bear on Thursday and caught some notherns and bass. No muskies to be seen.
Chip |
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Posts: 678
Location: Twin Cities, MN | Tried Cedar Lake today. Water temps througout pretty much all of the big bowl were 60 degrees. My partner and I saw one muskie, but I think we scared it when our lure came by. It went one way, and my partners lure went the other. Off to Forest next weekend.
Pal |
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | This isn't really a Metro Lake report, but due to the proximity of the lake to the cities and also because someone asked about it, I have a report on Deer Lake in Ws.
Went out this past Sat. It's the first time I have ever fished the lake. Went out with 2 friends from the N. Metro chapter. We didn't catch any muskies, but we saw 6 fish. Size rangee from mid 30 inches to mid 40 inchs. I had 4 follow and my friends each and 1 follow a piece.
My follows were on perch color Phantoms in both 6 and 8 inch size. 1 follow on a perch 6 inch Reef Hawg. They would come in kind of fast behind the bait and then hit the breaks and kind of sit there looking at the bait, then turn a swim away. I need to learn to do better figure 8's.
The other two follows were on a Triklops and a 6 inch Phantom in black with orange belly.
Water temps were 60 degrees in the A.M. and up to 62 by late P.M. Found some nice broad leaf cabbage, but didn't really see any fish in them. Fish were found off a point that the light wind had been blowing into all day.
Again, this was Saturday. 1 day after the cold front came through with all the heavy winds on Friday. Saw some other boats fishing Muskies, but didn't notice anyone catching anything. Seemed like a slow day. Panfishermen were getting some fish. |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Bone over the weekend. Water started out in the upper 50s and
moved to the low 60s. A number of boats out, but nobody got in anybody elses
way. We saw a number of bass still on beds, but no active ones. Three musky follows
in the warm water that afternoon, but no bites. Panfish were popping all
over, so we caught a bunch of crappies on flies. Kept some for a great meal.
The fish seemed spooky. However, Minnesota opens on Saturday.
Enjoy the opener!
Tom |
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Posts: 925
| Hit Deer Lake on Sunday the 1st on way back home from Rollie & Helen's Spring Shootout.
Don't even know why I fish those damn tourneys. 3rd cast on Deer, had at least a 48" up, possible 50". I've seen lots of fish on Deer, but that was by far the biggest.
Couldn't get her to go. Within the next 10 minutes, I brought up another mid 40" fish who didn't want to bite either. My partner brought up a high 30" fish not too long after.
Then fished for another hour with nothing to be seen.
Deer sure lived up to its nickname "Follow-Up Lake"
Finally, the MN opener this weekend !!! WOO HOO |
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN | Sounds like a cloudy wet opener for the metro. I will be out on Tonka trying to find a few active fish. I will let you all know what I find.
Freak |
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Posts: 346
| Trying White Bear Lake Sunday, I have never fished it. What colors/lures have produced the best, locations?
Thanks,
MJB
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Posts: 229
| I'll be out with Freak fishing Tonka. Will have the alarm set for 2am so I don't miss the 4:30 launch time. I'll have the water gear along. I just looked in the archives of MF and found that the 2002 version of the metro report got over 10,000 veiws and had 173 posts. Lets keep the reports coming and see if this year we can top it. Opener is tomorrow and and we already are in the 20s. Hope all have a successfull season.
Andy |
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Posts: 51
| I spent the morning on White Bear with a neighbor. My neighbor had a fish on, but lost it because his drag was set too loose (early season mistake). I had a nice follow-probably a mid 30 inch fish-nose right on the tail of my spinner bait, but the fish wouldn't eat. Also caught well over 20 northerns, but all dinks. No size.
Still, not a bad morning.
Bill |
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Posts: 229
| Fished Tonka this morning with Fish-n-Freak. Musky action was slow. I think we only raised three fish. We caught a handful of northerns between us though. I got a chance to work a lot of different baits so it was rather productive. I loved my Slammer drop belly glider. I think it will become my new favorite lure. I got two northerns on that, one on my first cast with the lure, and another northern on an undertaker. I also had another fish hit the undertaker, but was gone after a few tugs. I didn't get a chance to see what that one was as it hit pretty far out from the boat. Probably won't get out until a week from Monday when I will probably be fishing Lake Z.
Andy
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Posts: 129
| Fished Inde today. Surface temp started at 64.7 and gained several degrees throughout the day.
There is quite a bloom on the lake. A resident said it has been there for
about two weeks. He also reported that he had talked to 5 boats throughout the day and they
all reported similar results. A few bass, a few northerns, and no muskies.
Several boats were taking out while I was putting in and they reported slow for muskies.
I had a bass and a northern, but no follows. There has been alot of milfoil spraying
so many people were fishing points. There was a walleye contest there
today. I saw one of the winners hold up a walleye in excess of two feet.
There is a bass contest out there tomorrow. If I get out someplace
tomorrow I will report. It fells great to have the season open.
tom |
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Posts: 678
Location: Twin Cities, MN | I hit Forest along with a small armada of other boats Saturday. It turned into one of my better muskie openers. We saw three fish in the morning. The biggest which made it onto my small black bucktail for a measurement of 43 solid inches. All the fish we saw came right out of the weeds, with a small black bucktail and a white tail on each time for me or my partner. All the fish were seen in very shallow water. 4-6 feet.
Pal |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | Fished a small western metro lake Saturday. Lost one on a white tiger Manta had a couple of follows on a black Slowy Sam tipped with a glow tail. Nothing big all fish in the 30's range, a bit of a slow day all in all, but still nice to get out.
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Posts: 182
| Hit Alexander (I know it's not exactly a Metro lake) Saturday and Sunday. Had 11 fish up on Saturday including a 40 that tried to eat my Squirrely Jake on a figure 8. Hook pulled out though. Had a real nice fish up on a Stomper later towards evening, and my partner had a 45+ up a minute later on a double tail Stomper. Saw two fish on Sunday, one small fish on a white Rad Dog, and a 40 on a Thunderhead. They could have been a little more cooperative, but it was great to be on the hunt again!
