Made it out to the lake yesterday around 2pm in search of some crappies and walleye's.  Started out in 20' but knowing was biting so I went a a scouting mission. After drilling about 20 holes I finally found my fish in 27' of water about 100 yards of a small rock island that tops out a 8'. They were on a rock mud line and sitting about 2 feet of the bottom.  Lure of chose for the day was a 1/8 oz northland buckshot spoon tip with a fathead head. Action was slow till around 4pm then things really picked up. After it was all said and done I got my limit of 10-12" crappies and 4 walleye between 16-19" . Just goes to show you with a little leg work and a lot of holes drill you can find the fish. I believe with this cold front coming in the fish have moved out deeper off of the main basin stuctures.

prior lake...im assuming

Nice job Ace.

Was out at Tonka last  night with the wife.  Finally was able to get back out and it felt great.  Started at 3 PM, and found a 10" crappie right away.  Marked a lot of fish in the same hole, but ended up being a bunch of small sunnies. They were quite finicky as well.  The fish all disappeared around 6 pm, and we were ready to go.  The wife then suggested I drop the line right below the ice.  That was when things got exciting.  Started getting crappies of quality eating size.  Then i set my hook into something really hard.  It felt like a walleye but i' never saw it cause it was lost as my line wrapped around the ducer.  I learned that when i set the hook into something big, I need to get my transducer out of the way quickly.  I'll get my walleye some day :/.   Anyways, it was a wonderful evening, and the fishing was a blast.  Took home 7 crappies and threw the rest back.

any size to the pike or mostly hammer handles?  Of course those are perfect pickling size!

Got out on a small south metro lake today and fished flags with large fatheads. My nearly 3 week long slump came to an end.

Started out with a 15" bass. Then the crappies started pounding the big fatheads on colored hooks. First time ever getting crappies on tip ups. We were using the largest fatheads in the bucket catching black and white crappies. Crappies were only 7-8". Missed one bigger bass at the whole when the knot broke.

Glad my slumped ended with the biggest fish of my winter season. It pains me to admit my biggest fish this winter is a 15" 2 lbs-ish bass.

crappie action has picked up on waconia.  was out last night and got a bunch, bite was off and on all night.  16 feet of water two feet off the bottom with the smallest minnow in the bucket on a small moon glow is what worked for me. also got a few sunnies right before dark.

Got out to WBL for a while yesterday afternoon...I even caught some fish ....about 2 dozen small perch.
I had fun though.  It was nice to be out in the sun and fresh air. 

On Saturday, I ran into a half dozen of the newbies on FM.  The ones that joined after the falling out some of us had.
They had a good laugh about the permanent ban.  On Saturday there were only about a dozen of us on the lake and we all got skunked that afternoon.  They were marking fish, just not catching any.  I warned them who not to mess with over there, and tried to interest them in UMO...no takers though.

Well I had the chance to get out the last 2 days.


The fishing on Wednesday was a lot better that yesterday. I found active fish from 7' to 15'. Plastics were key. They really started to snap around 4 pm. Nice metro slabs around the 12" range. Very shocking to say the least. I always thought the lake was stunted


Yesterday was a lot slower. The only active fish I seen and found were in 15'. Plenty of lookers but not many takers. I will say the plastics I was using was destroyed by the sunnies and that could have been the reason for the slow trip.


Plan on being back on the ice Monday!



All in all, it was nice to sit on the lake and catch a tan!

The sunnies and crappies have been on a rampage the last few days in 22-25' . Sunnies are running 8-10" and the crappies 9-12" . Things should only get better from here on out. Lakes are in great shape but the access are getting bad .Might be walking out from here on out

I tried plastics yesterday and picked up a few but the few I got on them were real bulls

Made out on Prior with my oldest yesterday for awhile. The sunnies are still going crazy but access was almost impossible to get on the lake with a car or van. trucks seem to be getting out but there taking a big risk right now. I think I'm done for the winter and am getting ready for somw spring cat fishing. Still had 30" of ice but I did see a few  bowls starting to form on the lake plus there talking rain and above average temps for the next week aleast.

Good report Quetico. I plan on stopping by a lil pond today after work and see what I can do today