First time out….

I took a quick ride to a local lake where the ice had pretty much vacated the area where I begin my crappie fishing for the year and things were good. Except for the stiff SE wind. I toughed it out for about 40 minutes and then said the heck with this damned wind.

Inside that 40 minutes I caught three very nice crappies but put them back. I didn’t have anything the keep them in and had only a handful of extra tackle in a jacket pocket, but they would have made a super meal. On what was my last cast the float just stopped in an area where it shouldn’t have encountered anything so I gave the rod a little twitch to get it moving and be darned if it didn’t sink and start to go sideways. After three or four minutes of ondering how big this carp or catfish was going to be, this healthy bucket-mouth came up and let me lip it. Normally at this time of year if a bass is going to hit in this area it’s going to be a pretty decent smallie, so where I saw the big old chops, I was amazed.

I had a new rod/reel out there today with the usual 4 pound test XL so I didn’t want to pressure this guy until I knew what was there. I think it went a hair more than 4 pounds so a nice largy for this lake.

There was ice still in an adjacent bay but otherwise the lake on the end I was on was ice free. The water temp on my submersible thermometer read out at 36 degrees at 4 feet after a 6 minute soak.

Next week will be better fishing.

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Sounds like a good outing. Shore fishing or did you get the boat out?

On shore John. I’m not certain how far down the lake its open. I was on an inside corner of the shoreline and couldn’t see where the melt had extended.

That is a nice surprise catch!

It was a surprise catch. Normally it would be one of the common sh/t fishes: carp, catfish, northern, buffalo.

A couple more degfrees and those smallies will start to hang on shore. Then things really get interesting with light line. A 4 pound smallie in 40-42 degree water is one heck of a fight.

I will have to check some of the local lakes around here in STC area. Ones that have creeks flowing into them must have open water I would think.

I’ve been pretty stir crazy with this warmer weather. I was hoping to fish longer but the wind ramped up. At least I caught fish while scratching that itch.

That’s a fun 1st outing of the year for sure. I think we are 2-3 weeks if not more away from any open water fishing here in the St. Cloud area. buddy was on a lake about 50 miles north on Wed. and they were still driving full sized trucks out. I think with the warmer temps the landings are going to get bad real fast. It will most likely be walking out only from here on out

Jimmy Jones wrote:

I’ve been pretty stir crazy with this warmer weather.

I just wish it would figure out what the heck it wants to do and stick with it! mid 70s today, 30s Sunday what the heck mother nature you are drunk!

fishthumper wrote:

I think we are 2-3 weeks if not more away from any open water fishing here in the St. Cloud area.

Oh, I know of one place that is probably fishable right now. No, its not a main lake area, but I will bet that it can be fished today.

CaptainMusky wrote:

March 14, 2025 at 9:59 am#2323820
fishthumper wrote:
I think we are 2-3 weeks if not more away from any open water fishing here in the St. Cloud area.

Oh, I know of one place that is probably fishable right now. No, its not a main lake area, but I will bet that it can be fished today

I bet I know of the place you are talking about. Its the 1st place we float a boat in almost every year. If you can get the boat from the landing to a long side channel real close, there is a decent size area to fish. Lots of the shore fishing stops along it are mostly posted and some of the owners are not real friendly I’ve been told.