I live between Stacy and North Branch and have at least three bears ranging in my neighborhood. My neighbor and I have not been afraid to issue some warning shots with a twelve gauge-they don’t come around much anymore !

the water has been running cool, 63 to 67 degrees. Probably going to head back out tonight. I don’t know why I keep going back-sucker for punishment I guess. At least traffic isn’t too bad topside.

Thanks, Mike! I have fished the lower side of the dam quite a lot-I know most of it by heart. For some reason, the top side seems to be completely different. Maybe the water temp has something to do with it, or maybe just a different characteristic of the fish in generel. I have popped some nice Smallies from shore-I caught a 23 incher a couple years ago up by Rush City on a nice rock point. I run a 17′ Lund Pro Angler DLX (gray w/red & white stripes) with a 90 hp Merc. Maybe I’ll see you and some of the other rats out on the water, and probably already have!

You see it all on the river! Do you ever fish north of the dam? I have been going there a few times this year with not much biting. One short eye, a small pike, and a mess of smaller crappies-all in the slow water area just above the dam to about a mile and a half up. Any suggestions?

Just north and east of the railroad tressle is a big weedy flat out from the willow river outlet. This is in the Hudson area. Also, up by the King plant to the north on the MN side is a bay where the waste water treatment discharge is a nice little bay where on occasion some nice crappie hit. Also, try Anderson Bay south of the king plant on the MN side. I have never hit many panfish on the river, but when I have, they have been quite nice. I guess I would try for white bass. Maybe someone knows of a good spot?

I’ve been hearing a lot about the ringworms. What exactly are they, and how do you fish them? Any special size?

check out the riverboat docks at Stillwater. I knew a guy who would nail some REAL big flatheads there, but he never gave up the exact spot. He did, however, use decoy sized sucker minnows and fished from shore. Otherwise, check out some of the bigger sand flats at night.

[url=http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/fishing/fishing.pdf

check this out(I hope it works, this is the first time I have tried to insert a link). It shows fish ID and explains saugeye ID per law. It is in the regulation book, 2003

Thanks for the info! I do think I should get back out and give it another whirl or two. It’s a neat little lake.

I was at Fannie by Cambridge on Saturday and the temp was 57 to 61, depending on part of lake. Did not catch a single panfish, just a couple northerns. Tried all kinds of different depths, baits, colors, etc… Maybe lake had a partial kill or something????

I have separated my shiners in several 5 gallon pails with plenty of fresh non city water. I have well water now, so I use it from the outside tap. Change the water daily, and get rid of any not-so-healthy looking or dead minnows. I don’t know of any real good way other than that.

I live right in the midst of the Sunrise, and have been fishing it almost on a daily basis since even before complete ice out. There was some nice activity just before the rains came and drastically cooled and raised the water. As for the suckers, they are still biting a bit but I think the run is done. A good bet is the park in Osceola under the bridge. Pitch out a crawler and you never know what you might get-but I have nailed a bunch of sucker there.

If you are interested in a career in marine mechanics, then I would suggest going to Florida to learn. I am a graduate of Marine & Power Equipment tech from a vocational college in White Bear Lake. They have since dropped that program at that campus. My friend also graduated with me, but he went down to the specialized (MMI?) school. Most boat dealerships and marinas will only take people who went there or equivalent school, and you can command a higher salary for sure. They also have a great placement program, and marinas recruit aggresively for graduates. You can pretty much pick where you want to work!

I haven’t checked it out yet, but White Bear has always been good this time of year. I used to live by it and would always slam dunk the crappies around Manitou Island. Look for the boats and you should find the crappies. Stop by my buddies bait shop (Jim Hanson) at Little Bear Bait & Tackle to buy a few extra purple & white flu-flu’s as a few northerns and some nice bass will end up snapping you off!

I have noticed that some city water has more chlorine than others and that can affect the leeches. I used to live in N. St. Paul and the water there seemed to make the leeches form a bunch of mucus. I just collected rainwater or went to the lake to combat the problem.