Thought provoking email….

Ugh bad day for catching on Spring was tough today, again didn’t have much time, really I didn’t care all that much either, it was nice to be on the water.

I was out Friday night for a couple of hours on Prior with my little fishing buddy and he certainly showed the old man up(I obviously taught him too well).

After dodging some clowns with 7-8 guys in a boat, we got away to a quiet shorleine and started catching fish.

The irritating part about some of these boats is that they have absolutely no etiquette. I was cut off on more than one trolling pass and had them drive over my line on the last pass longlining raps before I picked up and moved. It’s a big lake, do they have to sit right on top of you? I might as well have had them hook onto the D-Ring on the back of my boat and charge a guiding fee.

Anyway, the bite is sporatic but there if you’re patient and avoid the circus

Nice, Yeah I tend to avoid prior during the daylight hours if possible for that reason. Been tempted to go out at night, but I wouldn’t be on the water until after 11pm sometime, Then I just talk myself into staying home, I know the night bite is decent, but I don’t care for fishing at late night alone so much.

Nice report Thanks

I’m going to keep bumping this thread all summer, try to keep it alive with some report we I do get out. Hopefully we can get a bunch more people to join in, It’s too bad the lake report are so sparse on here, may it’ll help spur some more posts

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Hopefully we can get a bunch more people to join in, It’s too bad the lake report are so sparse on here, may it’ll help spur some more posts

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Keep the chatter going consistently and it usually doesn’t take long to get a forum rolling.

Thanks for taking the initiative to try and improve this forum. It is appreciated.

Well, I can provide a report for Orchard Lake. The weeds out there are incredibly thick and all the way to the surface in water as deep as 8′. With pleasure boaters cruising around plenty too, the weeds are chopped up floating all over the place and just making the shoreline real nasty. I would avoid that lake till these early weeds tone down and its more manageable.

As far as the fishing went, things were rough. I didn’t get anything but a few panfish once I gave up and pulled out my microlite. Fished from 5:30-8 Sun afternoon. Air temp: 80º, Water temp: 69º. Started shallow fishing 4′ of water with spinnerbaits, chatterbait, Mepps #3 & #4 and a Xcalibur rattlebait. Missed one fish all day and it was shallow. Fished deeper weed edges (sort of… it was really sporadic weeds in deep water) with a DT10 for a while, and also some slightly shallower cranks outside of the weed edge, while the 2 others in the boat kept spinners hitting the shoreline. Ended up giving up on shoreline and the big flat on the NE corner, and tried fishing the 2 submerged islands. Lots of boats hovering around these but I never saw anything but a sunfish pulled off of it. Tried shallow into the reeds with the same stuff (no luck), and threw a shakey head with a skirt grub in 10-17′ of water crawled/jigged real slowly and still got nothing. I’m not sure where the fish were Sunday, but I couldn’t find em. We fished 75% of the shoreline on that lake and midlake structure as well, so that just got frustrating.

The lake really wasn’t much fun, cause no matter what you were using, you somehow would be dragging in weeds (mostly floating/suspended) just wrapped around the line or on hooks. Beautiful day on the water, rough day fishing. I’m curious if the weather Sat night had something to do with the rough fishing. Anyone else experience anything similar?

Nick, is the launch at Spring still very shallow?

Did anyone have a chance to get into Marion this weekend or Monday? I’m curious what the water temps out there are and how the deeper weeds are coming along. If its anything like Orchard, the weeds will be going strong, but a much larger lake with alot more traffic may be reacting differently. Who was lucky enough to squeeze into that ramp before it filled up? (man the lines out there are rough!)

I fished Marion Lake last night for a friendly church league, and things were slow but I guess I can’t complain too much. I didn’t have any luck fishing shallow, but I know a couple guys were catchin fish in 2-3′ of water with plastics REAL slow.
I didn’t end up trying to many presentations, but fairly quickly we found a good pattern. 5:15-6:15 was our magic time period, getting 6 fish 17″ to 19.75″ in the boat. Every fish came out of a 100′ area and off the deep weed edge. We tried several areas of weed edges, drop offs, and inside turns, but only this one spot produced for us. It dropped quickly from 5′ to 16′ and the weeds end around 10-11′ deep. Fish were hitting a shakey head jig, with a skirt grub (watermelon color). Fairly slow presentation, just pulling it and lifting it through the weeds. Fish were very tentative with the baits, after having 3-4 more tugging at it, but not gettin the hooks in their mouth. Was a slow night after 6:30, boating only 1 more dinky fish before 8:30. Pretty much heard the same report as far as when the fish were caught by everyone else as well. Average night for myself getting all good sized fish, but nothing spectacular for sure.

