Trip advise

I live near St. Louis and we havent even had ice for the past 2 years so Iv had to travel to northern IL just to get my fix lately. I want to book a week long trip to Wisconsin or Southern, Middle Minnesota for me and the wife. Target crappie and walleye. I dont want to go to a huge lake something manageable on foot. I have a 2 man clam flip for shelter. Would like suggestions on lakes that would fit my needs. Never fished either state so I am not familiar with any lakes up there. Need lodging also. Have some interest in Lake Osakis if anyone can help me there. Thats about as far as I would want to travel.
Thanks in advance.
Tom

Id look at Minnewaska in Glenwood.
Just my .02

If you stayed in Alexandria, Christopherson’s bait could help you out with fishing report.

Winona , MN area has everything u are looking for . Good fishing ,lodging and most importnant lots of spots to ice fish for eyes or crappies perch gills , fishing can be good at the right times eyes are best targeted early morning and the last hour or so of sunlight ,but not uncommon to find one throughout the day , the eyes have a 15′ minimum size on the river so keep that in mind , there is plenty of spots to try once the ice is good most good spots are in walking distance , also its S.E MN I spend most of my ice and open water season in this area . The river offers a lot of good fishing u never know what u might catch let me know if u need a ice report i could give u a heads up on where things are at around here

Another Minnesota question. On a map I see thousands of named lakes. Are all of these public water?

barrelslime wrote:

Another Minnesota question. On a map I see thousands of named lakes. Are all of these public water?

Pretty much, although not too many can top a 17.5″ crappie. Osakis/Alex area has a ton of lake options, so if I were you I’d be researching where you are staying as a lot of the smaller resorts close in the winter. And how you will get around, as if we get a lot of snow most of the smaller lakes will be inaccessible without a snowmobile or vehicle w/ a plow.

Just got back from Lake Osakis on Sunday. Hammered the crappies and sunnies.From what I’ve been told there can be a few thousand house s on the ice at Head of the Lakes resort. Not sure if they have their cabins open in winter but it is a nice place to stay in summer that’s just my two cents

Barrelslime, I think that the fishing this winter on Mille Lacs is going to be historically good and if you’ve only got 1 week to get your fix I would highly recommend booking a room at the Red Door. Yes, Mille Lacs is a huge lake but it can be actually much easier to attack without an ATV/Snowmobile than most smaller lakes. Early season the entire shoreline directly out from the Red Door is easily reached by walking and the fishing can be excellent. Then as soon as the ice is thick enough, usually by the first week of January, they will have plowed roads out to lots of structure and in particular the mud flats.

You won’t find many crappies on Mille Lacs itself (the north end anyway), but there are a ton of great lakes within a couple minutes of the Red Door that are perfect for walking out. If you did decide to go this route you can shoot me a PM and I will help give you a few ideas.

Will

Thanks for all the great advise. Truly appreciate it. Seems I’ll have to get my ducks in a row.