Prior Lake 12/14/09 Report

On the ice by 1 and fished til 8. Here is the damage: one gill, 6 beers, a kodiak, and Prior’s reputation of being a metro money spot. In the last 3 years Prior Lake has produced two good days/nights and that is including summer time people. It has thousands of little dinks I definately know that. Can any one show me a pic of a nice catch form Prior that is somewhat recent? Such a blast to be out though! Solid 5″ of ice with a 2″-3″ snow cover that appears to not be hindering the ice making. High water mark of houses on the lake in my area today was around 7. Fished out the new Clam Thermal Base Camp today for the 1st time. MTV Cribs came by because that thing is big. A fine shelter. Skol Vikings.

As with most lakes, it’s location, location, and location. I happened to be out on Prior this past Sunday and did extremely well. I was fishing any where from 8ft all the way out to 15 fow and caught fish just about every depth. However, 10 feet was best for me. The bluegills seemed to be every where in the water column and the crappies were up high (3-5 below the ice). Nothing huge, but I did manage a nice batch for a meal for the family. The bay I was on had 5 to 7 inches of “good” ice.

I feel you pain. I fished Prior on Sun. and did not do well at all. It was really really good 2 winters ago and was OK last winter. I did mark lots of fish. They were tight to the bottom and not willing to come up much ( Not common for Prior – they usually rush up to get the bait) I think once we get a little more snow cover it may help. Prior lake does tend to cycle on the panfish and after 2 or 3 really good years it may be just in the down cycle. The area out in front of the sportsmans access is usually a good early season spot. Good Luck out there.