Location: Marion Lake
Water temp: 65º
Air temp: 58º
Weather: Windy & very cloudy
Fish: 6 Fish (17-20″) 5:15-6:15pm

Most people weren’t as lucky as us, but I know not many people were trying slow plastics, and the ones that did got rewarded for it. Good luck out there in this weather!

Nice report! Haven’t had a chance to fish Marion (AKA the dead sea) yet this year, more or less I only fish it when I’m short on time and I just want to get out. Seems to be a decent bass lake, but I’m not a bass fisherman, so I call it the dead sea, cause I don’t catch much else there but bass, and small sunfish. Though I keep hoping she’ll suprise me yet with some walleye or crappie, but I won’t hold my breath on that one

Wish I had a little more time and the weather cooperated a little more this week. I’m dying to get out fishing. Thinking about hitting either Spring lake again or maybe trying out Fish lake, if the access looks ok.

Sorry Chris, been offline awhile with some nasty computer problems…

The launch is actually pretty decent right now on Spring I’m able to get in and out without any real issue with my 19′ Ranger. As far as the boat launch goes out there, this is probably the best I’ve encountered in some time, lake level is up a bit and it really helps. Still a bit of a crooked washout, but since the level is up, I don’t need to back as far in, and don’t get near as crooked. I still keep my motor trimmed way up until I see a good 4′ of water, and that a ways from the landing.

Overall it’s still the poorest launch in the area….

Has anyone been out hitting Crystal for bass? I’ll be out there Tuesday evening hopefully haulin’ em in. Curious if its anything like orchard or Marion. Crazy weeds right now?

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Has anyone been out hitting Crystal for bass? I’ll be out there Tuesday evening hopefully haulin’ em in. Curious if its anything like orchard or Marion. Crazy weeds right now?

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I was out on Crystal last week, they had two milfoil “cleaners”? tried the bay with little luck, saw a couple but wanted nothing to do with anything. pitched topwater, jerkbaits, spinner baits, worms. . .nothing. . .I did get out about 11 i think it was so I’m sure they had seen a few boats comin through. Had a few “joy riders” fly by my 16′ northwoods aluminum with fricken wakeboarders/skiiers comin 15′ from my boat, love that. . .so after dealing with a few passes from them and a few other boaters flyin by me I gave up on the lake. they scared me right out of there. As for the weeds, it was starting to get more and more, but not quite a true Crystal weedline.

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Has anyone been out hitting Crystal for bass? I’ll be out there Tuesday evening hopefully haulin’ em in. Curious if its anything like orchard or Marion. Crazy weeds right now?

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I was out on Crystal last week, they had two milfoil “cleaners”? tried the bay with little luck, saw a couple but wanted nothing to do with anything. pitched topwater, jerkbaits, spinner baits, worms. . .nothing. . .I did get out about 11 i think it was so I’m sure they had seen a few boats comin through. Had a few “joy riders” fly by my 16′ northwoods aluminum with fricken wakeboarders/skiiers comin 15′ from my boat, love that. . .so after dealing with a few passes from them and a few other boaters flyin by me I gave up on the lake. they scared me right out of there. As for the weeds, it was starting to get more and more, but not quite a true Crystal weedline.

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A guy really needs to invest in a paintball gun……..Sherrif won’t do a anything about it……

I only wish i had one then. . .Well made it back out to Crystal last week with no luck, until we got 7 fish in about 25 minutes before dark. Couldn’t get really any fish going right up until the sun was going down. we were in the bay by the launch doin some bassin. Got a few 15-16’s, one 19″ that was eating well. Then to top off the night, in a foot and a half of water in the milfoil “balls”/weeds my buddy pulls a 15” walleye on a jerk bait out. Definetly didn’t expect that coming out of the there. But it was fun finally getting to hammer a few at the end.

