My wife and i are spending the week of June 27 at Sand Lake. Our trip to nakina ontario scrubbed. Looking for some knowledge. Walleye/Crappie etc. I am typically a jig fisherman, but know I may be pulling rigs.Any help appreciated. Its a long haul from Cleveland!
I fish sand and little sand some. My brother does ok with walleyes opener on little sand. The lake is full of little snot rockets. Aka northerns, so expect to get bit off. You can keep 10 of them under 22 inches.
Like the walleyes, there are nice crappies, to find them is the difficult part. I’m sure the resort owner can help more than I can.
Come to think of it I’ll be up there about 7 miles east of you. What resort are you staying at.
One more thing, bring bug spray. Mosquitoes could be an issue.
The main open (north) part of that lake has some nice depth changes that hold some walleye. The more narrow areas and bays on the southern part are where we did most of our bluegill, crappie, and perch fishing. As glenn57 mentioned you have the “northern zone” pike limits where you won’t be able to keep anything 22-28 inches, and maybe one or two of your keepers can be over 28″. There is a slot for walleye on the lake as well so be sure you know that. I fish mostly northern and panfish but most of the walleye we caught were in that slot.
I was there about a week at the end of last August and I would go back. I would say from my experience it’s more of a numbers lake than a size lake, which can be good if you’re looking to keep fish.
We were there for a week last June.
Agree with Dan…it’s a numbers lake.
We had no problem finding slot walleyes and did well Largemouth fishing also.
I also caught three pretty decent suckers: one foul hooked with a jig, one ate a crankbait, and one on a crawler harness. Those were fun.
Tons of small northerns, but we also had some decent perch too.
And yeah, the mosquitoes drove us off the lake at dark. On calm nights you could hear the swarms coming.
This is great to hear. I will be up there over the 4th. Gotta make sure to bring plenty of jigs it sounds like!
Northern Pike protected slot is 22 to 26 inches. Limit is 10 with only 2 over 26. Sand Lake is very fun, fish the weed edges and you will catch fish. Don’t overlook beetle spins or casting jerk baits everything seems to eat those.
Thanks for these replies! I’ve got the “week before” excitements goin strong. Tackle all over the house! Won’t have the 100 lb flight weight restriction so the whole Honda Pilot will be filled with gear! If any of the rest of you have wisdom about Sand Lake, my wife and I will be there the 27th. Tight lines
I was up there 13th-16th The bite was slow for us. We caught enough for a fish fry, but you had to work for them. Caught several in the protected slot, and the comment about small northern’s is true. Rigging anywhere from from 12′-20′ caught most fish depending on the time of day. We also got several casting cranks with the boat in 12′ throwing towards shore. One other thing that caught my attention was how many logs I saw on the bottom in areas.
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The majority came on leeches. We did get a few on crawlers, but leeches were far better. One other boat with us tried jig and minnow, but they didn’t get any walleyes. I did look for pan fish for about an hour and had no luck. This was the first time I had fished the lake.
I am assuming you were rigging crawlers, any luck with leeches? Jig and minnow bite still happening or is that just dessert for the snakes? Did you find any crappie at all? Any body throw tubes for smallies? Man, I’ve got too many questions.
Thanks Mojo!
A little report for those that care. Did not fish a ton but really hammered the smallest pike I have caught in a long time. Besides that all we caught were a buzz and probably the worst swimmers itch of my life 
So my wife and I got back from our trip to Sand. We ended up using a technique used by a guide who took us to Round because the water is a bit more turbid. Fished 6- 12 foot weeds with little joe type spinner and fathead for a mixed bag that I translated to the clearer water of sand just found deeper weeds Our target was walleye and perch. Caught 4 walleye at 20-21 and several under the slot to eat. Bonus fish was a 19 inch lb smallie and several perch 12 to 13 in which is a good fish anywhere! So all and all fishing a brand new spot was a pretty decent outing. ( even caught a 6 lb bowfind). It was pretty exciting because when I realized it was fighting me like a walleye and not the usual pike run i told my wife “this is the walleye we have been waiting for”. Ha …but no it came into the net smiling and barking!! Thanks to all who helped me get excited about fishing northern Minnesota instead of our fly in canada trip.
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Willfish, I sent you a PM,but sorry I didn’t make it over. Time just slipped away. And I headed home Wednesday.
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