Good Luck to everyone this season,
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Posts: 14
Location: Burnsville, MN | Hit a downtown metro lake. We had a great time 32, 35, and a 41 all on jerk baits, sand cat, reef hawg and a brown burt took the 41. 3 other follows on sub 40 fish. All fish came between 6:00am and 9:00am, on the deep weed edges. The water had a bloom as well, does anyone know which lakes were sprayed to kill millfoil? I'm fishing on Tuesday and will give a report. |
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN | Spent Saturday morning on Tonka, water was 63 in the main lake, some bays were 66 but the fish was very lazy. Pike were active everywhere we went. Like Andy said, we got to try a bunch of new lures, and learn which ones get to make it to the top shelf of the box.
Great day on Tonka -- Very few non-fishing boats.
Sounds like they were slow all over -- congrats to those few that boated a fish on the Opener!
Steve |
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| White Bear on Sat. a.m. Had 5 follows, including a tanker which followed a Manta all the way to the boat, snapping and flairing at it. No go. Lots of pike. All muskies we saw were on deep breaks, but that's where we focused. Water temp was 64.
Tonka on Sun. p.m., had 3 follows: Bulldawg, Manta, Jackpot. No bites. Saw a large musky chasing baitfish in shallow water, but couldn't get her interested in anything. Water temp was 64ish about everywhere we went. Great evening on the water, though.
BrianF.
Twin Cities
BrianF.
Twin Cities |
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Posts: 3165
| was out for a grand total of 3hrs on opening weekend saw maybe 10 fish total with 5 that were hard chargers and right on the bait,,,those fish are gonna go with a couple more warm days,,,on sun the weather in my area couldnt make up its mind what it wanted to do so I went to the multiplex and for $5 saw three movies,,2fast-2furious,,,Italian job,,amd Matrix Rloaded,,,"two thumbs up for all of them" |
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Posts: 925
| Fished Bald Eagle last night. Geez, I tell you what, every year that goes by that lakes gets to be more of a sewer. There were walls of floating weeds everywhere!
No fish to be seen for me.
White Bear Lake and Forest Lake will get more looks soon since Bald Eagle is such a swamp ! |
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | Was out on Tonka on Monday as got two fish a 32" and 33" in the same spot. |
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| Out on Forest Sunday. No movement for my boat. A couple dink northerns. Saw another boat stick a high 30/low 40" fish. Also saw 40s fish dying. Got hit by a prop. A walleye fisherman and his kids netted the fish and worked on it for about 20 minutes to no avail. Make sure those fish are ready to be released! Take your time! The walleye fisherman said he saw three good sized muskies die this way last year. |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished BE for a couple hrs Monday afternoon. Surface temp was 75! As MuskyMidget says it's aready quite green and the curly pondweed's already up to the surface - lots of crud floating - even on the mid-lake humps. Lots of dead crappies too foating in the crud too. Smell was real pleasant. There are also weed harvesters out. Had a couple follows and one small one try to eat a spinnerbait in the thick weeds but missed.
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka today. Water was still 64ish in the main lake and higher
in the smaller bays. 2 follows, but no bites. Being fickle, we shifted to bass
and had a great day on plastic worms and flyrod poppers. They hit the
poppers hard. Tough to find spots with weeds out of the wind. Maybe it
will be better tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who posts, it helps the rest of us
make decisions. I wanted to fish BE tomorrow, but Tonka it is.
Tom |
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Posts: 678
Location: Twin Cities, MN | I took the day off and headed out to FL today. Water temps were just under 63 in the morning, and made it up to 65 before I had to head home at 3:30. Picked up one small 30 muskie on a small black bucktail, and a couple small northerns. I thought I would do a little better with less traffic and some nice clouds, but no go.
Pal |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka again today. Thought the conditions would help.
Caught a bunch of small pike and had three follows. It is awesome to
watch a musky when it makes eye contact. Most of the lake was in the 63-64
degree range.
Tom |
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | Spent almost 5 hours on Waconia (5-10pm) yesterday and saw only one 'ski. Water temps 65-66 and plenty of healthy weed growth, but nothing moving. |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | My 2 boys were out on WB last evening and saw 5. Nothing big, one was pushing 40" they thought, the others were smaller. No takers just followers.
Hugo |
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Posts: 51
| Spent part of the day on White Bear - 8 A.M. to 2 P.M. - but got completely shut out. No muskies, no bass, not even a stinking norton. Plus the boat traffic was insane. Should have known better..
Bill |
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Posts: 14
Location: Burnsville, MN | Was out on metro lakes on Sat, caught 2 sub legal fish on a Big Fork lure called Pulsator and twitchin a shallow raider. I was out at 5:30 but didn't start seeing fish until 9:00am, then we caught the two, had 2 others on and had 7 follows, only 1 was over 40 though. Most seemed slow, should really pick up soon.
Todd |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished Forest on Sat from 7am-1pm - NADA! My partner had one very slow lazy follow on one of the 1st lake humps - that was it. Weeds up nice and high, surface temps in the mid 70's. 3rd lake had a bit of an algae bloom starting, but not bad.
Fished Baldy Sun from 7-10 pm saw two large fish, one was really hot - slapped it's tail at a Jackpot twice, then tried to eat a creeper but the hooks didn't stick. Fish didn't start moving until after sunset - almost like someone flipped a switch. The skiers/boat traffic have started to cut down some of the thick stuff - amazing how stupid people are plowing right thru the thick stuff - but it's actually a little easier to fish the cabbage now, had a couple strikes in the cabbage but couldn't get 'em out. Biggest problem is there's floaters everywhere - pretty much impossible to fish topwater once it gets dark.
Wanted to try WB Sun night but there was a line 1/4 mile long along Hwy 96 just to get into the parking lot - probably 20-25 trailers in line! worst I've every seen it!
All in all seems like it's an evening bit right now - morning pretty much a waste of time.
