Holland Lake

Are there still rainbows in Holland lake in Eagan? I see a lot of people fishing the lake and it’s about 2 miles from my house. Has anyone had any luck there?

They still stock it, according to the DNR east metro website:

“Holland Lake was stocked with 1,000 yearling trout in October (10-14 inches long) and also received 50 large broodstock trout in November that weigh anywhere from 2 to 6 pounds.”

I live very close as well and have fished it the past few winters and have caught a few here and there.

Yes it’s worth fishing but it gets a lot of pressure (go figure). Be careful of the aerated portion to the right of the dock access.

Good to know, I didn’t know they had an aerator in that lake. I figured since it’s 55 feet deep it wouldn’t need one. What do I know though? Besides cooking bacon and drinking beer 😁
Never fished for trout before, what bait would work best? Crappie minnows?

Holland isn’t a designated trout lake, so you’re ok to use live bait there.

I’ve only targeted them on designated lakes, no live bait. Always had luck with a small jigging spoon (forage minnow, Swedish pimple, etc) or tungsten jig and some wax worms.

Pretty much what Mike said. Their mouths are small so use smaller baits and make sure your hooks are sharp. Stocked trout are dumb (totally out of their element) so I’ve had them bite my swivel before and will sometimes fish a tungsten without even tipping it. That said I would bring waxies if you can. Fish 4-6 feet below the ice regardless of what depth you’re at.

Debating about going Saturday morning if we are getting this snow. Maybe it will slow some people down lol.

I was out there for opener, an it was evident that the DNR had stocked significantly less/just didn’t stock trout this year. Spent all day (6-6) out there and only had a couple of fish pass through. Usually I could limit out in just over an hour, but I only took home one fish this year. Everyone else I talked to (of the 40+ out there) said it was really slow too. It has been absolutely ridiculous in years past, but there just weren’t the numbers this year that both myself and others had grown used to.

You do need a trout stamp if you plan to target and keep trout even if it is not a designated trout lake. I have never really tied into them out there in the past few years. If I fished it for a couple hours you might only get a handful of opportunities to catch them. They do not stick around long when you do see them on your electronics. IMO you would have better luck trying on one of the other two trout ponds in the Chaska/Shakopee area.