Smallmouth Bass in Big Marine?

Has anyone caught Smallmouth Bass in Big Marine Lake? A few reports on Fish Brain claim Smallies have been caught.

Never heard of them being caught there. I’ve caught a few on the chisago area lakes by accident. Like 3 in the last 15 years. They get in through some of the watershed. I don’t how they would get into Big Marine though.

None show up on the DNR data. Never heard of any being caught there

Yeah I noticed the DNR didn’t list them either. White Bear Lake has them I think Bald Eagle and maybe Forest Lake too.

It’s possible. Many years ago my Dad and Uncle would venture up there. At the time it was two separate lakes, Little Marine and Big Marine. Little Marine held Smallmouth.

In the 1970’s and 80’s all of those lakes came way up. Big Marine, Carnelian, Elmo, Jane. Big Marine had a lot of flooded timber and quite a few cabins sitting out in 5 feet of water. I used to do really well in some guy’s back yard where the Bass hung around the swing set and under the bird bath. When the water came up like that Marine became one big lake. Maybe the changes were too much for the Smallies.

SR

Jay Tegeder wrote:

Yeah I noticed the DNR didn’t list them either. White Bear Lake has them I think Bald Eagle and maybe Forest Lake too.

I’ve seen them in white bear , Chisago, not bald or forest. I was shocked by the one on Chisago a few years back

Steve Root wrote:

It’s possible. Many years ago my Dad and Uncle would venture up there. At the time it was two separate lakes, Little Marine and Big Marine. Little Marine held Smallmouth.

Was the East Bay of Big Marine back then called Little Marine Lake?

And thanks for the history!

Hello Jay, I think it was the northern bay. When you get to the mouth of that bay it shallows up quite a bit. Maybe that was dry land 70 or 80 years ago.

SR

If I was runnin’ things I would dump SMBs in there before I would put walters in. Great structure for them, have not caught one there in almost 3 decades of fishing it. Lately the lake has seen lots of pressure, here is the fish summary:
Pike: Mostly small
Sunnies: Small (bigger average of late, still mostly small)
Walleye: close to zero because of the pike
Crappies: Most are small
BASS-here we go! Must be nice bass in there for all the glittery bass boats and tourneys out there, wait for it………..sorry mostly small. Yes you can get 3s and thats fun. One 4 in 3 trips of hard fishing? Maybe, 5 no.

I’d bet money there 100% isn’t. I’d also bet money close to 50% of FishBrain logged catches are BS……

White Bear definite yes, Bald Eagle and Forest 100% no.

White Bear is connected to Bald Eagle actually, so technically it’s possible for one to migrate to Bald Eagle, however the water is rarely high enough to allow a fish to get from one to the other. Three years ago when the lake got back to it’s old levels it was possible, but then again, I’m not sure why a smallie would be up shallow enough to find the channel, especially where it is.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I’d bet money there 100% isn’t. I’d also bet money close to 50% of FishBrain logged catches are BS……

White Bear definite yes, Bald Eagle and Forest 100% no.

I’ve fished a ton on both bald and forest. Never seen a smallie. And I fish bass on them. If they were there you would think I’d see one within all those years. But the one I pulled out Chisago was 1 time in 25 years of almost daily fishing it

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
I’d bet money there 100% isn’t. I’d also bet money close to 50% of FishBrain logged catches are BS……

White Bear definite yes, Bald Eagle and Forest 100% no.

I’ve fished a ton on both bald and forest. Never seen a smallie. And I fish bass on them. If they were there you would think I’d see one within all those years. But the one I pulled out Chisago was 1 time in 25 years of almost daily fishing it

Same. I’d be pretty shocked about a Chisago smallie. Cool you got one though!

Tim Hurley wrote:

Yes you can get 3s and thats fun. One 4 in 3 trips of hard fishing? Maybe, 5 no.

I’ve pulled a couple 18 inch largemouth bass out of Big Marine including one last Fall. But yes there are a lot of bass in the 12 inch range. There are other area lakes where I’ve caught several 19 inch bass. The biggest bass I’ve ever caught was 21 1/2 inches. I caught that one in a different East Metro Lake.

Definitely smallies in WBL. Have caught a few.
Big Marine I would doubt…