Went out to waconia and fished in the bay today, Caught two small sunnies and a bunch of small perch.  Not much happening today.  People were not staying long and the ones that did moved around.  So im assuming noone got much.

Hydes got hit hard last night, must have been 30 portables when I drove by around 4:00 haven't talk to anyone about how they are bitting.

Hydes is still being hit pretty hard.  No reports of anyone catching anything tho.

I made it out to Prior around 9am. I headed straight for the deep water break in search of some day time walleyes. I started out in 20' but nothing was biting so I moved out to 27' and the walleyes were there. I ended up with a limit of 16" eyes by 1pm. All fish were caught on a glow pink frosty spoon loaded up with maggots 10-15. I did have one break off that was a very large walleye I think but I'll never know but he has a nice pink spoon hanging from it's month now. There are a few perms stating to show up and the lake is getting quite busy now.

Great job Chris, nice day's work!!

Doesn't surprise me. I don't know what people think sometimes, but I would be a little nervous on a four wheeler right now.

Went out to carls lake around 10 today and drilled some holes with Quetico.  I was the only one who caught anything, except for one big one that got away.  Hole hopping was required to find the fish.

all were 4-7" sunnies and all went back down the hole.  They bit on a small pink/yellow horizontal jig loaded with euro (3-4)

Waconia is starting to give up some nice walleyes in 16 FOW.  Sunnies and crappies remain to be slow.  Best reports for crappie action is coming from hydes lake.

Got out on a NE metro lake in search of eyes. I spent about a hour and half out there. Only caught 2 that were 10"-12"ers. Time was short so I had to go


BTW Ant tipped with a fathead. Not sure on the size though

Try going shallower...

I usually try that also....was in 8 to 10 ft of water with weeds and tip ups....along come another fisherman and says, move out to 12-15 ft...little or no weeds and bingo....there is a flag within 5 minutes.

Loos....

Did you fish this water before it iced over? If you did think about where you had your last good day on the open water and hold that thought. Now go to the DNR site's lake finder and pull up the map of that portion of the lake and put your last spot on that map.

What is unique in the lake map's features in that specific area? Is there a depression or a breakline or a hump in deeper areas away from the current? We are not far enough into the winter that the panfish [assuming this is what you're after] will have traveled very far from the open water areas that were producing except they will not be wanting to do war with current while the water temps go DOWN. If we were in late ice and we were seeing water temps beginning to inch upward under the ice then the fish would be looking towards some gentle current. Another thing to consider is that deep water might have some fish relate to it now but it will become a better target later on.

You mention weeds. Are they still green? Weeds that have died or are dying offer a poor place to fish because the process of dying depletes oxygen stores in the water of that area. This can force well away from dying/dead weeds. Green weeds...now you have a grip on this. Try to find an area holding green weeds where there is a defined line or outside edge or where very tall weeds meet shorter weeds found in somewhat deeper water. The tall weed edge acts as a breakline and will help to orient fish along it. Where they situate themselves in the water column will depend on the weather [barometer] and mood of the fish. Tall weeds skirted by deeper shorter weeds can be a dynamic fishing area, but you will not want much current so bays holding deep water/shallow water structure along with weeds can be hot.

If I plan to lay an assault on a lake I try to find an on-line map to run off on the printer and give the map a couple days of study. The first places I'll look for in the early-ice season are contours with a large flat bordered by a sharp drop-off. If that flat has 10-12 feet of water, maybe even a couple feet less, but breaks into 20 feet or so, I feel it has a great deal of potential as long as there is no current. Weeds along that break would be a huge bonus. During late ice I'd change this to include areas with some gentle current since rising water temps at that time of year will increase the activity levels of the fish, and they do react to temp changes that are almost insignificant to you or I.

Went out to a local body of water that shall remain un-named and fished for a couple hours today.  Got lots of dinky sunnies and crappies with one cat in the mix.

Thanks for the report.... Now I might just have to get to waconia this year

Took this right off intowne's websight.

Some very good points in here, follow what they say and I can almost garentee a walleye, maybe not a trophy...maybe not even a keeper but they are there just gotta figure them out.


Walleyes are biting...Ice is good.  NOW LETS SEE SOME PICTURES 



The temperature has been cold, but the big walleye bite has been hot! In the last week we have seen and heard of more big walleyes than we can remember in any other short stretch of time! When you talk to anyone who has been fishing on Waconia recently, they have either caught a nice walleye or know someone else who did. period. There are no big secrets right now, just make sure to follow some of these rules.


Be patient- seems obvious, but give it some time, sometimes you get lucky, but usually time on the ice is necessary. this ties into the next point.


Fish at the right time- Again, seems obvious but so many people are walking into the bait shop at noon and asking where the walleyes are. We respond with our own question- "Can you fish into dark tonight at all?" and the answer too many times is " No, not tonight I have to be home by 5pm" what we are getting at is, where isn't always as important as when. Make sure You are on the ice in the evening or early a.m. if You are serious about catching walleye!


Get alone- Being off by yourself where it is quiet isn't always necessary when walleye fishing, but we would argue that the experienced anglers that get away from the crowds are catching the majority of the eyes! This has been hard to do lately, but now that Jim has plowed such a nice network of roads, people can start to spread out!


Try something new- Easy to say, but just get a little creative. Try slowing down, downsize baits when it's tough. When there is action, upsize and get aggresive, pay attention to what the fish are doing today. Just because something worked great with your uncle back in 1988 doesn't mean that it applies to today.


Enough about fish, let's talk lake conditions. Ice thickness is now in the 10" to 17" range , with 14" to 15" being most common. We are certain you can find more or less than this in areas, but these numbers are most common. Slush under the deep snow had been difficult to deal with last week, but thanks to the extreme cold, those slushy areas have firmed up nicely. Driving off road has gotten easier thanks that slush freezing and the snow settling some. When you venture off the beaten path still make sure to check ice ahead of yourself and don't forget the shovel.


Good luck on the ice!

Another respectable night on a small metro lake. The bite was tough to start. I think it had a great deal to do with the abundance of pike around when we got started. Loos15 got 2 mid teens pike to start. Once they cleared out we got a few sunnies, 1 7" for the pan.

The good crappie bite tonight was in a very narrow between 5 and 545. After that I think we got 2 or maybe 3. Smaller one tonight. Only 2 over 10" none of which were close to 12". Took home 2 each. Size wasn't there tonight. We were 3' shallower, a bit more up the breakline then previous nights, I think that was the ticket. Yet the larger sunnies and perch were a definite plus.

The last few nights the bite has seemed to run longer, starting earlier and running far later. All 3 nights this week glowing jigs have been the ticket. Charge them on the LED's and that light seems to draw them in more so then the buckshot spoons.