Big bucket of ‘gills needed

Will have record attendance for the family fish fry & I am the only one providing fish. The bass & crappie gods have been kind to me but Walter has not. Would be more than happy to serve delicious sunnies wondering if someone has reccomendations. Be cool sharpening my knife and filleting 7s or 8s, any lake near me that has 10s will have a 5 fish limit. Thinking fish are off beds and on deep weed-edges, think they want a piece of crawler on a Lindy rig. Guy on this site took me to Prior and we did well but I think they went to a 5 limit there too. Thanks

How about some northern pike? The daily bag limit is 10 fish, they’re willing to bite, and easy to catch. Whole lot more filet on those than some dinky sunfish.

Just about any lake will have enough sunfish for a fish fry. Just gotta put in some effort and go fishing and I’d bet you’ll find them. Throw a dart at a map of the Chisago Lakes area, or just about any lake in the north metro area and go fishing

No ill-will directed at you specifically Tim, but IMO this mentality of wanting to have a giant family fish fry with only one person providing fish is a big reason why we need to reduce limits (within reason) throughout the state. If people want to have a big family fish fry then A) more people need to go fishing, or B) go to one of the local VFW/Legion fish frys.

Lots of lakes have what you need. A tiny piece of crawler on a flu flu is what I would be using. Toss it around some weeds should work. The lindy idea will work too, never target them that way but catch plenty when dragging for eyes.

My family is pretty small, this year will be the largest at 12, plus we do this only once a year, mixing up the lakes and species really reduces the impact Mr Waldo. Chisago area is a good idea, Rush comes to mind, those lakes are zoos but if you go during the week they are ok.
I’ll put out some pike, maybe have a couple takers. I really like the texture & taste of pike. Thanks for the input so far.

BUCKET OF ‘BIG” GILLS NEEDED

There Tim. I fixed it for you so you can stay within the limit.

How much do you like your family? I hear people from Iowa eat rock bass and they’re OK. Plenty of them around.

If I had to feed 12 people with fish and I was the only one trying to catch it, I’d go to Costco and buy a bulk size package of fish sticks.

Small bass in general will work, just don’t tell them

I will sell you my limit for $45

Anybody been to Erie lately? Tim needs some fillets.

Feeding everyone good fresh fish is a guarantee you’ll be entertaining 12 plus people every year… go get yourself a limit of large mouth bass and bake them with the skin on…

Maybe if they want it they need to contribute… just sayin

John Rasmussen wrote:

Small <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass in general will work, just don’t tell them

I do this to my snobby buddies and for some reason they never seem to notice. But then if I tell them they claim it’s disgusting lol

Minnetonka deep weed lines, drag a chunk of crawler around you’ll find em. Once you find a spot get the slip bobbers pull the keepers and move on down the line. Easy peasy during a week day.

I’d stay in shallow weeds. Easy money and they are aggressive. I’m not a spot giver but I will say I wouldn’t bother going to rush or poke. Much better options. Grubson gave you a solid lead. You can absolutely crush them deep right now. But whu not keep it easy and fish them shallow

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waldo9190 wrote:

No ill-will directed at you specifically Tim, but IMO this mentality of wanting to have a giant family fish fry with only one person providing fish is a big reason why we need to reduce limits (within reason) throughout the state. If people want to have a big family fish fry then A) more people need to go fishing, or B) go to one of the local VFW/Legion fish frys.

Well said. Tim another alternative is to go buy some fish, or start collecting earlier.
One other option would be to go to Crystal lake in Burnsville and catch as many of the 5-6” stunted sunfish as possible.
It’s really easy as they are literally everywhere.

You have to sort to get some good ones, that’s for sure.
Fish? No comments on this site
Kidding aside thanks for all the help-I always forget about ‘tonka and its so close to my house, just hate the crowds.

Bearcat89 wrote:

But whu not keep it easy and fish them shallow

Dragging a chunk of crawler around where the bigger fish hangout is funner. Eyeballs, big bass, northern all love a chunk of crawler and puttin along is nice and relaxing fishing imo.

As a bonus I think ya get to know a lake better that way as well. Feeling what that sinker is hitting, or what kind of weeds ya drag up can give good insight to where they will be in other times of year.

To each their own.

Yup, deeper is a better gamble this time of year, Bear is accuratly showing in his pic what you get shallow, his fishies usually do not fit so neatly in his hand! That said I do not want to fill a bucket with plates, good mess of 7s, couple of 8s would make me a happy camper-we will snack on some small bass too.

Deuces wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
But whu not keep it easy and fish them shallow

Dragging a chunk of crawler around where the bigger fish hangout is funner. Eyeballs, big bass, northern all love a chunk of crawler and puttin along is nice and relaxing fishing imo.

As a bonus I think ya get to know a lake better that way as well. Feeling what that sinker is hitting, or what kind of weeds ya drag up can give good insight to where they will be in other times of year.

To each their own.

This i do agree with. But it sounded like he wanted to go out and just get a bucket of fish. So like I said going to a 8ft weed line and throwing out a chunk of crawler on a jig is a pretty easy way to fill a bucket. Now if we were looking for the biggest fish in the lake or how to catch every fish around, well then my tactics would align with yours. That sunfish photo I posted wasn’t for a size, it was to show hoe aggressive they are right now. A 7 inch fish ate 4.5 inches of a 5 inch senko, not sure how but in the pic you can see it was inhaled.

I always did well on Prior this time of year on nice eater size sunfish. I’d go out early and fish bass with a Jigworm on the weedlines, I’d mark waypoints where I got lots of sunfish taps on the Jigworm. I would pick the wife and daughter up at the landing a little later and we would go fish slip bobbers with a leech in the areas marked earlier. Never had any problems putting a ton of nice sunfish in the boat doing that. I’d get out there early to not have any landing issues and to get off the lake prior to all the crazies later in the day.

As far as all the Negative comments about having a big fish fry with the family, don’t let it bother you. There is nothing wrong with feeding a nice meal of fresh fish to family members who don’t or can’t fish. I’m sure they really enjoy it and its great you can do it for them.

As an adult one of my fondest memories of my dad was having him at the fry, I was the first kid to buy a house and I was feeding the dude who provided for me. This year my brother is coming in from St. Louis and my cousin is in from Chicago. Anyone who has fished with me knows I don’t do a lot of damage
Thanks for the tips too, that would be a good way to find ‘gills

Tim you just do you……enjoy the fish fry!!!!!!!!!!!

We were pulling lead in 26 fow pulling through schools of perch and getting some big gills.
DT

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glenn57 wrote:

Tim you just do you……enjoy the fish fry!!!!!!!!!!!

Agree with this comment. I will be having our annual fish fry this weekend for family and friends. I don’t eat much fish during the year so I keep my fish for this occasion. If I reach my possession limit I will gift some to my other family members and they bring it to the fish fry. I assume everyone enjoys it as much as I do since they always seem to want to come to the next one. Hope everyone has a Happy 4th Holiday.

Thanks B, they love it. We will see how the new puppy does with the 4th fireworks, I know she will love the fry.

Do you have enough fish yet. Otherwise I have a small spot on the river that’s producing all of our catfish bait. No boat needed. You’ll have as many panfish as needed in under a hour. It’s not deep though so you might not be interested. Lots of perfect eaters between 7 and 9 inches. The kid and I can guide you. It’s a 2 minute walk from the car

I’m in! I’ll bring snacks for the kid.