Edited by MNSteveH 6/16/2003 9:01 AM
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Posts: 39
| Was out on Tonka on Sat. morning. Had 5 follows and 2 that hit from under my boat, lost both fish. Out again on Sunday night (2 hours) had 2 more follows but no fish in the boat. The first follow was a very big fish.
They do break your heart, don't they. |
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Posts: 14
Location: Burnsville, MN | I was out last night on metro lake, the big girls were starting to move, although very slowly, brought 2 fish over 45 up on a musky candy spinner bait with trailer, but couldn't get them to bite, nothing on top water.
Todd |
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| out on beaver lake on monday 6-17-03 i caught about 11 pound and a half crappies. huge crappies in this lake. |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | Was on WB last evening. Started fishing around 7:30. Saw 2 in the mid 30's but they weren't takin. My son had a hit on an Awaker after dark. Not sure what it was. Beautiful night to be out on the lake.
Hugo |
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Posts: 51
| Was out on Whte Bear from 3:30 to 9:00 p.m. Only saw one fish but it was a beautiful mid 40's fish that came in on a topwater about 8:30, but wouldn't eat. Of course, the fact that I hit the fish with my rod trying to figure 8 it probably didn't help. My buck fever is truly something to behold!!!
The only real bummer of the evening was the flat tire I had on my truck when I pulled my boat out of the water. Made for a much later night than I anticipated. The f*#^#ing mosquitos ate me alive. Thank god for AAA. |
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Posts: 129
| My wife and I had seven follows on a metro lake this morning. The only
bites we had were bass and northerns. All the musky follows were subsurface.
Some had flaring gills, but no eaters. The only surface action was two hits
by one fish on a Hawg Wobbler, however I think the fish was a bowfin. Maybe
I will try the night bite.
Tom |
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Posts: 678
Location: Twin Cities, MN | Out and about on FL on this warm sunny day. Lots of lookers in the morning and afternoon (12), but only one aggresive fish in the bunch. All the fish were seen between 8-12 feet and followed small bucktails. Water temps were a solid 73.5 all day.
Pal |
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | Was out on Tonka on Monday. Had one fish on but it came out of the water and I lost it.Now I have to get ready for CROW.
Edited by TECK 6/24/2003 12:21 PM
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | Out on Tonka last night. Had one blow up around 10:30pm. Just missed the bait....Other than that...action has been slow! |
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Posts: 480
| I thought the fishing reports board would be overflowing, is the fishing so hot in the metro that everyone is too wore out to brag about it? Fish are moving everyhere in Ramsey and Hennepin county. I've been seeing 10-15 fish a day (mornings) with at least one each time in the high 40s. They are eating too. Spinners, shallow cranks on the deeper weed edges have fish, nothing on topwaters for me. Get your big fish now, get on the water. Capt bigfish |
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Posts: 3165
| Got a 41 on fri and a beutiful 40' tiger on sunday,,,throw those gliders |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Got a 44" on Forest last night. Crappie Viper, 7', thick weeds, very well-known spot on 3rd all to myself. Had another of similar size come in hot on a Jackpot just as the lightning hit - 3-4', cabbage bed on 1st. Hated to leave, but it was getting nasty.
The lake has changed tremendously since I fished it a week and a half ago. It's getting pretty green with only 2-3' visibility and the deeper weeds are going fast. I probably spent too much time in 7-14' along the dying weedlines - shallower may be the ticket right now.
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Posts: 43
Location: United States | I made a few casts on Tonka last night between lightning bolts. My brother had a small one nip at a bucktail at the boat before we had to leave. I've been out there 2 other times this year seeing only smaller fish so I must be fishing in the wrong spots. Might try Waconia on my next outing. Anyone seeing any decent fish Tonka? |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | I have seen big fish on Tonka....They have either missed the bait or follows. They are there....Keep working it! |
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Posts: 39
| Slick,
Refer to my last post from about 2 weeks ago. I have seen many 40 class fish on Tonka. The last one I saw was (this is only a guess) in the high 40s.
Oh...wait! What am I saying...Tonka is a sewer. |
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN | Tonka has Muskies? :-D
Actually I have seen many and caught a few very big fish on Tonka over the past couple of years. It is a great lake, but the weekend traffic doesn't make it easy to fish.
Keep working Tonka, it has a great population of nice fish! |
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| Fished Forest Lake last night, windy as he!!, did pretty good, hooked an upper 30's fish and lost it at the net, and put a 41" in the boat 2 hours later.
Matt |
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Posts: 925
| Fished WBL Saturday night the 28th. Moved 3 fish, but no takers. Nothing with any size either. Deep weed edges produced the follows.
Off to Lake of the Woods for a week !!!
YEE HAW |
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | Fished Independence friday evening after park closed. Mostly topwaters with no takers. Cold front must have slowed them down some. Nice bass near reeds south of island. |
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Posts: 26
| West metro lake, Saturday AM, 45" and a 47" on a tandem Wolftrap bucktail. Burned right below the surface coming off shallows falling into sharp breaks. All the fish I've been seeing lately are on something fast. Got to pick your times with this funky weather and bright blue sky. Mix that in with weekend pleasure boaters and it makes life tough. |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | Slow, slow, slow on Tonka....Maybe the weather over the last week has just been unstable? Last year at this time, I had boated a dozen fish...this year, 2! I suck or must be something wrong?
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Posts: 26
| Yeah, that is why I posted that I've been seeing them with fast presentations, seems as though many people have been saying slow. Go figure. Don't feel bad, I had only two in the boat prior to Saturday. It was so slow for a while I thought my new Indian name would be Two-Fish.
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Posts: 129
| I fished Inde this morning. Water temperature in the low 70s.
Three musky follows and two small mortherns. Tried other lures, but only
had the action on spinnerbaits. The fish came from either
points or weeds. The water has a very heavy bloom, so be sure
to finish your casts as they suddenly appear at the boat. Interesting article in the Strib this morning about
the degradation of the water quality.
tom |
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Posts: 15
| Strange is all I can say. In June, we were moving 10-20 fish in a three hour outing with very few biters. Now, we move few if any fish, but are averaging one fish an outing. It seems as the water warms, the muskies scatter throughout the lake. They were certainly more concentrated when the water temps were in the high 60s and low 70s.
