Rice/Koronis (Paynesville, MN) – Bass Info

I will be fishing an 8 boat bass tournament this Saturday on Rice/Koronis. I have never fished either lake, but it looks like Koronis has a lot better structure. We are launching out of Rice, so heading down the channel to Koronis would take a lot of fishing time away, but would do it if it is well worth the time. Does anyone have advice for me for areas to target for bass, lure types, colors, etc… I would really appreciate any input and can provide you any feedback after our event! Thanks so much!

Can’t speak to the river, but once in Koronis, head out into lake, straight west, when you get into the main body, look left (south) and that leads to the carp trap. We catch a lot of smallies, no kidding, with a leech under a bobber 3-5 feet down.. just drifting along, all the way under the bridge. We caught a few eyes this way, but way more smallies. Good luck !

Thanks, I did see where the carp trap is. We will give that a shot if we make it over to Koronis.

Thats a bit of a boat ride from Rice to Koronis. Are you launching in Rice? I hear the channel is shallow and weed choked now, so good luck getting through. If you make it to Koronis I’ve done well fishing the islands and the NW side of the lake. Make sure to decon your boat afterwards. I here that stonewort is worse than eurasian milfoil.

Smallmouth bass is catch and release now, so we can only target largemouth. Is Rice or Koronis better for largemouth bass? Any tips would be much appreciated, my partner and I are in the dark on these lakes…

Scratch Koronis then, I was speaking strictly to smallies… very few large mouth caught by myself on Koronis.

I wouldn’t try to run to Koronis, I would have to guess that channel is super shallow. There are quality largemouth in Rice. Docks closer to deep water should hold nice fish this time of year. Also any good weeds you can still find.

Thanks for the input guys, the docks were really good. We ended up with 20.5 pounds and took 1st. The senko bite was great! Heading to Horseshoe Chain Oct 1st. Any suggestions on that chain, never fished that either.