Fishing Report – White Bear Lake

I got out today for the first time in an effort to dust off my gear and do a trial run on some new stuff I bought.
Went out from Bellaire Beach this morning and there were 10-12 others out there to keep me company.
Most everywhere I drilled had about 5 inches of ice. I stayed in the main area straight out from the beach.
The bite was bleak, and from talking to other guys it was much the same. I didn’t even mark any fish. I can’t remember the last time that happened on White Bear.
I went home for lunch and to watch the Vikes for a bit and then went over to the public launch on the North end of the lake.
Ice thickness over there was also around 5 inches consistently. I did not venture to any water deeper than about 10 feet.
Again, the bite was MISERABLE. Marked some fish but never had a nibble. I drilled more than 20 holes but the results were the same in all of them.
Oh well, it was nice to be outdoors and I got a good workout pulling my sled all over and drilling holes.
I’m hoping to have better luck the next time out.
Anyone else have luck on White Bear today?

I’m going to head out today, I’m bringing the spud bar and check the the East side of the lake. I’ll let you know what I find.

If you kept walking straight across the bay from Bellaire you would have found that the ice was spotty. Last Wednesday I found spots of 2″ that were easy to see the darker areas back at the first snowfall, now probably not so much. Be careful out there everyone and spud bar as you walk!

I can tell you about numerous times that happens on White Bear Lake. It’s all about the time of day with that lake.

I checked out the East side of the lake and found anywhere between 3-5 inches of ice. Fishing was fairly slow but had more success in 20+ feet.

Northern Lights Outdoors wrote:

I checked out the East side of the lake and found anywhere between 3-5 inches of ice. Fishing was fairly slow but had more success in 20+ feet.

Thanks for the report. I didn’t see anyone off Mahto beach on Sunday so I was not going to be the first one to test the ice. 3 inches is still a bit thin for me. I think I will wait until after this weekend’s deep freeze to thicken it up some more.

I can’t even imagine that lake being good fishing considering its location, reputation and nearby population density.

i think its just the fact that its such a big lake and doesn’t get super affected by the amount of fishing pressure

I don’t want to give away too many secrets here, but that lake is awesome for crappies, walleyes, smallmouth and largemouth bass. The biggest issue I think is early ice, and the lack thereof areas to get on the lake. There is a few public beaches out of Birchwood, and one in Mahtomedi. Everyone knows about Bel-Aire, and Ramsey but to walk out to an area with a lot of structure is tough to do. Once the houses, and people get on the lake the fish spread out a lot more, and is tough to pinpoint decent schools of fish.

My two cents, I know though there are a lot of people that do really well on that lake.

suzuki wrote:

I can’t even imagine that lake being good fishing considering its location, reputation and nearby population density.

Yeah, it sucks bad. Please don’t waste your time.

Cloudy with a chance of a white truck going through the ice

Awesome for:
Crappies, smallmouth, largemouth, walleye, according to a guy from NLO. Have fished the lake for decades gotta weigh in. Crappies are there and the size is good its about timing and location even more so than other lakes. Bass could be awesome what do you want size or #s? An avid SMB fisherman could catch the biggest bass of his life out there, then again you could have 5 trips with zero.LmBs just the opposite, you could catch 50 fish in a day but none would be over 3lbs, Walleyes? The numbers just are not good- structure is good but you can’t fry up structure. Would not wright off the lake because it is a metro lake but you better do your homework

Wharf Rat wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
I can’t even imagine that lake being good fishing considering its location, reputation and nearby population density.

Yeah, it sucks bad. Please don’t waste your time.