Any other reports? |
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Posts: 26
| I agree there is a change a brewin'. The same lake I saw regular fish on and caught a 45 & 47 on last week was the dead sea this weekend, at least accroding to my cohorts who were out there. Lot's of pike on deep weed edges..... |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished WBL from 5-10 am Sat. Typical WBL morning - saw several fish right at sun-up, then nothing. Had one fish short-strike a Topraider, another wack a Jackpot with it's tail, then another appear from under the boat duing an 8 with a bucktail. All in the mid-30's range, and within about 20 minutes. Fish were riding high over 20-25' but near weed edges. Considering the blue-bird skies it was about as expected. Water is still real high - weed growth very nice - some great deep cabage in the 14-18' range. Huge schools of small bluegills around the all humps and bars - it was just incredible how many there were. Seems like there were some muskies working these schools - maybe going to a small shad-rap or similar would work. Bass guys were also doing nothing.
Fished Baldy from 8-10 pm Sun. Had a decent fish miss a Jackpot right at moon rise. Saw a couple local kids catch a low 30's on a bucktail. Conditions were better than I expected. Water clarity was about 2' and still greenish-brown (which seems much better than it could be this time of year). There's still some decent cabbage on some of the humps and long points. It's bit of work to find it but the fish seem to be there.
Heard the harvesters are out in full force on Forest and that it's turning very muddy with lots of loose weeds floating everywhere.
All in all, seems like the fish are moving in very small windows and not that interested in topwaters, but positioned pretty high in the water column.
I expected better from this full-moon weekend - how did others do?
Edited by MNSteveH 7/14/2003 9:05 AM
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| Fished Minnetonka 2pm to 4:30 pm on Saturday. Lake was a total zoo. Managed a 34 incher on an inside turn of the milfoil. I was in 20 ft of water throwing towards the milfoil. Rad dog spinner orange and black.
After being frustrated with the Mtka. zoo I fished Mpls. metro 7am to 11:30. Saw one follow my topwater and then nothing the rest of the morning. Slow. All bass guys were also slow. |
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Posts: 480
| I fished metro lakes twice over the weekend, no muskies caught. I am still seeing enough fish, a few with size (upper 40s). The fish are where they have been the last 2-3 weeks only lower in the water column. The follows are much deeper, further back and slower. I honestly don't know what to do with these fish when I get them this close. I get my rod down under water and figure 8 and watch hang a round a while before swimming away. I'm on quality fish, just not my day. Any suggestions? Capt bigfish |
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Posts: 827
Location: Minneapolis,Minnesota | Capt.Bigfish,
Troll, start out at 3 mph and work your way up till you get bit and then just remember how fast you were going. Alot of time in the summer they want the bait going faster than you can reel, but if you have to cast go with fast moving baits like hair or a topraider, and another thing I've noticed that has increased my boatside action is turning off my fishfinder when I'm casting a spot, I think bigger fish are familiar with the pinging the sonar gives off and they turn faster at he boat. Since fishing with mine off I've had almost every fish that has followed chase the bait around the boat usually until I screw up the figure 8, but I've always have them chasing now. Just a theory I have about that.....
Can't wait to get back up there this weekend and pound some fat spotty Tonka girls!!!
My $.02
~Killer |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | Steve,
Fished Forest on Sunday Morn. Saw one small muskie in the low 30"s. Your correct. Lots of weeds floating and the water is dark. Caught 8 pike which kept things interesting. My son and his buddy were in Baldy Sun eve and caught one small pike. He had something hit his trolled grandma pretty good but no hook up. Think I will try WB next.
Hugo |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | WBL kicked my butt again Tues night - and a lot of other good North Metro MI Members too! Quite a few fish seen, and few strikes (I had one nice fish all over a Viper - don't know how the hooks didn't stick) but only one 39" caught.
Anybody have any suggestions about approaches to fishing this lake in July? (Other than at night or during bad weather) |
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | I was out tuesday night on the Bear for the N.Metro outing. First time I have been able to get out due to my wifes illness. We didn't see a muskie but then I trolled alot because I thought it might be easier for her to do. I did get a dink pike on a 6 inch reef hawg. Talked to some of the other guys via marine band and they saw 4 fish. One was about 40 inches. Noticed on the depth finder that the weeds seemed to be down to 20 feet in some spots. Thats the deepest growth I have seen on the lake. Stayed after dark and didn't get a hit.
Does anybody catch any muskies after dark on white bear? |
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Posts: 43
Location: United States | Finally on the board this season. 4th time out was a charm. 42.5" on a West Metro lake last night on an Undertaker. Had another nice fish blow up on a Jackpot but missed it by a mile. Probably just playing with it.
No other fish seen.
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka this morning. Two follows..thought the second one was going to go, but....
The interesting part of the day was the two muskies that lazily swam by.
Those girls were very impressive and not interested in anything I threw.
When you see fish that size, I wonder why I do not use leaders sometimes.
tom |
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Posts: 3165
| "Holy ####" WHAT HAPPENED to all the weeds on Independence!!!!!!!!!! Never,Ever seen it like that,,,should we complain to dnr/parkboard about over poisoning???? we saw two hot fish hooking one on a figure eight,,"No weeds" |
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Posts: 479
Location: Eden Prairie & Pine Island | I talked to a guy who lives on the lake...his theory is that the recent higher water levels actually caused much of the milfoil to die. Don't know if I buy this, but I guess its possible. |
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| A couple weeks ago Bald Eagle went from lots of weeds to no weeds also. |
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Posts: 480
| water levels went up on all the lakes and the milfoil didn't die on just some of those lakes. can you say chemicals? i've seen weed cutters on a few of the metro lakes and fish seen to move back in those areas in about a week. they must disperse and need time to get confortable and/or weed growth to fill back in. i like weeds, but i really work to memorize those weed lines and then they cut em down and i have to start all over again. oh well, time to punch in and go to work again. |
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Posts: 39
| Fished Tonka for 3 hours on Saturday AM with a friend from Texas (non-fisherman). Hooked and boated a 45 inch muskie with a fine net job from the Texan. This is my first legal muskie...yah whoo!!!
