April 14, 2006
Anglers: Please note that ice conditions can change very quickly during the spring. And as usual, reports are sporadic this time of year. Please call the numbers below for an up-to-the-minute report.
ALEXANDRIA ? Christopherson?s Bait & Tackle, Dana Freese, 2 blocks east of Big Ole, (320-763-3255) The ice is out on area lakes. Crappies and sunfish are being found in the shallow dark bays of Lake Le Homme Dieu, Darling, Pocket and Minnewaska.
ANNANDALE - B.J.?s Bait & Tackle, Bill, west side of Clearwater Lake, between the two public accesses (320-274-3730) We will reopen at ice-out.
ANOKA ? Action?s Fishing, Jack, 809 West Hwy 10 (763-422-4890)We will reopen at ice-out.
BATTLE LAKE ? Ben?s Bait & Tackle, Josie, Junction of Hwy 78 and 210 (218-864-5596) The ice is just going out on the big lakes and has already gone out on the smaller ones. No fishing reports yet.
BEMIDJI ? Bluewater Bait & Sports, Mark Cook, 1 mile north of the Hwy 2 & 71 Intersection (218-444-2248) The ice is just going out on the big lakes and has already gone out on the smaller ones. No fishing reports yet.
BIG STONE ? Bud?s Bait & Tackle, Greg or Jim Rasset (320-839-2480) Ice is out on area lakes. Don?t miss the Border Waters opener on Big Stone on April 29th. Call us for more details!
BLACKDUCK - Timberline Sport & Tackle, Carl Adams, Junction of Hwy 71 and Blackduck Lake Rd (218-835-4636) The ice has not gone out yet, so no one is fishing. No report yet.
BRAINERD LAKES AREA ? Brainerd Guide Service, John Blong (218-825-8965) Call for a report.
CHISAGO CITY ? Frankie?s Live Bait and Marine, Brad, Corner of Hwy 8 and Co Rd 77 (651-257-6334) The ice is all of the lake and the panfish are starting to hit. All the boat landings are open and sunnies are crappies are being found in the shallow muddy bays of all area lakes. Try the south end of Chisago (back by Blue Waters), South Center and also try the north end of North Center. Panfish are biting on Flu Flu jigs or tube jigs tipped with waxworms and crappie minnows with a straight hook under a bobber. The ice came off last Saturday and Sunday and the fish have been biting ever since.
CROSSLAKE - Holiday of Cross Lake, Lee (218-692-2708) Call us for a report!
DETROIT LAKES - Dick Beardsley?s Guide Service (218-846-9230) Dick will keep everyone updated on when the ice will be off area lakes. The last couple of years it has been around the 15-20th of April. Looking at around the 10-15th of April this year. Get that open water fishing equipment ready to go!
DULUTH - Fisherman?s Corner, Scott, 7 miles north of Miller Mall on Hwy 53 (218-729-5369) A lot of the rivers along the North Shore have been producing fish. Many are catching suckers, loopers and steelhead. Some are casting off the western shore in the areas with open water and are having luck with waxworms and span bags. The ice is starting to rot out on area lakes and not many fishermen out right now. Some are fishing perch on Pike Lake.
DULUTH - Marine General, 1501 London Road, on the edge of Lake Superior (218-724-8833) The best spots to fish are anywhere on the Lake Superior shoreline between Duluth and Two Harbors. The best baits are orange and red colored Rapalas, Challengers or Bombers. Trolling speeds are around 1 ? mph. Fish that are being caught are rainbows, cohos and lake trout. If you want to shore cast, try the river mouths and use crawlers off the bottom and span or looper bugs near the surface.
EDEN VALLEY ? Mike?s Bait & Tackle, Mike, right off Hwy 55 (320-453-2248) Crappies and a few sunfish are hitting now in shallow water. The ice is totally gone on area lakes.
GRAND RAPIDS - Rapids Tackle, Don Wendt, 2 blocks west of Jerry?s Liquor Warehouse (218-326-9838) You can get some perch, crappies and bluegills by putting a boat in the Mississippi and going to the warm water discharge at the MPL plant in Cohasset. We will continue to keep you posted as long as we have fishable ice.