Was it a walleye or a sauger? I seen the lake report, reports Sauger being found, and walleye’s IIRC were never stocked by the DNR, seems like someone’s doing some private stocking…

I’m heading out tomorrow, probably going to fish Spring, maybe Fish, I’ll have a report tomorrow night.

Nick,
You know I never knew of any sauger in there really or walleye. But now that you say it, I actually did tell my buddy that there was a “sauger spot” on its top back. So yes, you could definetly be right on that. . .I am an avid eye fisherman, definetly not on Crystal though.

Spring was pretty quiet, I spend the afternoon drifting around the lake lindy rigging, and spent some time slip bobbering, with nothing to show for it.

hit spring lake for the first time last wednesday. fishing was slow, but consisted mainly of 6-7″ crappies on bright jigs tipped with a lively minnow. not much action on leeches. Fished off the two southern points and did some trolling along the western shoreline with stick baits snaging a few small eyes. Traffic began to pick up a bit with jetskis and tubers so i called it a day after 5 hours.

Was out on Cedar (between prior and new prague) and had success with the panfish. Had the neice along and we were along a weedline on the west side going after some sunnies when i decided to cast a few rapalas out. I threw the line out and hand it to the niece to hold onto it while i bait her line with a worm when all of a sudden she started reeling in and stoped because she couldn’t pull the line in, (i was expecting some weeds), but when i grab the rod there was a fish on the line, get it to the boat and to great surprise a 5lb largemouth. That made her day and a few stories to tell at daycare for the 5 year old.

I was bass fishing on Marion last Friday afternoon/night and I only caught (1) 10″ bucket mouth. I fish shallow and only ended up seeing a total of 3 bass. The ones I saw were sitting under small pacthes of thick weeds hiding from the sun. I fished deep water and still no bass, I did have two northerns follow though. The weeds are getting thick and the water is very high. I have no clue where the bass are on this lake. Going to either Waconia or Pokegama in Pine City this weekend. Good luck everyone.
–P.S.– Water temps are 79+ in the shallow areas and 76+ in deeper water.

Was on Waconia today and it was really slow. We only got one bass in the boat off of the rock levy. We tried different depths, baits, and locations with hardly anything to show for it.

Funny story though, I spotted a bass in the shallows and threw a bomber crank bait at it. It swimmed away but a 12lbs carp took notice and went after the bait. He hit it and it was a fun 5 mins landing him. Kinda strange though.

Cool nice reports

Best luck for bass I’ve had on Marion has been fishing the weeds with weighless tubes, I suspect in warmer water deeper is much better, fish the outside of the weededges, with some deep diving cranks, I heard rumors of decent bass caught this way. I’ve also had the aqua-vu out and running and had multiple bass swimming with the camera in the 12-14 range.

I should note, I’m not a bass fishermen, but if I spend time on Marion, I eventually end up bass fishing because that’s all I can find and catch out there

Anyone get out this weekend? How was the bite?

I was home entertaining the 19 month old so the wife could take care of the newborn, so I didn’t have a chance to get on the water.

I was on Crystal last Thursday, it was only my second time fishing the lake and it was slow. The weeds are thick and the slime is even thicker. Caught a few bass shallow in real heavy cover on tubes. Didn’y get anything off the deep point. Also tried casting crankbaits, spinnerbaits and bucktails for muskies and northern with no luck. Is anyone fishing in the Pan-o-Prog Bass Tourney on Marion?

Has anyone every fished Byllseby for things other than bullies for cut bait? Going there this weekend with the wife’s family for our annual camping trip. Looked at the map on the DNR site, and it’s got to bee one of the oddest lakes I’ve ever seen. Not sure what to expect. I may be selling bull heads on monday from the looks of the last survey.

