Lake Calhoun, sitting in the shadows of the skyline of downtown Minneapolis is showing that it is a quality fishery that many of us overlook. It didnt take very long to find some action.
I invited Bob Moore, of Moores Bait & Tackle out for evening outing. We were fishing shortly after 5 pm and fished until about 9 pm. We set up on the outside of a weed line on moderate break in about 20′. We set up camp, got the bobber lines down with a plain hook, and each tried various jigging spoons tipped with a fathead on our other line. It didnt take long for this walleye to hammer Bob’s 1/4 oz Thumper spoon in the firetiger color, with a glow back. The fish measured just over 27″.
Shortly after Bob caught that monster walleye, I had a good mark come in on the flasher, stare at my bait for a short period of time, and the fish went into attack mode and ambushed my bait, I set the hook.. just to realize it hit my bobber line and not the jig! I grabbed the other rod and set the hook for a short fight on a very heavy fish and it was gone, I reeled up and learned of a nick in the line. After that, I had several takers on the bobber line with an orange hook and a fathead set 3′ off the bottom, nothing was taking the bait any closer on the bobber lines. I lost each and every fish, until this last fish pictured grabbed my weasel spoon tipped with a fathead.
Lake Calhoun is showing it is a good fishery with a decent population of many year classes of fish. This lake has true trophy potential, plenty of forage, and lots of structure. It has everyting to make a great fishery, right in the middle of the city! Be sure to put the big ones back! The dnr does stock these lakes, but there is some natural reproduction that helps sustain the population, and further improve the fishery.
I forgot to add that we were the only people fishing on the lake last night! We were standing on about 12″ of ice where we were at. Some of the lake refroze just a few weeks ago, the new ice is about 6″-8″ thick although I havent walked to the middle of the lake(I dont fishin 90′ of water).
Great report Dave!
Nothing like hitting good walleyes downtown Minneapolis!
Great report, Dave!!! Keep them up!
Great report Dave. Let me know when you are going to take me out to Calhoun. Have portable, will travel. By the way, congrats on becoming a field staffer, you deserve it.
John
Any time John! Shoot me a pm, send me an email, give me a call.. whatever works!
I welcome the company, a couple more lines usually pulls a couple more fish through the holes, and it sure helps to locate the fish.
Nice report Dave. Dandy walleye
Nothing like having the lake to yourself!
Great report Dave, nothing like catching nice walleye like that & not travel 2hr to get. Great fish.
Great report Dave!
Way to go Dave
Great report sir!
Looking forward to joining you out there tomorrow.
dd
Great looking walleyes!!
Wow. I had no idea calhoun had fish in it like that. Way to go. And to have that lake in the heart of the city also. Who would of thunk it.
Nice fish Bob.
Great Report Dave.
Those lakes in that area are gems, open water or frozen. Nice first report Dave.
Just for giggles I went and looked up the DNR info on Harriet, Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Cedar, and Nokomis. Harriet, Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, and Cedar all had lousy sampling of walleye in the 2005 survey. An average of around 1.5 per net lift. Nokomis had 5 per net lift. These were all done in 2005.
My feeling is that the DNR got bad samples out of Harriet and Calhoun for sure. There is a lot more walleye in those two lakes than what their sampling would indicate. Also the 05 samplings were way at the bottom of traditional sampling rates.
dd
Thanks for the report and pics Dave. VERY nice walleye.
Sounds like a very nice lake that puts out some very nice fish. Bet Bob was tickled pink with that eye. 
Didn’t know that lake was that deep. Thats very deep for a southern lake.
Thanks, Bill
dd…
The recent dnr test nets greatly conflicted the previous reports. The new net reports would make it look like the fisheries died over a few years. Its obvious conditions werent ideal for the census, and the numbers are very inaccurate.
Rest assured, that didnt happen. The lakes are as good as they ever were, some are even better.
Nice job Dave, Keep them coming.Good Fishin DOUG
That’s a great report Dave
HEY DAVE, GREAT REPORT!!! WITH MY NEW JOB I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO GET UP TO MILLE LACS, SO IF POSSIBLE COULD YOU POINT ME IN TH RIGHT DIRECTION ON CALHOUN? NOT YOUR SECRET SPOTS OBVIOUSLY BUT WERE TO PARK AND HOW FAR TO WALK OUT. THAT KIND OF STUFF. THANKS.
If you have a minneapolis park patron pass youcan park in the north or south lots.. a whole lot of structure within about 100 yard walk, and the lake is easy to access. The east side of the lake has a few places to park along the parkway for a reasonable walk to lots of very ood spots along the weeds close to deep water. The west side is pretty easy to access besides the minor bank at waters edge to deal with. There are some decent spots just about everywhere on the lake within a short walking distance of where you can park. The lake drops off very fast in most areas. I have caught fish 20′ from shore, and I’ve caught fish 100 yards from shore.
I cant be too spot specific here, or everyone will be siting int he same spot that wants to fish the lake. My best recommendations to anyone is to grab a map and get a general idea of some structure near deep water(a simple drop off is usually enough) that will allow you to fish in the depths you prefer to fish. Fish are being caught all around the lake right now by those who have been fishing. Depths from 20′-35′ are going to be your best place to start. I prefer the shallow end of that margin.
Great report. I use to fish the Mpls lakes. They are some great producers.
Great Report! What is so funny is I was out on Calhoun myself on 1-25-07. I was the only on out there and there was only 3 inches of ice!!!! It freaked me out so I did not fish long. Nice to hear that the ice is better…i figured there was some waldos to be had in there.
Where did you find only 3″ of ice?? I have been standing on better than 12″.
I assume its in the area that refroze early in the month(north end). I havent heard anyone commenting on ice that thin! I would really lik to know where its at so I can tell people to stay clear, or go drill some holes to see how much it has thickened up in the last week. I dont like knowing someone might be going into harms way, thats not ok!
My bad….talking to my friend and he corrected me and told me it was the week before 1-18-07. I walked out from the NW end and walked out about 300 yards torwards the middle in about 20′ of water. It was right before the cold snap came thru. When i walked back in there was a firetruck dealing with a wreck at Lake street. One of the firemen saw me walking off the ice and shouted “YOU SHOULDN’T BE OUT THERE KID!” i agreed at the time. I was just amazed because I have been fishing White Bear which at that time had 9-10 inches. I am sure the ice is safe now.
Thank you for the update. I could easily see 3″ on the 18th as just a few days before the entire north end was open water.
There has been lots of cold now, with minimal now. People must use caution when venturing on the ice anywhere.. but I am pretty inclined to believe everything is froze up good for foot traffic around town.