snow report for the brainerd lakes

[iceman]

made my way over the brainerd lakes today didn't find to many access that were open..

with the snow we had a few weeks ago it's going to be hard to get around unless you ether are walking or have a snowmobile..

many of the access are not plowed out ether.

just thought i would let you all know..

[Bufflehead]

Thanks for the report iceman

[Mayfly]

Thats too bad......not good for local bait shops either.

[WoodChuck]

 ???  MANY OF THE ACCESS ARE STILL NOT PLOWED OR THE PARKING AREAS !  snow leval has droped to about 8 inches and mostly slush with 2 inches of water on top of the ice . best mode of transportation right now still is the wheelers . the best place i found for panfish action was on nissiwa lake, mid lake in 20 fow useing brighter colored jigs tiped with waxies or berkley power grubs . with a few more days of warmer weather here in the brainerd lakes area we should be able to venture just about anywhere on the lakes ! ONE WORD OF WARNING WITH THE MELTING SNOW AND RUNNING WATER !! WE NEED TO WATCH OUT FOR ICE WASH OUTS FROM SPEAR AND LARGER ANGLEING HOLES!!

                              woodchuck

[WoodChuck]

 ;D  WOW !! what a day ! 53 degrees and sunny with a lite breeze out of the wsw 8 mph . started fishing at 3:30 and was on the sunfish and crappies from the get go ! the warm weather today must have put the pannies into the spring feed ? fished 17 fow with a orange and green fat boy horizontal jig and berkley maggot grubs . 10 ft down, and the best bite came at 5:30 to 7:30 with no hits on a crappie minnow ? it seems that the fish are only interested in the smaller tid bit baits as the new hatch of spring water bugs are on the surface . such as the water fleas and have seen some fresh water shrimp comeing to the top also in 8 fow .  ended the day with 20 good sized sunnies bout 7 inchs and 10 crappies bout the same size , but 1 10 1/2 " and 1 12 1/2 " 1.5 lbs .  not a bad day of fishing in my book !!!!! :)

[WoodChuck]

 ;D  no snow left on the local lakes today ! but still about 4 " of heavy slush with nearly 3" of water on top of the ice now ! went searching for bigger panfish early this morning and started catching sunnies and crappies at 8:00 and they did not stop until 10:30 . had no problem with finding enough fish for a limit of both ,but to no great size ? crappies averaged 9" and sunnies at 6 to 7" again. went back again tonite and the holes that i cut in the am were already washed out from 8" to 11" with 3 feet of ice !!!!  SO PLEASE BE CAREFULL WHEN YOU ARE OUT AND ABOUT !!! bait and fishing method had not changed since yesterday .
                             woodchuck

[WoodChuck]

 ??? cold day on the new snow . the new snow shower that came and went through the brainerd lakes left about 2" in the area , sure was a bright day after all the mud . fished the evening run for sunnies and crappies, with the iceman  and did not fare to well ! the cold and snow seemed to drive the pannies back to deeper water. we fished grubs and small minnows but to no avail. checked water from 8 ft to 18 fow and found fish at 9 to 14 ft stacked 6 feet deep .small sunnies and a few larger crappies with half a limit of them being 5" and smaller useing northland fire eye jigs is what turned the fewer bigger fish that were caught. maybe with a few warmer days again the fish will be back on the spring bite . BE SAFE AND BE A TRUE SPORTSMAN !  woodchuck  :)

[Outdoors Junkie]

Thanks for the great report WC!

[iceman]

Where does one find the smaller minnows in the brainerd lakes ? 

Stoped at the corner store last night all the had were big shiner and a few sucker minnows left over..  ???

[WoodChuck]

 :) S&W BAIT  has a better variety of smaller crappie minnows and manufactured baits. S&W is located 61/2 miles north of brainerd/baxter on hwy. 371 north heading to nissiwa.

                              woodchuck

             S&W BAITS  218-829-7010

[iceman]

So WC you get them fish cleaned up yet ???

Ended up fishing agian with WC(Dave) on the lower half of the gull river ..
Started out in 13fow ended up in 10-+ a few feet i was useing a green/orange flu flu tiped with a wax worm jiged off the bottom ..
Gave away what i had caught and came home..

Thanks for shareing your fishing hole WC.. 

[WoodChuck]

  anytime for a MNO MEMBER AND FRIEND! we may not have caught the biggest fish in the river ? but you know they are there when they break that 100 pound test line !l  cleaned the fish and we ate them all with rememberance of a good day on the ice !!  :)

                         woodchuck