It took a while but the fish swam off strong.
Edited by freystone 7/27/2003 12:51 PM
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Posts: 129
| Way to go Freystone. We fished Tonka Sunday morning for about three hours. One Musky follow and a bunch
of northerns. The biggest northern was 33". Also had a nice crappie smash
a spinner bait, so it is dinner tonight. Lots of recreational boaters, so we
fished areas we don't usually fish.
tom
let's work at getting more posts on this thread. |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | Fished Tonka Sun AM. 40" and 48" (lost the 48" at boatside getting the net and had too much slack on the line). Tons of Pike as well!
Came home around 11am, took son out to Metro lake for bluegill and we had a great dinner last night. 22 bluegill's in 2 hrs - The expression on my son's face is all I needed that day! |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished Forest from 2-10pm Friday. Three decent strikes - all between moonset (~6:30) and sunset (~8:30) - two on Topraiders, and one on a Rad Dog spinnerbait. Both the Topraider stikes were short and I didn't get a good enough hook set with the Rad Dog. The fish seemed to want it as fast as I could move it. All were were on weedy humps in 5-7'.
Water is very brown- probably from the harvesters churning up the bottom - only about 6-12" visibility. There's still a fair amount of floating junk, but not so bad that I couldn't work topwaters. Very few out fishing despite the nice overcast conditions. |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Inde this morning. The bloom is almost soupy near the shore. Water
temperature was 75 at 6:30 a.m. Weeds are virtually non-existent. Did get
one explosive strike on a topwater, but no contact. Some incidental non-muskies, but I think
I will wait a month or so before I go back. Talked to a couple of guys
trying for wall-eyes.
tom
Edited by MuskyTom 7/28/2003 2:55 PM
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | Fished Tonka on Monday got on the water at 8:30 got a 47" and then my pinpoint took a dump. That is the last time ordered a Maxxum. |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka this morning. We caught a few of those other fish.
Kathy had a monster musky follow her in and lazily veered off at the
boat. this has been the year of follows, we will just keep at it.
Tom |
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Posts: 43
Location: United States | Struggled again on Tonka last night. This lake has got my number. My buddy had 1 follow which was fairly assertive, following his figure 8 a couple times but wouldn't go. Fished some good looking spots when clouds moved in but was denied. This is the year of few follows for my boat. The good news is that we've had more strikes than follows, but it's nice to have confirmation that were fishing the right spots by seeing a few fish. |
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Posts: 328
Location: MN | Fished Tonka this AM. Had a huge fish completely miss a bucktail I was zipping thru some weeds. Looked like Tarpon flying out the water...
That was my fun for the day! |
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Posts: 3165
| Got a 44 on tuesday out of Harriet,,,skipped going to the seafood buffet on weds because I wanted to hit eagle in maple grove for some evening and night fishing on this hard pounded lake-moon phase,calm,storm approaching only boat on the lake and the creeper blooping in rare form,,,every thing you have ever read about in musky hunter or essox angler has an Ideal situation,,,one lousy blow up and had frozen pizza |
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | LOL! Happy. You should get a job writing travel brochures for fishing vacations, just leave out the fact that you end up with frozen pizza.
Got out on the Big Bear for a few hours today. It was the usual trip on that lake. No fish caught and no fish strikes. Did see a good sized one though. It was 50 or more yards from the boat. Just before we saw this fish, we had a hen mallard swim around the boat looking for handouts. We didn't have any bread along so had nothing to give her. After awhile she realized that she wasn't going to get anything and took off toward the next boat. I went back to casting and didn't think anything more about her. A few minutes later I looked off in the direction that she went and I thought I saw her feeding, you know head down in the water and butt up in the air. I watched her for a few seconds and then realized that it wasn't her but a large muskie swimming along the surface with it's mouth open and head out of the water. I told my wife to look and she said that she had been watching it and also thought it was the duck. After a few more seconds it just tipped over and dove and we saw the back and tail come out of the water as it dove. Why do they do that? It was to far away to give a good estimate of size, but to even see from the distance that we did, I know she was a big fish.
Otherwise, just the typical cast retrive, no follows, no fish day on The Bear. Why do I keep doing it? |
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Posts: 480
| Second hand report: My brother/fishing partner/netman finally put one in the boat this morning on Harriet using a topwater. No other fish seen. But plenty of cops, they nabbed a undesireable breaking into a white van (belonging to muskie guys). The dude won a free police car ride. There goes the neighborhood. Surface temps nearing bathwater, 80 degrees F. I'm taking a few weeks off. Capt bigfish |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Waconia today. Getting there was a pain in the neck until we figured it out. Had some bonus bass, but unfortunately no muskies for them to be a bonus to.
We talked to a guy, who said he had caught one and had a follow, Surface temperature was about 75 all morning. There seems to be a bloom and visibility was about
three feet. Not many boats, so it was a nice morning on the water.
tom |
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Posts: 129
| fished Deer Lake this morning. Got up extra early to get a parking spot. What a surprise to get there and find out that there was a tournament with about 35 boats. The other 35 fished Bone today and will do Deer tomorrow. The wife said I should fish Tonka, but I said I did not want to fight the crowds. After all these years you would think I would listen. Actually having all those boats on the water cut down on the recreational boaters and everyone seemed very respectful of each others space. Too many musky lures flying, so I pulled out the flyrod and had a good morning on bass. Conditions were tough for the musky fishers with the bright sun and blue sky. Most people I talked to said they did not even see a fish, but everyone was very positive. One guy reported a small one and a follow. Surface temperature was in the 77-78 degree range.
