Chester Woods

Fished Chester tonight from 4-5:15. The Sunfish were on fire, you had to move a couple of times till you found a school and when your on em stay put. Waxies and rockers were working well, last fish of the night was a strong 9 in sunny. The size of these fish were excellent, when I released that big slob he got stuck in my 5 in hole. I fished 22 ft of water and watched my new FL-18 work the magic. The low power feature is awsome when you are in tree branches and the magnified split screen is the bomb! Tight lines #5

Hey Joe,

Sounds like fun! Those gills out there are nice. Did you get any crappies?

Good Fishing,
Mike

Joe, is it still a mile walk out to the good spots?

I got 1 crappie and it was small, I made the long walk tonight and it sure doesn’t seem to be getting any shorter. Anyone hit willow creek? I open water fished that in the fall and popped some decent fish, never ice fished it though. I like to find those spots in town you can hit if you only got an hour. Starting Wednesday I will be on a ice fishg mode for 5 days in probably all 3 states, probably even pop a few eyes in the open water from shore in the afternoon.

How much ice is on Chesterwoods now?

Thanks

7 inches on Sunday and the channel in the middle has frozen over. Didn’t check the thickness on the channel but people were dragging larger shacks accross it We had a HARD freeze so maybe the ice is good enough there?
Chris

So in other words, are you saying to walk closer to shore and not the middle as the ice is much thinker closer to shore? Is the channel in the middle all the way to the Dam? Sorry about all the questions but your answers could help possibly save some lives. Thanks Bud, Bill

The Woods is nothing to worry about imo. The hard freeze we got was enough to put a safe layer of ice on it. There were people scouting and drilling quite a few holes where the water was open when I first fished it. Their augers were throwing alot of chips. As always use caution on the ice because of changing conditions especially with current as a factor.

Chris

Any chance one of you guys could recommend an online map of the rochester area with lakes marked on it. Most map servers don’t recognize lakes. I’ve recently moved to Austin and would like to check out some of Rochester’s lakes. Also, any suggestions for night fishing in the area… boss won’t let me leave until 5. Thanks

I grew up in Austin and I can tell you there’s little to no water worth fishing in that general area.

West towards Albert Lea on Albert Lea Lake at the narrows can be a solid producer of perch, crappies and even some darn nice walleyes. That lake winter killed hard this past year so that bite may be significantly diminished. If you saw the photos of the kill in Midwest Outdoors you’ll know what a dent this was to the area as there were thousands of game fish, with walleyes up to 12 lbs, that died out in search of oxygen.

In the Fairibault area I’d hit Cannon & French for walleyes and Cedar or Mazaska for pannies. Mazaska can be dynamite after dark for nice sized slabs. Cedar is better for sunnies.

In the Mankato area look to Madison to be a top producer. Walleyes and crappies after dark out near the narrows. Small jigging spoons always worked best for me there.

The Rochester mods will give you to scoop on the Rochestrr area lakes better than I can. Hope this helps. If you hit some of these lakes please do let us know how you do.

Thanks for the info. A friend of mine is from New Prague and I think we are going try a few lakes in that area this weekend, including German and Mazazka. Hopefully there will be some ice left after this heat wave. Later.

I am not aware of a map which has the Rochester lakes and impoundments named and marked. Here are directions to a few of the lakes:
Chester Woods is located 7 miles east of Rochester on Hwy. 14.
Foster-Arends Lake is located 1 block north of 37th St. NW on East River Road.
Willow Creek is located off of 11th Ave. SW near 48th St.
Lake Zumbro is located about 10 miles north of Rochester. Take Hwy. 63 north (you can get your lures and bait at HOF on the way) to County Road 12, turn left on 12 and go about 2-3 miles looking for the sign to Fisherman’s Inn. You can access the ice at Fisherman’s Inn.

Good Fishing,
Mike