Minnetonka

Has anyone else had a slow time lately on Tonka? We’ve caught a few fish, but not the numers or size I would expect now from the bass or pike. Should change in a week or 2.

Boy am I glad I am not the only one struggling. I spent most of Monday and Tuesday out there and did not catch one bass over 2 pounds.

But I was out there yesterday morning and this morning and the bite is improving. The fish I found will probably be gone by monday!

Hopefully….I will know where they went.

I havent spent any time on Tonka at all since the crappies were in the shallows. It seems the fish are in a strange pattern everywhere right now in the lakes I have been fishing. I think this heat has something to do with it.

hey Mike,

don’t feel bad, I had almost 60 hours on tonka without a fish in the boat, I had a 3-4 pounder that came out of the water and waved at me and then went back into the water and the lure kept on going through the air. we had alot of 2 pounders in the boat last few weekends, but only a couple of good sized fish. I am going to head out tommarow for a club tourney and hopefully my honey holes will pay off, need to fish slower and be more finesse, I know the qaulity fish came on really slow lures and a couple came on fast mover like cranks and jig-n-pigs. oh well, wish everyone the best of luck on their endevors on the water.

shane

update,

alot of fish where caught in 8 fow or less. look for solid bottom with a inner or outer weedline, I know we had some that where caught on plastics and I had almost all of mine on a white/silver baby minus 1 and 4. anyway, hope that helps.

shane

Sounds like the foil bite went good today for the Dennys. I believe it was 8 for 32 to win.

The amount of big fish caught was amazing. Unfortunatly…none were caught by me. It was an extremely frustrating day. Probably caught 40 fish but I was at a loss to where or what the big ones were doing or biting on.

Some days you really get humbled. Today was one of them.

I was thinking about heading there this weekend. I have never been there, So any information or tips would be great.

Was out there a week ago for our fishing league and we got skunked.

Most fish caught that day were 15-17″, and the biggest was 19″.

A few pike also, biggest was 28″. The milfoil was not as bad as I was expecting for July.

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I was thinking about heading there this weekend. I have never been there, So any information or tips would be great.

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Dockman, I’ll send you a PM.

Jon

Was out on tonka today and didnt do real well. It was a long day but did caught a few nice fish but not alot of fish. Any reports on tonka or tips?

went out today in the rain to fish tonka for the morning, if we would have been prefishing for a tourney, we would have had a few good spots to return to. had a couple of 2 1/2 to 3’s in the boat early. we basically caught fish at all of our spots, some where shorties, some where around 2 #, but most of all it was just nice to head out and get on the water with fishing vet (Jason). again, thanks for taking me out today and trying to toss me out of the boat, it was a fun, cold time.

shane

What worked best for you guys??

a number of things, we had a few on 7″ texas rigged worms, a few on stick baits.

shane

Im thinking of going back there laster this week!!! I need to fish it alot more!!

basically when you are approaching the lake, you need to figure out what is working best for you. start keeping a log of your time on the water, kind of like this one, http://bassresource.com/fish/fishing_log.html
then when you get ready to head out on the water, read back over your logs, look at the areas that you fished, how you fished them, what the weather has planned for the day, what type of seasone, spawn, pre or post spawn, summer or fall paterns, where the fish are staged up, water temps and all of that stuff, then take that all into consideration for what type of presentation you are using and how you want to fish, can’t do anything wrong with a texas rigged worm, either innner or outer weed lines are going, a top water frog in cloudy days, you can also swim jig the deeper weedlines, in the heat of summer, you need to go slow, I found the slower I can work my presentation, the better quality bites I get, the faster I work a patch of weeds, the less chance I have of bites unless I find a school of active fish. also if you find a school of active fish, fish them for awhile, if they slow down, either go bigger or smaller, if still nothing, then let the spot rest and go and fish somewhere else that has the same characteristics of that last spot and go from there. once you get that going, be sure to mark it down on the log sheet. that will help you in condition and also on similar lakes, not just tonka.

hope this helps you out some, if not, shoot me a pm.

shane

here is one early.

shane

2nd early one

shane

Shane

You should have been out there with me today, we caught 35+ bass from the 2 1/2 to the 4 lbs range and two over 5 lbs. I found a a huge school of 3-3 1/2 lbs that we caught 5 of them then dropped the camera and they were stacked like cord wood for about 50 yards. I found a school of 2-2 1/2 lbs that were very active and slammed anything we dropped on them. They were different patterns than we were doing the other day but out patterns from the other day was still producing fish most everwhere we went.

We will have to get out again and hit some of these spots after my tournaments this next week or so.

The best way to figure out Minnetonka is to put your time in on the water and just get confused and frustrated until something comes together by mistake.

Shane

The worst thing about today was that I was not able to even able to attempt to throw anyone from my boat.

that is a good thing, I am still sore, under my arm hurts the most. next time I get to drive, I would love to see how that warrior drives, I am thinking of selling my tracker and getting a new, bigger boat.

shane

Anyone doing any good lately, been pretty tough for the bass, got a couple of muskies the other day, fished Dennys wed nighter, got a 5 but a bunch of little guys to go with him. Not sure if it is this weather or me but the bigger fish seem to be few and far between. Most of the fish have been shallow last couple days fished deeper quite a bit and have not gotten many in the deep.

It has been slower for me also. You fish along and catch nothing for quite awhile…then you will get 4 or 5 in a row.

Hard to figure out. Seems like some of the less pressured spots are the places to get them.

Could be they are moving around some…or have seen it all.

The spots I\’m getting my fish in are ones that were good 3 years ago. I\’ve actually had some pretty good luck over the last couple weeks. Steve, you hit them pretty good a couple weeks back too I see.