Brandon area lakes

[Woody]

The past week or so I've been trying to get out fishing more than normal.  But being as I'm "new" to the area I have to start from scratch.  And with all the lakes I have to choose from, I decided it's best to pick a few lakes, and fish them as much as I can, and try to learn them.  Sure I've fished a few of the area lakes before, but I am by no means an expert on finding fish.

So I take what knowledge of fish that I do have and apply that to any lake I go on.  Look for wind direction (and where it's been coming from for the last day or so), look for structure & look for weedlines.  I've also started paying more attention to barometric pressure, moon phase, water temp-and any whispers or rumors I might here at the baitshop or elsewhere.  And although some of the information is outdated, the DNR "Lakefinder" site is a good source to see roughly how many, and what type of fish are in the lakes.  I do as much research on a lake before I go out-even marking on a map the areas I think might be productive.

DNR Lakefinder site link:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html

Here are some pics of one particular outting. 

My wife with her 3# Largemouth bass-her biggest caught to date.



My Daughter Kelsey with her first Largemouth



A 9-1/2" Bluegill I caught.  (We actually caught a quite a few of these!)



*All fish were caught, photo'd & released.  In a nutshell-I never found the walleye I was in search of, but my family caught fish and had a blast doing it! 

We were using slip bobber rigs, with crawlers & leeches.  And Lindy rigs with crawlers & leeches.  We were fishing between 15'-30' deep, on sharp breaks, weedline edges and large boulder covered bottom.   ::

**Brandon is a small town approximately 20 miles west of Alexandria on I-94

[JohnWester]

very nice... learning the lake is half the fun.

[Realtree]

Great pics bro! Sounds like you guys had a great time out on the water! Thanks for sharing your day with us. We'll have to try and line up a long weekend later this summer or early fall to hit the water together somewhere between you and I. Have a great weekend Woody!  ::  ::drunks::