My fishing partner and I fished Minnetonka all day Sunday and half of Memorial day. We only caught 2 that topped 3#’s and 3 other in the 2.5# range. It seems like all the fish we were catching were somewhere between 1.5-2#’s. What can we do to catch bigger fish? Thanks for any tips in advance.
Gobbler I am goin to assume you were fishing Bass. This time of year I have always focused on Deep docks and cruising areas near Deep water. This always seems to be a good starting point. The ting to keep in mind about Tonka is that it gets pounded all year. For me slower has always been better. Good luck
Exactly. You need to be hitting deep weed edges and deep water docks. And don’t be afraid to throw something different. For example I have had great success skipping Rattle traps under docks. Don’t hesitate to throw musky sized spinnerbaits – I catch a lot of big bass with them. Husky jerks over the weeds work well right now too and I don’t see many guys throwing them.
Gobbler,
It was very tough this weekend, a couple over three is pretty good. The big fish are not deep, they are not out on the rock bars or even the outside weedline, but they are in the weeds. The best way to get a big fish right now is to poke around the thicker milfoil with a Texas-rigged worm. You won’t get many bites and you need to really shake the bait in one spot for a long time.
Things are going to be changing soon though…
I am very interested in hearing the weights from today’s tournament. I think the weights will be low today.
I agree IDA. Most of the best anglers on the lake are only getting 2’s right now. It’s tough. The fish are very scattered. Give it a couple weeks and they should show up in those deeper haunts.
The fish last year were ahead of where they are now. I caught 7 fish in the 4# range in 5 1/2hours yesterday and a lot of 2.5 to 3# fish. All of the big fish were pre spawn and the flats that only had 2 or 3 beds on them in the morning had as many as 15 smallmouth beds on them in the afternoon. Look for most of the pre spawn and the fish that just got done spawning to be on the inside weed lines for a couple of days after spawning. I caught all of my fish on weightless senko type baits. This bite should last for the next week to week and a half. Then they will all tbe in their post spawn pattern.
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I caught 7 fish in the 4# range in 5 1/2hours yesterday and a lot of 2.5 to 3# fish
Thats a hell of a day. I am assuming that you were on Tonka?
If you had fished Dennys today….you would have won by over 4 pounds!
If you fish tonka enough you should know someone always catches them. I have never fished a tournament out there in 9 years that someone has not caught a big bag.
Steve,
Nice job today. You guys always seem to be top 5 every spring! Scotty said you were off early sat and sun. Do you think the weights will go up or down for the Classic?
Steve,
Can you please let someone else win the tonka classic this year?
You guys are phenoms in early tonka tournaments.
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Scotty said you were off early sat and sun. Do you think the weights will go up or down for the Classic?
One would like to believe that the weights will go up. But….history says that they will go down.
As usual…..stories of huge pre-fishing bags….vanishing fish….etc were heard. But….most guys had a tough time prefishing.The wind did not help. We feel extremely fortunate to bring in 25 pounds.I thought we could catch about 22 lbs. Other years I had hopes of catching 30 pounds if everything worked out.
Thanks guys. It was a good tournament. I am happy to see Conrad win. Not only he he a good fisherman….but a really nice guy. Just loves to fish.
But….I am wasteing pre-fishing time! Got to go!
Yea no kidding. It was nice at 8am! 
Conrad has been schooling us younger guys for quite a while. He knows his stuff! Looked like a good mix of shallow and deep anglers cashed Tue. Scotty talked to Larry today and there were 95 boats signed up so far for sat.
How was the classic? Any last minute tips for fishin tomorrow? Fishin in Dennys wed nighter and I have about 2hrs on the water lookin for Bass. I doubt this is going to work out so good. Oh well, will be fun anyhow.
I will have to say that the fishing was excellent 
Some other guys may disagree……But we had a really good day.
I went out on Tonka today for a few hours. I caught some bass in 2ft of water to as deep as 15ft. The spawn is 99.9% over. There are still a few smallies on beds and a few small largemouth still guarding beds.
I think they are going to rename it the Bird/Lee benefit tourny. 
well I was out today and found them in 4 fow to 20 fow. here is the biggest one of the day. had another that same size spit the hook at me next to the boat.
shane 
I went out yesterday and used the x rap above the weeds in wayzata bay near a point. did pretty well. going to maxwell bay later to try that side of the lake
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