Mitch thanks for the reply. See this is exactly what I'm talking about. A lot if info I see on the net is more gears towards southern bass fishing as it is more popular. They don't have as much vegetation as our natural lakes and they don't have pikes and skis.

One other question. I assume you run braid and then 15ft of flouro leader? What is the main purpose of have such a long leader? I thought normally leaders are a few feet just to be less visible and braid for strength?

the long leader will help with very clear water, but more than anything else you will get bad line twists by your knot and avery about 15 fish or so you will most likely have to cut and retie assuming the pike don't do it for you. the long leader will give you the ability to fish all day without having to retie on the leader. I dont necessarily use braid for strength as much as i do for the manageability while using spinning gear. 

 

Mitch

Plymouth, Minnesotan here. I love fishing Minnetonka, I fish from a kayak and theres nothing like fishing early on a small bay when the lake is glass

Love Tonka. One bay could be calm like you describe and the next bay could be like Lake Superior. I fished a tournament once and the storm hit only half of the massive lake. Guys that were up by North arm said it was sunny and they saw some pretty rainbows. Guys in the south bays got poured on. We were in the main lake and got hammered by huge waves in our little 17 foot aluminum bass boat. There was a time that I felt scared for my life as I felt we could get swallowed up Tonka. We fled to Greys bay where the wind got blocked off.

If your in MN you owe it to yourself to fish Tonka even if it's a far drive.

Tonka is an awesome lake, especially if you live near the metro. It has every kind of cover and structure all in one package. So many awesome lakes in MN cant wait for open water agin.

 

Mitch

GOT TIRED OF ALL THE d**n SNOW AND MOVED TO TEXAS!!!

after a winter like this thats not such a bad idea...

 

Mitch

Anyone here ever have an interest hooking up somewhere sometime for a beer and just talk fishing all that comes with it?  I can't get to GA for a meet so thought this may work.

 

-Lewi

 

Lewi,

 

You live in the Lakeville/Burnsville area?

we do have a scsu bass club, and i think they do fish some of the events in the flw college series. i would like to be a part of the club, but I am an electrical engineering and nuclear physics major so taking time off to go fishing during school really is not an option for me. 

 

Mitch

 

Yeah, that will consume your time, but there is nothing like college my friend!

GOT TIRED OF ALL THE d**n SNOW AND MOVED TO TEXAS!!!

 

Honestly, this winter has got us thinking about moving to Austin.

Bassclub meeting just north of Stillwater Friday February14th if anyone is interested. A bunch of the oldtimers who have fished a million tournaments on Tonka and everywhere else. If anyone wants to go just message me, we are looking for more people and a bigger group for opener! Let me know! Thanks, Matt.

Hey Guys, my name is Mitch and I just found this forum/site. I'm a Bass Guy who was born and raised in White Bear Lake, MN. I went to college at Saint Cloud State University and then moved back to the metro area and lived in Shoreview. In Jan. 2013 I moved out to CO and live in Colorado Springs - it's been an amazing place to live for an outdoorsy person. I've spent most of my time out here fishing for trout but I'll be moving back to MN (not 100% sure where yet but most likely in the Northeast Suburbs) in the end of May with my GF. I'm already registered to fish the Greenhorn series on Wednesday nights and am looking to join another series or two. Otherwise I might just pick some weekend tournaments and fish those. Hopefully I can fish with some of you guys when I move home. I'm on several of the other MN/Midwest fishing forums with the same name.

the long leader will help with very clear water, but more than anything else you will get bad line twists by your knot and avery about 15 fish or so you will most likely have to cut and retie assuming the pike don't do it for you. the long leader will give you the ability to fish all day without having to retie on the leader. I dont necessarily use braid for strength as much as i do for the manageability while using spinning gear. 

 

Mitch

 

Just reading this and this is dead on! I use braid for the manageability for sure. I'm going to try a mojo rig this year to float over the deeper vegetation as well. I love drop shotting! I seem to have the most luck with bitsy tubes from Strike King. All the natural colors seem to work. 

 

I never thought to drop shot docks. But I will try this year for sure!!

 

PS I live in Grand Forks but my lake place is in Park Rapids.GO SIOUX!

is anybody gonna be at the sports show the last week of march?

Recently moved from Minnesota to Brussels, Belgium but I used to fish every day that the snow was gone! Really sucks not being able to bass fish here but I'm comin back in June and July and plan to fish every day! Favorite place to fish is up in Marcell just north of Grand Rapids. There's some bucket mouths up there, can't wait to come back and fish. 

Are there any bass clubs around the Detroit Lakes Park Rapids area?

Not looking forward to seeing the winter kill here in MN.  Hope the coming storm wont have too much of an impact by melting quickly.

 

The lake I like to fish is no more than 7-8 feet...I fear the worst for it.  I wonder how long it will take before the fish population recovers.  I know it could depend on how aggressive the DNR is with stocking.

 

Thoughts anyone?

it depends a lot what type of watershed it has... some lakes the kill has been bad, but only time will tell...

 

Mitch

Yeah, I have no facts or studies but I would agree that I'm worried! Even lakes with some deeper holes (15ft) are killing off. The crappy thing is that bass do horrible in low oxygen water so they are one of the first fish to die off.

New guy here from lakeville. When the heck is the ice going to melt? Im itching to fish!

From St. Peter, MN but predominately fish the south metro like Minnetonka, Waconia, Prior...  Anxiously awaiting open water to get the boat back out!!  What tournys are some you guys fishing?  I'll fishing all of the Fishers of Men tournaments as well as some Bass Pursuit tournaments.

Another for the Greenhorn Bass Series, Pan-O-Prog Tourney on Lake Marion, some B-Dawgin Bass Series events, and possibly some Thorne Bro's Mystery Tournaments.

i think i am in the greenhorn tour as well... should be a fun series...

 

Mitch

  Where are you guys from MN finding the info for the tournaments?  I have been looking at the DNR website, but is that all of them?  Also, was hoping the the Southern MN bass tour (Mankato area) would come back around this year, has been gone for 1 or 2 years now... Any info would be appreciated!  Thanks

Check out classicbass.com...most tournaments are listed in there.