Tom |
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Posts: 129
| fished Tonka this morning. did not see any muskies, so ended up fishing bass and caught a number of nice bass. Anyone else doing anything they can post?
tom |
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Posts: 14
Location: Burnsville, MN | Was out on Tonka, Sat, saw 8 fish caught 1 37" at 6:30am. 6 of the 8 fish were seen on a musky candy spinner bait, orange blade, black body. 4 of the fish were over 45", most of the fish came from 5-7 feet over weeds. |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | The ski's were really moving last night on my usual haunt. Lost a really big one (close to 50) just after sunset - hit close to the boat, got a good hook set, but in my excitement to keep pressure on her I got the rod tip too high, she jumped with a massive headshake and was gone. explitive .. explitive... explitive. It was the first really big fish I've hooked into with my new 8' rod and I got it too high. Should have kept the tip in the water and relied on my drag to keep tension. Maybe would have lost her anyway but I know I made a mistake. Then to add insult to injury I hooked into an upper 30's fish after dark that slipped off just as it's head was entering my net. (was alone and it's a bit tricky getting them netted by yourself with an 8' rod). Oh well.
This relatively clear lake is browner now then I've ever seen it. Maybe the fish are less skittish? The shallow weeds are in bad shape but the deeper weeds have really filled in and the fish were high along the shallower edge of these deeper weeds. I was moving them good on medium sized bucktails w/ colorado or fluted blades, moderatly fast speed but not burning. I was out from 7-9 and had two hooks up, one missed strike on a jackpot, and one that followed a bucktail three times around a figure-8 before losing interest. Also threw a topraider quite a bit but nothing. They really wanted the bucktail. Hope to be out a lot this weekend, hopefully the cold front gets 'em moving.
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Posts: 129
| we fished Bone in Polk county on Friday. It was great to fish on a workday, as the lake was open until just before we left. No musky action early, but we caught a number of bass on surface lures and poppers. About mid-morning we alternated between musky gear and bass gear. Caught a 38" musky on a bass spinnerbait about noon. I was daydreaming and looked down as I was ready to pick up the lure. I was surprised to see a musky on the trailer hook. I had felt nothing and it was solidly hooked. After a good fight, we neeted a 38" one. It had a deformity on its back, sort of looked like it had been hit with a propeller years ago. It obviously has not impacted its eating as it was very wide and deep. I kept it in the water and it was very relaxed in the net until I tried to get the hook out and it went ballistic. We got it safely released and it swam off to feed again. The surface temperature was 69 degrees at the landing and was low 70s throughout the day on the lake. The water was a little low, but in great shape. I am still chaasing that elusive 50", but there is so much great fishing for all species it is hard to specialize. We will fish locally on Sunday and Monday and post. Have a great fishing weekend.
Tom |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | Fished Baldy last eve. Tried shallow weeds in quiet areas that were not getting alot of boating pressure with no luck. We moved out to one of the bars and had one fly out and miss an awacker but didn't get any hooks in it. Had another in the upper 30's hit a grandma off the deep side on the bar at dark. Had it on for a couple of seconds and then it took a run and the hooks popped out (swear here). Tried after dark with nothing to show.
Dave |
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Posts: 480
| Fished Tonka this morning, none in the boat, 5 follows, hooks in one but lost her (low 40"s) close to the boat. Water temp is 71.5 on main part of lake. Fish came from seven ft. water high in the column following white, large blade spinners. 6 snakey pike and 2 bass. capt bigfish |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka this morning..Caught some good bonus fish. About 11:30, as a sheriff's boat is approaching to check out a diving raft, I see a shadow turn into a big musky. I was walking the dog and the fish was following in a zig-zag. I tried to keep the action tight, but could not. It was amazing to see the fish zig-zag under and behind the lure. The mouth opened and she missed several times. The mouth opened, the gills flared, and the combination of running out of real estate and the sheriff's boat approaching had the fish close it's mouth and veer off at the boat. So close, but the memory of that fish is amazing.
Tom
Edited by MuskyTom 9/7/2003 8:41 PM
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Posts: 229
| Fished Tonka this morning. Release a thick 36" and also a nice 2 1/2 lb largemouth. Saw 1 other musky casually swimming above the milfoil away from where I was making my retrieve. Pretty much drifted right over top of him and he spotted me and went down. Circled back around and fished that area pretty hard until I went home, but couldn't coax it into going after anything.
Andy
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Pounded WBL for 7 hrs on Tues without a follow. Shallow, deep, topwater, bucktails, cranks, nothing... With the full moon, cooler evenings, and the wind wailing you would have thought I'd at least see few.
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | Steve,
Man, I thought I was the only one having trouble on WB! I moved over to Baldy and started getting on fish the first day. May try WB later in the fall.
Dave |
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Posts: 129
| Fished Tonka on Saturday and Inde on Sunday. One musky blow-up and lots of good bonus fish on Tonka. Talked to several musky fishers who reported they had many follows, but no biters. On Inde today we had two follows. We did not fish long as the aesthetic of Inde is no longer there for me. Actually, I felt sad thinking about how nice the lake was 3-5 years ago. Maybe I don't get it or it is just the natural order of things.
tom |
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Posts: 654
Location: MPLS, MN | My fishing partner got a chubby 38" Sat on Tonka. Had another blow up at the boat. Went back Sun Morn and not even a look. My partner also got a 34" on Crystal Sun eve. Nice weekend for him. |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished WBL from 6:30-noon Sat. Got a 35", lost another of similar size and had a larger fish follow. All after moon set (abour 9:30 am) and all using an 8" Jake covered in gold prizm tape along a large main point in 14--18'. The wind had a significant shift about 9 am and the fish were still using the areas where the S wind was blowing in prior to the wind shift.
Not seeing any evidence of a topwater bite - by this time last year fish were clobbering topwaters but nothing this year yet.
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Posts: 925
| Fished WBL for about 2 hours last night. Didn't move anything on a Jackpot. I switched to a Top Raider and lost a small one at boatside. Next cast I had a nice swirl, but didn't see the fish.