Oh I think there are some game fish in there, I fished it with Mark Stefes, haven’t seen him around in awhile, not sure he’s getting much fishing time in. It would be helpful to have GPS and a mapping chip, luckily mark was driving his boat and knows the lake, it’s pretty dynamic, I’d be a bit scared without a gps map chip myself, though I’m sure it’s 100% doable without. We went cranking for eye’s, it was slow and ended up with one nice one. Seen a ton of channel cats. I believe if you searched a little you could find some info on here.

Thanks Nick. I’ll see what I can do. I think this will be my 3rd time out this summer. Having a kid it turns out really puts a crimp in the fishing situation in the beginning. Hope I can finally start contributing to this thread.

I’ll be hitting Prior Lake (upper mostly) either tonight or tomorrow in case anyone has anything to report there. I’ll throw in whatever I can once I get back.

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Thanks Nick. I’ll see what I can do. I think this will be my 3rd time out this summer. Having a kid it turns out really puts a crimp in the fishing situation in the beginning. Hope I can finally start contributing to this thread.

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I was hoping to get out today, but it doesn’t look likely.

I’d love to hear a current Prior lake report I’ve been thinking I should head out there one of these nights. I been wanting to night fish proir.

Well, I hit prior last night, sort of a relaxed trip, didn’t fish it insanely hard but I did well I’d say (compared to other recent trips). Put 7-8 LM in the boat, 4 of em were 12-13″ dinks mostly from shallows, but the other four were bigger (16″+) all coming off rocky points in a little deeper water(dead giveaway ) Best fish was in the 19-20″ range, but as I had him at the side of the boat I decided not to just lip him and tried assembling the net and he flopped off right as I got the stupid net up in my hands!

The top water bite seemed be doing OK at first in anything from 1′ to 5′ of water, but I only had blowups and no hookups. Was very strange, to say the least, especially since I slowed down from a buzzbait to a jitterbug and they STILL weren’t getting ahold of it. I’ve never had the problem whenever the fish are actually going after the baits. Maybe they were just pissed off. :-p

I did catch all the smaller fish on 6″ Gander Mountain brand worms (trying out this brand for the first time) wacky style, so that was a blast. The fish weren’t really aggressive though while I was using plastics, but that may have just been due to my presentation.

I really just had to adjust to depth to keep my bait near the bottom, wherever I was fishing. The fish were just piled in some places (on the depthfinder at least), and always right on bottom. Most success was casting cranks and the bigger fish loved em. DT10s, Xcalibur XR50 (rattlebait), Shad Rap 7. Just make sure wherever you are fishing, that your bait is running RIGHT near the bottom or top of weeds (if not through them!). If I wasn’t bumping something, I wasn’t catching fish.

I’ll be out there again tonight with a buddy this time (he can net for me ), so hopefully I can give some more good results. I’ll be slowing down w/ plastics in some of the places I found to be hot-spots last night.

Oh, and right at dusk was when 4 of my fish were caught. I’d say there was a 30-40 min time period when they just really got hungry. Keep that in mind if you feel the urge to get out of there early. It might be in your best interest to stay until dark!

Well, I hit Prior again last night w/ a friend this time and we did better than the night before, which was expected. 90% of our fish were caught on worms, either shakey head or texas rigged w/ a sinker at the hook. All in all it was a nice steady night. We put just over 20 fish in the boat, average size was probably 14″, but we had 6 or so fish just over 16″. Nothing huge, but it was a much needed quantity night for both of us.
Fished deeper weeds near the rock hazards. Some fish were caught in 6′, but the majority were probably around the 9-10′ mark.

Definitely hit the obvious mid-lake structure if you’re gonna be on that lake, and don’t be afraid to switch things up quickly if you don’t get a bite. I started w/ a shakey head/skirt grub combo and only got one fish, with minimal bites, but as soon as I tried a worm, texas rigged, the fish just honed right in on it. Nonstop action for the most part, but the fish were VERY tentative, taking the worm slowly and getting to the hook took some patience.

Near dusk, the crankbait bite was on again. Xcalibur XR50 was the ticket for me, putting 4 fish in the boat within probably 10 minutes a short bit after sunset. Those fish were caught over the top of weeds on the shallow part of a rocky hump.

I’ll be out there a little more often the way this bite is going. Now I just need to find those 17″+ fish more often. Good luck guys!