New Richmond Area

Got the shack out two weeks ago finally. Fishing the same lake I pounded the bass and crappie on this summer. So far the crappie action is great but the bass are slow. Trout are on the prowl and are a hoot to catch. The shack is set up on a weededge in 20 ft of water. The crappies are coming through in about 10-15 of water. Trout are on the bottom but blast up and grab your bait at 15 ft. Jigging rapidly for twenty seconds and then just letting the bait hang there seems to be the ticket. I have been setting my tip ups out of the weededge in 30-35 ft of water mostly trout with two bass mixed in. Nothing beats sitting in a shrt in a toasty shack listening to the wind blowing while reeling in crappies. The best action ahs been from 6-8pm and 10-midnight. God bless the inventor of the Vexlar!!! Get out hit the lakes the fishing is hot right now.
Todd

Sounds like you’re having a great time. I’ve fished the lakes in the Star Prairie area quite a bit, although I haven’t
fished them at all yet this year. I think I know what lake you are talking about. Hope the bite keeps going for you.
What kind of trout are you catching? They must be a blast on an ice fishing combo.

Lower Pine Lake is the lake sorry forgot to mention that. Most of the trout are Rainbows with some browns mixed in. Was out today from 11-1pm and caught three nice sized Rainbows and 4 crappies. Brougt my 3 year old son with. Now thats what its all about. We sat in the shack and played cars and had snacks in between watching our poles. I missed several fish while we were playing cars but I’ll take my son playing with me in a shack anyday over sitting by myself and catching tons of fish. That day will come when we both get lots o fish while sitting in the shack or boat together. Man what a fun day. Take a kid fishing I know we hear it all the time but its the best thing going . Good lick to all who venture out this weekend.
Todd

I’ve fished middle pine (across the road to the east) quite a bit over the years but I’ve never fished lower pine.
That’s the lake that I thought you were talking about. Does it get much pressure? I heard it’s like the 3rd or 4th
deepest lake in the state. I’ve always wondered where the access was. I’ve driven around it a couple times but
never saw a place to drive on. Middle Pine used be a fun lake to fish tip ups on. Used to get a lot of flags and an
occasional 10 pound pike. Over the last couple years I haven’t had the success like in the past. I’ve also heard
that middle pine has some really nice crappies but I’ve yet to see those as well. Thanks for the info.

Is Middle Pine the one with the launch right on the road, with a large flag on the opposite side of the lake? If so, I’ve fished this lake several times a year for the last 7 years, and only pulled 3/4# pike through the ice — I’ve heard that there were some big ones in there, but I’ve never seen one(not even close).

Yes, that is the one. I used to have days where I would have 30-40 flags by myself and the last few
years it’s maybe 10 if you’re lucky. Must be in a down cycle.

Lower Pine is indeed very deep. I have seen depths of 125 ft while scouting the lake. Went out Friday night caught 30 nice crappies, Saturday night fished from 8-11 no fish.Say lots on the graph but they were’t taking what I was offering. Sunday went out from 2-7. 25 crappies, 1 northen, 1 bass, 3 missed flags. The lake receives little fishing pressure. In years past mine would be the only shack on the ice this year there is two others. The guys I have talked to have been doing real good. You need a graph or flasher as the fish come in suspended.The last few time out the trout have been hitting at deeper depths while the crappies are coming in a good 10 ft off the bottom. This weekend I am going to take the portable out and check out some of my other hotspots such as points and two underwater humps and see what I can do. The access to the lake is hard to find as it is not marked. I am sorry I dont know the name of the road but I will get it for you. The access is not well kept and is hard to get into when there are other trailers parked not one for the rookie.Good luck fishing.

I would really appreciate it you can find the road name for me. I would like to give the lake a try. Do the trout bite
after dark or what time is the best time to catch them? Thanks again

The trout seem to bite all day and into the night. I have caught them at 7 am, 2 pm, 11 pm. Doesnt seem to matter just give em what they want. Ive caught them on waxies, shiners and crappie minnows. Depths seem to be 5-10ft they suspend off the 22-25 ft bottom. I will be fishing the lake on Friday I will stop over and get the road name for you.

Looking at my Gazetteer, I see a Pine Lake South East of New Richmond just off HWY 63. Are Lower and Middle Pine parts of this one larger body of Water? I also see a Pine Lake NW of town near the River? I doubt I’ll get there as time is short and the drive is long but am curious about it. It might be fun to Scuba in this Summer.
Woolybugger

Lower pine can be tough but I’ve also had great days on Middle pine for northerns. Haven’t given it any of my time lately. Pine Lake near Baldwin is giving up tons of crappies still. Have to weed though a lot of smaller ones to get any size but if you want to catch 50 -100 crappies in a day it’s the place to go. Fishing a slough by Star Prarie the other day I had a solid 20 but probably bigger muskie eyeing up my sucker on my jigging stick but couldn’t close the deal. Been a great winter for ice fishing so far……………………………………………………..Pax

That would be the NW one.

I’m assuming you had a camera and saw the muskie?

No. Most of the slough is only about 4 feet deep and it just froze over – really clear ice – and I only had the sucker down about a foot under the ice. Could see him plain as day through the hole and the ice. Just walking out there we saw at least 100 fish although a lot were carp but it was fun nonetheless. Pretendr – what is the NW one? ————————–Pax

I’m curious to what slough you were fishing?

Pax,

Sorry, that was referring back to Middle Pine.