No other follows to report. |
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| Fished Tonka yesterday Morning for the first time with my buddy. We Moved seven fish, had 3 rips and I lost one boatside. We were working the deeper edge of the weeds on the up wind faces. Everything was wind blown, and we bailed out early.
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| Fished Tonka yesterday, had a couple topwater hits. Did anybody else read the musky article in the Star Tibune yesterday? It said a 52x28 was caught out of Tonka. That calculates out to 50.96 lbs. Would like to see a pic of it. |
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Posts: 51
Location: Aitkin, Blaine, Minnesota | Out on Forest Thurs. and Sun. Moved 5 fish boated two 36, 37, One shallow, one deep. Moved a big fish, hard charge on a glide bait. Got her to nip at a follow up spinner bait. Very catchable fish but then some ________hole bass fisherman buzzed us at 50 mph not 30 feet from boat. Look for his sponsor but could find him again!!! |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Been traveling a lot and only got out on WB for 2 hrs Sat afternoon. Boy was it windy! Saw two decent fish along a deep weed edge. One followed a shiny silver-bladed bucktail around an eight about 6 times before giving up. Then had a larger fish in the same area followed an 8" Jake (covered in gold prizm tape) around a couple times. Just wouldn't open up. The key seemed to be the metallic flash.
Didn't get a water temp, but the lake has clearly not turned yet.
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Posts: 129
| Fished Bone in Polk County on Sunday. At 10:30 the temperature was 48 degrees at the launch and about 59 in the middle of the lake. No follows, but talked to four really nice musky fisherman from Illinois who had fished for the previous several days. They were fishing in those bad conditions and catching one or two a day. They shared pictures of the fish. All the fish seemed fat for their length. Glad someone is catching them.
tom |
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | I had a chance to get out for a few hours on Tuesday Sept. 30. Fished most of the day and had Zero action. Didn't even see a fish. Water temps ranged from 56 in the morning to about 58 in the evening. Worked all the usual spots, but the wind made boat control difficult. Tried some trolling, that didn't work either. Trolled shallow over the weed tops and then put on the deep diving cranks and bumped bottom in 30 feet, no go with that approach either. Marked a lot of suspened bait about 20 feet down over 40 feet of water and tried that also. NaDA! Oh well it was nice to get out, haven't had a chance to do much fishing this year.
OH, I was out on the Bear!
Edited by fishpoop 10/3/2003 12:32 AM
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Posts: 129
| We fished Tonka today for a few hours. Surface temperature on most of the lake was in the 54-55 range. some good bonus bass and musky blew-up on a surface bait. Not a big one so it went completely in the air. It knocked the lure about 3 feet, but the hooks never even scratched the fish. It was great being out there until the weather got too good and then we got pounded by the recreational waves. It is nice to see a post again by Mr. Poop. We hope things are going well, you have been missed on the site.
Tom |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished Owasso for a couple hrs Friday AM. It was obvious that it had turned within the past few days - very brown, but starting to settle. I would have gone somewhere else but didn't have the time. Again this year the lake is almost completely deviod of weeds. Darn spraying. I'm sure there decent fish there, but I'd prefer to fish elsewhere.
Fish Poop - any indication that the bear had turned?? I've been moving fish along the deep edges of main lake points, nothing shallow and no topwater bite every developed this Sept. Maybe that movement is still to come. |
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Posts: 129
| We fished Tonka today. Surface temperatures got up to 57 in some of the bays. We fished primarily for bass and caught some nice ones. There was a bass tournament so there were more boats on the lake than you would expect. We had a big musky casually cross in front of the boat, so I alternated musky gear with bass gear. I ultimately caught a 37" one on a 3/4 ounce spinnerbait. It came out of nowhere and had the spinnerbait in it's mouth near the boat. I set the hook and had a great battle. One of the big boats stopped and watched the battle. The fish was very active. When I finally got it landed and a quick picture, the fish took off in the water. I was amazed how much energy it had. The boat honked it's horn and some senior citizens in it asked what type of fish it was. It seems like all muskies are beautiful, they must originate in Lake Wobegon. Let's keep the posts coming, we have about 50 view for every post. Until we all retire most of us live vicariously through the exploits of others. Have a great week.
tom
Edited by MuskyTom 10/5/2003 9:42 PM
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | I fished White Bear last evening. Did some casting with nothing to show for it so I decided to try trolling. Ended up catching a 36" and had another on but missed it. Sure was nice sitting on the lake in the boat after spending the last couple of weeks in the woods hunting deer.
Dave |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished WB last night. The lake is in the process of turning over (at least the NE lobe). There's also some algae bloom. The NE lobe had a lot of yellow/green scum on the surface. The main basin seemed better.
Saw three, had a good one on, but lost it, again! - man am I snake-bitten this year.
One was on a spinnerbait on a shallow inside weed edge - the other two on Jakes along breaks into the main basin. I've been moving a fair number of fish this way.
Planning on taking Thurs and Fri off to fish - any info on Forest, Baldy?
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Posts: 267
Location: Right behind you (tap, tap) BOOO | A few of my friends were on Forest at day break this past sunday, unfortunatly i couldn't make it, but they said there were no signs of life. I have seen fish out there everytime i've been there this year. Anyway good luck. Matt |
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Posts: 46
Location: Hugo, Mn | No report here. I fished Baldy the last time about a month ago. Only been a WB. I was out there last night also. No muskie just pike.
Dave |
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Posts: 454
| Hey guys,
I live in Waconia and primarily fish Lake Waconia. This year I have head a heck of a time locating fish out there. Early in the summer things were great! Moving 15-20 fish a day, but since July it has been really tough. I know people do not like to talk about a lot of specifics out here, but I would love it if anyone else fishes this lake that they e-mail me so we can talk about it. Not trying to hide anything from the rest of you, but I really would like to discuss this lake with someone and I know how mouths quickly quiet when a specific lake is mentioned. So, anyone who would like to share info please e-mail me at [email protected] so we can swap info.