GREY EAGLE - Nancy?s Bait & Tackle, Rex, on CR 2, four miles east of the Rock Tavern on Big Birch Lake, four miles west of Upsala (320-285-2405) The ice is off the area lakes and the fish are starting to bite. There haven?t been a lot of reports yet, so we are not sure which lakes are producing fish.
HACKENSACK - Swanson?s Bait & Tackle, Jim Tuller, Hwy 371 on the north end of Hackensack (218-675-6176) As of April 10th, the ice is very unsafe and has not yet gone out. No fishing report this week.
KABETOGAMA-NAMAKAN ? Gateway Store, US Hwy 53 & CO Rd 122, 30 miles south of Int?l Falls-Canadian border, Phil Hart (218-875-2121) Call for a report!
LAKE OF THE WOODS ?Area Tourism Bureau, Jane, near junction of Hwy 11 and Hwy 172 in Baudette (1-800-382-FISH) The Rainy River did hold true to its springtime fame, at least for a little while. Once the melt combined with run-off, it didn?t take long for the bite to shut down. But river debris seems to have cleared up, and if we can avoid some of the predicted rain this week, the bite should pick back up the middle/end of this week. With the end of the season coming on Friday, April 14, we aren?t left with a whole lot of leeway. The river is still producing well further east near International Falls and Peland, and is picking up in the Birchdale/Clementson areas. Sturgeon fishing on the Rainy is still reported as doing well from Four Mile Bay on down, and is open for catch and release until April 23rd. If you?re looking to fish to keep, the season goes from April 24th ? May 7th. Don?t forget to pick up a sturgeon tag ? it?s a new requirement this year to keep a fish. But you can get one wherever fishing licenses are sold. There is still some ice fishing happening on the main body of Lake of the Woods, but warmer weather is rapidly deteriorating the remaining ice coverage, especially at heavily traveled access points. Morris Point and west were still allowing ATV?s and foot traffic as of this writing, but if warm temperatures continue, even this traffic will have to stop before the end of the week.
LEECH LAKE ? Anderson?s Resorts, Tim (1-800-516-0077) Call for a report.
MANKATO ? The Bobber Shop, North Riverfront Drive (507-625-8228) Crappies are biting on Madison Lake and near Buck Masters Bridge. You can also try fishing the narrows in the evening with small jigs and crappies minnows if you are after crappies. Lake Francis, behind Carpenters and Cedar Point, is also producing crappies. Sunfish are biting in the shallow waters of Washington in around a foot of water with waxworms and small jigs.
MILLE LACS ? Lundeen?s Tackle Castle, Bill Lundeen, Onamia (320-532-3416) Call or see our web site for an update.
MONTEVIDEO ? DJ?s Sporting Goods, Jon Dahlvang, east Hwy 7, south side of Hwy, (320-269-7265) Crappies have started to bite in Volden?s pit on small jigs and minnows. Some are finding catfish in the river. Lac qui Parle is completely ice free.
NISSWA - Dave?s Sportland Bait & Tackle, Jason, 2 miles south of Nisswa at the Intersection of Hwy 371 and Cty Rd 77, next to Schaefer?s Foods (218-963-2401) Well, the open water season has arrived. It was a long winter but it is finally here. This warm weather really took care of the ice and now anglers are concentrating on crappies and sunfish. So far we?ve had a few good reports from anglers fishing the smaller lakes and bays. Crappies are feeding up in 6-8 feet of water. With all of this sunshine we are having look for them to start trickling into the shallow water areas looking to sun themselves. Good spots to try are Lake Margaret, North Long, Hubert and the Bar Harbor docks. Small plastic tails, crappie minnows, or waxworms work good right now. Time to get the gear ready and go give it a try.
PARK RAPIDS ? Delaney?s Sport Center, Kevin, East 1st St (218-732-4281) Look for next week's report. As of Monday, April 10th, the ice has not gone out yet.
