KR7 & Lake Zumbro Report – 01-20-07

Drove down to Rochester area on Saturday for a little ice fishing. Fished KR7 Lake for 1st time and caught about a dozen perch, 6 small gills, and 1 small crappie. Didn’t keep any fish and fished from 10:30 AM until 2:30 PM. Biggest perch was 9 inches but only about 4-5 of the perch would have been big enough to keep. Had best luck using waxworms but I caught a few fish with spikes also. Ice thickness was around 6 inches or so. Does anyone know if there is a good population of larger perch
(ie. 10-11″)and gills (ie. 8-9″) in this lake? Stopped by Lake Zumbro on way home and fished near Fisherman’s Inn for 1 1/2 hours and caught 6 perch and 1 small gill. There was only about 3-4 inches of ice where I was fishing on Lake Zumbro and nobody else was out there. All fish were released on Lake Zumbro also. Any other reports from this past weekend? Thanks guys.

EyesHaveIt

Thanks for the report Dave. Sounds like some people have been fishing the highbanks. The ice hasn’t been very safe at Fishermans Inn so nobody has been fishing that area. KR7 and Chesterwoods has been where most of the fishermen have been fishing. Glad to hear you found ice thick enough to hold you. Take care and will see you at the Walleye Searchers tournaments if not before. Rochester has their Sports Show this coming next weekend. Will you be coming down for that? If so stop by the Smittys Marine area on Saturday or Sunday as I will be there.
Thanks, Bill

Whats the other name for KR7 ?

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Whats the other name for KR7 ?

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Cascade Creek Reservoir or Kalmar Reservoir???

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Does anyone know if there is a good population of larger perch
(ie. 10-11″)and gills (ie. 8-9″) in this lake?

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I want to say yes it does have some nice fish, but in fact they have been few and far between so far this winter. Could they have been fished out this past open water season? I hope not.

Kalmar, like a couple of the other reservoirs in the flood control program, are fairly small systems. Most of these small potholes have one common deep area and that is where the fish go when the temps drop. And of course, winter fishing concentrates anglers in the same general locations. This in its own right presents the potential for problems.

Some serious forethought is needed before these waters get opened up for angling. Chesterwoods has a slot place on several of the fish species and I know that the sunfish [which fall under such control] are doing very nicely when it comes to catching quality fish. These same controls could have been installed at this Kalmar reservoir before it opened. I think that if people expect to see these places produce nice fish, slots have to be in place on the waters and the anglers have to take it upon themselves to help do the policing.

Kalmar had a decent fishery last winter, but when the word got out I also feel that uncontrolled harvest [no slot] of the decent fish ran rampant with some anglers. Most everyone I know that fishes or has fished the Kalmar pool are avid practitioners or either catch and arelease or selective harvest. Some of the people practice both.

I am also of the belief that persons who are active in posting on boards such as this are also active in ethical fishing practices. I am aware of many people who read these pages and are never found posting. They are, however, camped right over the best water and are not fussy about what they take home. Not all are like this, but there are those of this element out there. This is why slots are needed.

Thanks for the replies guys. KR7 is really a nice little lake even if it is a little bit of a walk from the parking lot to get to it. I am a big fan of catch and release, slot limits, etc. especially on smaller bodies of water but will ocassionally keep a few fish to eat. I just enjoy having the opportunity to catch larger panfish even if it means just catch and release or size limits. It is nice to have a couple of more places to fish around Rochester area than we had previously. I hope to make it down to the Sports & Vacation Show in Rochester this weekend but haven’t finalized my plans yet. If I do make it, I might try to squeeze in some more ice fishing around Rochester as well as I haven’t found many places around Prescott area yet to ice fish.

EyesHaveIt

Well said CT

Thanks….and happy birthday.