By the way, other than Waconia I do fish some other metro lakes. People do not kill me, but I would like to help out my fellow anglers. The weeds are horrible on Independence, but I was out this weekend and the lake was hot. Get out there if you get a chance. Good luck to all of you! Hope that big one finds your net 
Please e-mail me to talk! [email protected]
Tony Steffes |
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Posts: 454
| When I said horrible, I meant that there are barely any to be found! |
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Posts: 43
Location: United States | I've been out on Waconia a few times this year and found the fish in the usual haunts. I was out twice in September before the cold snap and did well on surface baits. |
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Forest today 2-8 pm. Raised 2 just before sunset on jackpots. One was mid-40's - blow up once but missed thr bait, then followed agressively on the next cast but wouldn't go. Otherwise it was very slow. Water is clearing - turnover was at least a week ago. Waters temps back up to 58-60. Lots of muskie hunters out - seems like everybody was throwing white spinnerbaits.
where should I go tomorrow? probably back to WB.
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| Spoke to a guy on the ramp last night at Mtka. He caught 3 fish (including a 48) during the afternoon. Strong winds, full moon, approaching front....hmmmmmmmmm....time to ditch work. |
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Posts: 346
| I hate to do this, but fishing from shore is for the birds. I won't have a boat until next season, so if anyone has an extra seat and would like a netman who has plenty of his own gear, rods, reels, beckman mag finsaver, DE rod holders, knipex, etc, shoot me an e-mail: [email protected]
More than willing to pay for gas, buy lunch, etc.
MJB |
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Posts: 1
Location: White Bearl Lake | Fished WB for about 6 hours this morning, seen 3 fish shallow, no takers. Anybody had anything going on the bear????
Edited by jsteve26 10/24/2003 5:38 PM
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Posts: 113
Location: Shoreview, MN | Fished WB Fri evening and Sun afternoon. Got a 36" Fri night - main basin weed edge, 10" Jake. Didn't see any others on either trip, and didn't hear of anyone else with fish seen or caught. Sunday was a beautiful day, but not a day you'd expect to catch anything after Saturday's front. Talked to several guys who caught fish Thurs night while I was up on Forest. Figures, the one time I try a different lake the fish start moving where I'd been! Hopefully the best is still yet to come.
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| Has anyone had any luck in the Metro with live bait so far this fall? Any reports would be appreciated. |
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Posts: 480
| I talked to a guy who caught a 41" tiger (dead on a stringer) off the pier at Calhoun. He said the fish died after taking pictures and weighing it, "guess I had him out a bit too long". He was using suckers. This was Oct 13th. I hope he chokes on a bone. capt bigfish |
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| lived on wbl for years lets get together. im not a fagget or weard. love to fish got a old fish and ski boat. fast trolling moter.dos 55. likes to drink. 1st time doing this dont know you you dont know me. but im normal.12pack. and lets c.. |
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Posts: 633
| Anyone know if Forest, White Bear, or Bald Eagle landings are still open. I am thinking of taking Friday off.
Lance
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN | All I know is that Gray, Carson and Spring Park Bays are all open, on Tonka. I am thinking of going there this weekend.
Lakes in the North Metro 200-300 acres are holding 3 inches of ice and I can't break through. I have gotten good reports of open water on Tonka.
Good Luck! |
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Posts: 925
| Just got off WBL. Water temps 39.
Caught a dink on a DDD and Cady had 2 large follows, but real slow. |
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Posts: 633
| Midge,
I think I will be out there on Friday for the day. Were you able to go out the public launch, or did you go to the one that you need a permit for?
Lance
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Posts: 925
| Lance:
I went out the Matoska Park landing (permit needed).
There was not a hint of ice anywhere on the lake as far as I could see.
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Posts: 1
| Greetings, new to this board. Was out on Calhoun on Tuesday, no muskie follows but boated a 36" pike on a weighted one-piece 10" Believer in sucker pattern. Fish released. Any lure suggestions for Calhoun/Harriet this time of year? |
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Posts: 480
| Papsmear, muskies seem to bite on any well presented lure from my experience on Calhoun / Harriet My notes tell me my largest fish have come on yellow or gold colored baits. I was on Harriet on Tuesday afternoon, no biters but moved some fish. I'll be out sometime during the week on one of those two lakes. |
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| I guess we are just about done this year in the metro based on the forecast for this weekend. How was everyone's year? It seems like every other person I talk to caught a 50" or their largest metro fish ever. Just curious to hear from the rest of you.
Happy Cabin Fever |
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Posts: 267
Location: Right behind you (tap, tap) BOOO | Yep given the forecast the musky season looks to be done. Time to start chasing the walleyes on the river and the perch on Mille Lacs. This past summer treated me fairly well. I mainly fished Forest Lake catching 5 between 41.5" and 35", lost a pig out there too easy upper 40's on a top raider. I fished Bald Eagle twice with 2 nice hookups again on the top raider but was unable to boat either of them, one was a big fish in the end of september. Matt |
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN | I was trying to get one more day out in the boat, but it looks like the season is over. I spent most of my metro fishing on Tonka, WB and Forest. I managed to boat for my season 31 with 3 over 50" -- 22 and 2 over 50" came from metro waters. My other fish were from Mille Lacs and Vermilion.
I am going to start my season early next year with an April trip to Illinois. Just can't wait until June.
Hope everyone had a great season and learned something new, there's something to be learned from everyday on the water.
Happy Holidays!
Steve |
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Posts: 259
Location: Alexandria, MN | I was trying to get one more day out in the boat, but it looks like the season is over. I spent most of my metro fishing on Tonka, WB and Forest. I managed to boat for my season 31 with 3 over 50" -- 22 and 2 over 50" came from metro waters. My other fish were from Mille Lacs and Vermilion.
I am going to start my season early next year with an April trip to Illinois. Just can't wait until June.
Hope everyone had a great season and learned something new, there's something to be learned from everyday on the water.
Happy Holidays!
Steve |
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | I posted some information about stocking efforts on White Bear on another thread in the general discussion forum. |
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Twin Cities Metro Lakes Report 2003