White Bear Lake Crappies

How has the bite been on WTB? Can be feast or famine out there I know-PM me, thought it might be good with the snow coming in-thanks

Clearly nobody id fishing WBL! Cool

I fish white bear pretty often but it’s been awhile since I’ve gone for crappie. I would imagine it’s pretty slow but people are most likely still catching some off of belle aire and maybe some of the other more typical basins. My snowmobile left me stranded in the middle of the lake last week so I haven’t been able to get out much with all the snow.

I drove by last weekend before this last snow hit and there was hardly anyone out on a Saturday – the lake was very rough for travel. Hodge podge of plowed roads, huge drifts, etc.

Went out last night-few good roads out there and some sketchy ones too. Got a few nice fish, size (for the metro) was good, numbers not so much. Boy they really hyped that storm; wife was nervous about me going out. Talked to the guy next to me he said the fishing was very off last night but it has been ok.

Have to fish deep in the weed jungle to find nice fish out there.

White Bear is a great lake to learn how to pick structure to fish. You’ll be rewarded for hard work vs. Following the crowds.

I’ll get off the beaten path-when I buy my helicopter! This year even snowmobiles are getting stuck.

tim hurley wrote:

I’ll get off the beaten path-when I buy my helicopter! This year even snowmobiles are getting stuck.

belletaine wrote:

White Bear is a great lake to learn how to pick structure to fish. You’ll be rewarded for hard work vs. Following the crowds.

Belletaine you are completely correct. Spent a lot of time out there the past few years and have learned patterns and found consistent bites every year after putting the work in.

Tim I was one of those snowmobiles that have gotten stuck out there. Might go out tomorrow to a spot I can walk to. Probably still be an awful walk.

Love to walk out-fished a lake that was almost a mile just to get to the lake-not this year. Good for you mahtofire14 100ft out would be a heckofa walk this year!
Funny, most people assume ice fishing is just a lot of sitting around and drinking beer.

tim hurley wrote:

Love to walk out-fished a lake that was almost a mile just to get to the lake-not this year. Good for you mahtofire14 100ft out would be a heckofa walk this year!
Funny, most people assume ice fishing is just a lot of sitting around and drinking beer.

100 ft is about all I’m looking at. I was thinking about figuring out if those people out from the VFW are fishing or just drinking. Never ice fished that area.

tim hurley wrote:

Funny, most people assume ice fishing is just a lot of sitting around and drinking beer.

It is when you’ve grown old and tired…

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One spot that is close to shore, and gets overlooked all the time is the Birchwood side. There are a few beaches to walk in from and some really great structure over there. I’ve caught crappies out in the shallow weeds on that side, and is probably 100 feet from shore.

Northern Lights Outdoors wrote:

One spot that is close to shore, and gets overlooked all the time is the Birchwood side. There are a few beaches to walk in from and some really great structure over there. I’ve caught crappies out in the shallow weeds on that side, and is probably 100 feet from shore.

No….There’s no fish there…..

Probably go back out there this weekend-any new reports?

I haven’t been out there. Sorry.

Get out there!

tim hurley wrote:

Get out there!

Ha. I think I’d rather dream about open water than go for a swim on top of the ice…..

Went out and guess what? The ice was a mess! Had nice action right at sunset would have waited for the night bite but thought i should help the young guys who looked stuck at the launch. Help because I’m a super nice guy and because if you know that Bellaire launch if you are parked on the ice and someone is stuck at that launch you are stuck too! Everyone got out, great sunset.
So will that water drain out this week?

Thanks for the report Tim. I drove by thursday and it looked like ice soup on the south side. I think the water will drain out and the top layer will be honeycombed by next weekend. Still be good to walk out, not sure if i would be driving out there. Will be fishing in a t shirt with the 50 degree weather predicted for saturday.

Looked pretty good out there this morning after being semi cold the last few days. Don’t know if it was just a sheet of ice over a few inches of the water on top of the main sheet though. Nobody looked like they were out giving it a shot.

Yep fish I am done driving anywhere except maybe to park- has anyone looked at the lake lately? Anything drained out? Hoping to get out Saturday—Thanks

One car out from the access. Only finding sunfish so far. Depth contours always seem to be off on this lake. In 16 feet.

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Waliking not too bad.

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Thanks Fish, hoping to get out today-walking was bad to terrible last week looks a lot better. I’ll be going out of Bellair so who knows.

We quit at 8 Friday night. No crappies but did get a couple bass which was fun. Much better bite on Chisago yesterday.

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We quit at 8 Friday night. No crappies but did get a couple bass which was fun. Much better bite on Chisago yesterday.

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Walking was better on WBL fishing was not-great to be out though, beautiful.

I just got my boat home and here you go making me think I should give it another go late ice…..

Get out there! Great time to go-Going to the Whitefish Chain on Monday-can’t wait.