Fishing Report
Welcome to the FiN Fishing Report! Read this week's report to find out where to find out what is biting and what to use to catch them.
If you have tips or reports you would like to add, please fill out the FiN Fishing Report Form and look for your tip in next week's fishing report!
April 26th, 2012
Greetings and welcome to the Fishing in the Neighborhood (FiN) fishing report. We hope this addition to the FiN web page helps you catch more fish. This report will generally update weekly and highlight fishing at FiN Ponds during the year. We’ll offer tips on what’s biting, bait, and provide weekly FiN pond stocking information.
The ice has been out on most metro area lakes and FiN ponds since the week of March 11-17 and water temperatures are now in the mid 50's on most metro area lakes. Good catches of black crappies have been reported from the east metro area. Particular lakes in Woodbury have been doing well since the week of April 16th. The crappies have been biting later in the afternoon and into the evening. Anglers reported using fathead or crappie minnows under a float. Jig and minnow combinations or tubes and grubs should also be productive at this time. Again, anglers targeting bluegill and other panfish should spend time exploring the north sides of FiN ponds and area lakes or fish the side of the lake or pond where the wind has been blowing into for a couple of days. These areas tend to have slightly warmer water than the rest of th elake or pond which should provide a good oportunity to get on more active fish. Fishermen looking for bluegill have done well using worms under a float. This technique has been productive on the west side of the metro area with several reports of good catches coming from the Chaska and Waterville areas. Just a few weeks remain until the fishing season for northern pike and walleye opens on May 12th and the season for bass opesn May 26th. As the water warms, slightly more aggressive retrieves with tube jigs and grubs or small Mepps type spinners and beetle spins may add a few more fish to your catch. There are numerous larger lakes in the area where you can also try for crappies and panfish this spring from shore. A lake that has reported the crappies are beginning to get on the chew and would be worth trying is Bald Eagle. Prior Lake has had several reports of some major movements of bluegills and pumpkinseeds into shallows and along shore recently. These fish are readily catchable when they are found shallow.
FiN staff have been setting trapnets for the last four weeks in an effort to harvest panfish (bluegill, crappie, pumpkinseed and yellow perch) that will be stocked into FiN ponds throughout the metro area. FiN prioritizes stocking based on current panfish numbers or recent winterkill events. To see which FiN ponds have been stocked, check out the FiN stocking website for the latest and most up-to-date information.
Good fishing and tight lines!