PELICAN RAPIDS ? Park Region Sport Shop, Lee Brenna, Intersection of Interstate 59 and 108 in downtown Pelican Rapids (800-962-8553) The ice is off of the area lakes, but no reports coming in yet.
RAINY LAKE ? Rainy Lake Tourism (1-800-FALLS-MN) Spring fishing is very popular on Rainy River. A large population of lake of the Woods walleye run upstream in the spring to spawn. Anglers catch many larger walleye than are commonly caught on Lake of the Woods in the summer. Plus, there are a lot of fish running upstream so the fishing is good. There are flyers available explaining the slot and possession limits for Walleye, Sauger, lake Sturgeon and northern Pike. The flyer also shows the location of ramps in and near International Falls, as well as downstream toward Lake of the Woods. This flyer is available at the International Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau at the Chamber of Commerce building, 301 2nd Ave. International Falls or visit our web site.
RED WING ? Four Seasons Sport Shop, 2301 W Main St (651-388-4334) Right now the water is pretty high, but fish are still biting. Most are fishing in 8-10 feet of water. Air jigs are working well with ringworms. There are reports of 15- to 20-inch saugers being caught. Be cautious of floating logs in debris in the water and make sure to anchor over the fish.
SAINT CLOUD ? Corky?s Gas & Bait , Main Street in Rockville (320-251-1567) Ice is off the area lakes but the docks are not in yet. Crappies are getting ready to spawn and are being caught using Flu Flu jigs and crappie minnows in 5-8 feet of water.
SAINT CLOUD ? Stop Light Bait, Honest Don, 8th Avenue SE, St. Cloud (320-255-9689) The ice is gone from area lakes.People are fishing off shore and in boats.The local rivers are running high and are turbulent. Crappie fishermen are fishing the Horseshoe Chain, Little Rock, Cedar Lake and many others. If our latest weather continues, the bite should get better. Do not forget to review the new 2006 fishing regulations. Suckers have been running in some of the local rivers and angles are using night crawlers to catch them. The Mississippi is running high and the fishing will get better.
SPICER - Mel?s Sportshop, Hwy 23 and Ruth Street (320-796-2000) Total ice out occurred on Sunday night. Let the fishing begin! Next Lake Bay is already hot for sunfish, with Timberwolf flies and Flu Flus working the best. Some fish are being caught on West Norway Lake and in Elkhorn Lake Bay. The west end of Koronis and the east bay by the Highway 55 bridge are producing crappies. With the warmer temperatures, the fishing will get better and better.
STARBUCK - Minnewaska Bait, Larry Jensen, Hwy 29 near the Starbuck Marina (320-239-2239) Sunfish are crappies are biting now on the open water. You can find crappies in the Glenwood end near the fish hatchery if you use small jigs and crappie minnows. Starbuck Marina saw some crappie action last Saturday. The fish aren?t as big as the others on the Glenwood side. You should see the males first and then the females. If you are looking for sunfish, try the Marina area and use waxworms, or small chucks of nightcrawlers with jigs. Crappies are also being caught on the north side of Pocket Lake, right on Cty. Road 4. Fishing is really starting to pick up now.
WACONIA - Mase?s In Towne Marine, Cindy, corner of Lake and Elm (952-442-2096) The ice is off of the lake now and we are in the process of putting in our docks. We are still closed. No reports at this time.
WAYZATA - Wayzata Bait & Tackle, Tim or Bob, half mile west off I-494 on Hwy 12 (952-473-2227) The ice is off of the lake now and all of the bays are open.A limit of crappies was just brought in, and they were caught in 4-5 feet of water in the north side of the bay using crappie minnows with white and pink jig and a cubbie jig. Try the areas with mud bottoms.Sunfish have been slower, try using waxworms. Medicine Lake has also produced fish in 3-5 feet of water.
WINNIBIGOSHISH ? Walleye Visions, Tom Neustrom, 21622 Airport Rd, Grand Rapids (218-327-2312) Call or check our web site for updates.
? 2006 Outdoors Weekly Corporation
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Topic: Outdoors Weekly fishing reports for 4/14/06 (Read 2391 times)
