Trophy crappie in MN metro

I was just thinking 60-80 miles from downtown Minneapolis

St. Cloud to Mankato pretty much

Isaiah Church wrote:

I was just thinking 60-80 miles from downtown Minneapolis

So Wisconsin is metro ? My view of metro is definitely not that broad

Bearcat89 wrote:

So Wisconsin is metro ? My view of metro is definitely not that broad

LOL

St Cloud, Mankato, and western Wisconsin are not in the “metro.” Anyone who thinks that needs to look at a map and understand basic geography. No one ever said that they live in the metro when their house was in St Cloud.

When you go by the lake on the North side of 94 that’s when your in the metro. That’s when the traffic changes. Then again where I’m at Fargo is the metro area too. Just not the same one.

It’s always an interesting subject when the word metro appears.

Sure the immediate twin cities area has lots of folks, but a much smaller percentage of them fish, whereas the further you go I’d bet that percentage goes up, so yes you can have a “non metro” lake that receives just as much pressure as a metro lake. I’d also bet you put fisheries like Calhoun and Harriet same motor restrictions out in Chanhassen or Blaine it’d get 3x the fishing pressure than they do now. Noone can argue that lakes outside of metro like Chisago area, rush, Clearwater etc are absolutely jam packed at times

Comes down to proximity to users imo. How far is too far for a day/evening/morning trip. Certainly enough lakes considered metro around st.cloud, Rochester, etc, but it takes considerably less miles to get out of those metros.

That’s what makes fishing that more interesting, and rewarding when you put in the effort to seek out all those waters and find good year classes coming thru, good bites that are right underneath everyone’s noses. Also makes it a bit cheating imo on these very type of initial posts. Lazy users who want to shortcut that process and be rewarded right away by everyone else’s homework. Big reason why so many posts on here get butthurt when someone does spill the beans.

Metro – I would suggest a look at the Met Council coverage map. This is the most official guideline on what is considered metro for Minnesota.

Sure their are some limited waters that see below average fishing pressure for the metro. Downtown area lakes, even the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers fall in to this category. But the vast majority just get hammered. HAMMERED! But even on hammered lakes you can find a gem occasionally but the odds are much better outside the metro.

Ur definitely right, I was just wanted to make it more broad because I’m willing to drive a bit for these fish

Saying it’s the square between Bethel, Delano, Lakeville, and Stillwater what would be the best options?

Isaiah Church wrote:

Saying it’s the square between Bethel, Delano, Lakeville, and Stillwater what would be the best options?

Dude I don’t want to be rude but go find fish on your own, there are lots of tools to search and find populations on lakes, find one with a good one and try it out. Stop asking for other people to do the work for you.

I know, I started this page for fun to see if it would work, I didn’t account for the fact that 100 + people would be on here, I just thought 5-6 people would give me some general areas, so when I got 50 replies in the first day I started asking more and more specific questions, as u would in research, I got too greedy, I’m sorry. Hopefully next year I can hit these spots and catch some big crappies.

John Rasmussen wrote:

Dude I don’t want to be rude but go find fish on your own, there are lots of tools to search and find populations on lakes, find one with a good one and try it out. Stop asking for other people to do the work for you.

He is younger and his outdoor instagram needs new big fish pictures the easy way.

Don’t apologize for asking for fishing advice on a fishing community page. Trust me most everybody on this thread has given plenty of unsolicited advice so it shouldn’t be that hard to answer a few questions. I don’t fish the metro, but feel free to HMU if you want to know a few lakes in the Ottertail area (open water).Shoutout to the members that are always willing to help though, there is good examples here of people who are willing to teach their fellow man how to learn.

Riverrat wrote:

Don’t apologize for asking for fishing advice on a fishing community page. Trust me most everybody on this thread has given plenty of unsolicited advice so it shouldn’t be that hard to answer a few questions. I don’t fish the metro, but feel free to HMU if you want to know a few lakes in the Ottertail area (open water).Shoutout to the members that are always willing to help though, there is good examples here of people who are willing to teach their fellow man how to learn.

I’ll teach any one who wants to learn. I won’t hand out spots. 2 completely different things. But I won’t give him to much flak for trying.

