Any Tonka Opener Reports?

I’m hoping to get out there later this week, and curious if anyone made it out this weekend and wouldn’t mind sharing how they did? And if you did find em, what depth?

I didn’t fish it on the opener, but took a boat cruise with ‘the ladies’ today touring the shoreline looking at the beautiful homes. They lounged in the back, while I stood at the helm and watched for fish. Coming upon a school of crappies, they agreed to let me stop the boat and fish for a few minutes. Not only were there a hundred crappies relating to this clump of weeds in shallow water, but huge walleyes and bass were cruising through. I’m talking many walleyes. This was in 4’ to 6’ of clear water in a shallow bay. I know where I’d be at low light! Good luck, hope this helps.

Was this close to deep water?

Yes, deep water comes in relatively close, but this was definitely up on the shallow flat. We slow idled miles of shoreline, nearly all of which was devoid of good vegetation – and fish. This healthy clump of nice vegetation seemed to be a magnet for everything that swims in Tonka. It was amazing really how many fish were in that half acre weed bed. Clear water, not dark water.

BrianF wrote:

Good luck, hope this helps

Thanks!

I got out for a few hours on Saturday. We caught a half-dozen or so, three were in the mid-20″ range. All fish were caught in 6-8′. It will only get better as the water continues to warm up.

Way to go Brian! Now everbody is going to chase after that 16″ metro crappie you CPR’d into tonka.

Get a clue eyeguy.

Take a flippin joke OMFG!

Secret’s out of the bag now. Tonka has big crappies.

Oh-BTW I’ll say it ’cause nobody will believe me anyway- ‘tonka does not get a lot of pressure. Lake is huge, launches are packed because their is not a lot of them-take whatever fish you like and know that people are fishing for a lot of stuff besides what you want. And many of the people who live on the lake do not fish much.

biggill wrote:

Secret’s out of the bag now. Tonka has big crappies.

Changing our WHOLE plan now, who knew!?!?!

Just thought I’d follow up with a quick report. Fished from 6-2pm yesterday, Sunday, and caught a bunch of bass, some northern, and some bluegills all on Shad Raps. Saw some monster sheepies and eye’s up shallow but could not get them to commit. Water temp was mid-60’s and there was no one out there. We launched out of the west side, and there was 1 trailer parked when we launched, and 3 when we landed.

I fished in the crappie contest on Sat, May 19 and we caught a lot of them but mostly dinks. Also caught a few small bass and 1 pike. We released all of our fish except for 1 crappie each to weigh in…unfortunately I did not win the new boat but for $5 it was worth a try. Not a lot of people out – I think it was the cloudy, blustery, cool conditions. Water temp 59 on the main lake, 65 in the bays.

Yes, I can confirm there are big crappies in that lake. I saw a lot of them at the weigh in including a 16.5 incher.

gimruis wrote:

Yes, I can confirm there are big crappies in that lake. I saw a lot of them at the weigh in including a 16.5 incher.

I went out on Sunday to fish my crappie favorite hole and encountered this.

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BigWerm wrote:

Saw some monster sheepies…

I didn’t know Tonka had sheepies. I’ve fished it nearly my whole life and have never seen one out there.

“I went out on Sunday to fish my crappie favorite hole and encountered this.”

Good one biggill! In all serious-ness though, I don’t think people are gonna hit Tonka like crazy looking for these things. And lets be realistic, the chances of someone finding big foot is remote anyways especially on a big lake like Minnetonka.

Francis K wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
Saw some monster sheepies…

I didn’t know Tonka had sheepies. I’ve fished it nearly my whole life and have never seen one out there.

I could be wrong since we didn’t catch any, but they looked the part. Maybe were carp, but whatever they were, they were huge!

I, too, find it odd how little fishing pressure Minnetonka gets. I can see wanting to avoid it later on in the season when all the pleasure boats come out, but right now, it’s so much open water close by to explore.

The DNR keeps saying how fewer people are fishing now, and maybe those who do are all doing it away from the metro.