Isaiah Church wrote:

I got too greedy, I’m sorry. Hopefully next year I can hit these spots and catch some big crappies.

It’s all good and I hope you have good luck, just to ask for pins is kind of not cool. I have had members share them with me and I truly appreciated the hell out of that, just didn’t ask for them. I have shared plenty of spots with people on here and strangers sometimes. I like to help dads out on the lake with there kids the most.

John Rasmussen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Isaiah Church wrote:</div>
I got too greedy, I’m sorry. Hopefully next year I can hit these spots and catch some big crappies.

It’s all good and I hope you have good luck, just to ask for pins is kind of not cool. I have had members share them with me and I truly appreciated the hell out of that, just didn’t ask for them. I have shared plenty of spots with people on here and strangers sometimes. I like to help dads out on the lake with there kids the most.

My kid needs some help John. You have any input on big crappies near home. Mason needs some SLABS

My suggestion would be to go to one of the get togethers and meet some of the members face to face would probably get you a lot of info. Good luck

Bearcat89 wrote:

My kid needs some help John. You have any input on big crappies near home. Mason needs some SLABS

By the looks of it your on them better than me lately! I should be asking him for advice.

By the looks of it your on them better than me lately! I should be asking him for advice.

[/quote]

He knows better, his moms boyfriend asked where we were getting the walleye one day, and Mason told him he couldn’t tell him it would break dad’s rules. not everything I say sticks in that kids head, but I’m glad the fishing rules do.

Nodakk wrote:

Crappie chronicles considers “the metro” as 60 miles from Minneapolis/St Paul. I think that’s a pretty generous range

I think Crappie Chronicles says their goal is to catch them within 60 miles of downtown Minneapolis. That puts backwaters and Wisconsin in the target.

To me, the metro is the 7 counties. Some of my biggest crappies have come out of the metro lakes. A 15 is a lofty goal, there is a lot of guys who haven’t caught one that size or bigger.

I would plan for expecting little success, more or less treating this as musky fishing, where you are looking for “the one.”

Put in the hours, fish after dark, utilize two lines, look at upsizing your presentations and if you think you are fishing shallow enough, go shallower.

Tonka fishes like a bunch of different lakes, focus on a bay at a time.

Waconia is another good bet.

Take a look at the upl and the lakes they fish, I know they are starting to get out of the metro but look at previous seasons and events and look at big fish weights. It’s no coincidence that the lakes they fish produce big fish, they continue to go back to at roughly the same time of year. (Clearwater for example.)

Gregg Gunter wrote:

I think Crappie Chronicles says their goal is to catch them within 60 miles of downtown Minneapolis. That puts backwaters and Wisconsin in the target.

That certainly makes more sense than referring to 60 miles away as still being a part of the Twin Cities metro.

well…..on my way home today…….there were an aweful lot of castle type houses from the south headed north today!!!!

There are some hidden gem ponds around the metro that produce some monster gills and crappies.

I know one that is private and has been that way for many years. Been out there a few times and the fishing is something dreams are made of lol.

When I caught a 12″ bluegill and thought that was a giant and got one upped by a 12.5″ I was amazed. and 13-15″ Crappies one after another.

Granted again private but still they’re around!

Minnetonka has some really nice crappies and also someone else mentioned forest lake. I’ve seen some 16 inchers come out of there. Heard of some 17’s but personally never gotten to see one. Far and few between but those are lakes that will produce the occasional 15″ plus.

Out of curiosity I counted the number of lakes I’ve broken the 15″ mark on between 96 and 97 in Ramsey/Washington Cty. 7 lakes. 4 were private. As with most things in life, it’s nice to know people. Knock on doors, leave a case of beer.

Metro Slab

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_0203.jpeg
   

Ripjiggen wrote:

Metro Slab

That’s a couple year old pic. Sweet fish.

Sorry wrong pic. This is the one he caught this winter.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_0205.jpeg
   

Dang thats huge!

sure is!!! WOW!!!

To the OP right now until fishing opener is probably your best time to catch one. Get an old Lund or a canoe and be ok with not catching a ton of #’s of fish…