Topic: Local fishing
started by: Ole1kanobe
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 02 2003,10:57 am
Here's a topic that hasn't been brought around yet, and with fall right around the corner, some of the best fishing time is coming up.I have been fishing over at lock and dam # 7 on the Mississippi River (about 25 miles South of Winona, just north of La Crescent) right from shore off and on for the past month or so. Been having some excellent luck with the northern’s over there off of lures like Rap’s and Rattle-traps. Usually catching them in the 3 – 5 pound range with the random monster that stays on for a few seconds before snapping the line, perfect for eating or pickling. With the extended limits on the river for northern (a limit of 5 per day), it is definitely worth the 1 ½ hour trip if you want enough fish to eat and still have some left over to stock the freezer.
Frank Hall Park also has some decent northern activity, although lately they haven’t been biting the best, guessing that should be changing as we get closer to the fall season.
Posted by Dustin Petersen on Sep. 02 2003,11:16 am
With the exception of one attempt at ice-fishing a few winters ago, I haven't been fishing since I was 14 years old.Incidentally, on Sunday I saw some people fishing in Fountain Lake, down by China Restaurant, despite how green the water was.
I wouldn't eat a fish that came out of that lake if you gave me all the property surrounding it.:laugh:
Posted by minnow on Sep. 02 2003,11:21 am
If you eat at the China restaurant you probably have!They been sited several time for cleaning filake caught fish in the restaurant.
Posted by minnow on Sep. 02 2003,11:22 am
whatt's wring with this site. Everything I type has a delayed reaction...it's really weird.
Posted by Tiger on Sep. 02 2003,11:26 am
Just for a fun day of fishing, try Beaver Lake by Ellendale. We go over there and catch crappies and sunnies. It is fun just to catch fish all day. Barely get your pole in the water and you are catching fish. We are out in the boat so I don't know how it is from shore.
Posted by Dustin Petersen on Sep. 02 2003,11:27 am
I usually order spicy curry chicken or pork fried rice. With the exception of tuna casserole, I don't think I've had fish in about five years.
Posted by Tiger on Sep. 02 2003,11:48 am
Minnow, this has been a legend around AL for a long time and I for one think it is bogus. I don't eat at the China Restauraunt because I don't like Chinese food. Although many of my friends and family think the food is quite good. In the past two of my friends worked at the restauraunt and claimed the rumors were just that rumors!!!
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 02 2003,12:37 pm
I tried, about a month ago, fishing over at Beaver Lake. I used to go swimming over there years ago. I was fishing from shore and the pier using lures, not a single bite. When I was fishing to the right of the pier, there were all sorts of Y sticks used to set poles on, so I am figuring that people are either using live bait and/or fishing at night.That is a good example of a well taken care of lake though, decent bottom and river rock from the bank about 5 feet out or so.
Did some fishing up at Lake Francis (sp?) over the weekend, crappies, sunnies and a northern here and there, really had to work for them though.
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 02 2003,12:39 pm
Dustin, can't blame you for not liking ice fishing much. I tried once, that was enough for me. Maybe it would have helped if I was actually in an ice house instead of sitting on an upside-down bucket out in the open? 
Posted by Tiger on Sep. 02 2003,12:42 pm
We were using good old "minnows" 
. Like I said though, we were in a boat out in deeper water. We did catch some of decent size, had supper last night.
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 02 2003,1:05 pm
While the water in and around AL seems like it is nasty, here are some DNR reports for < Fountain Lake > and < Albert Lea Lake >.Sorry, didn't realize that I didn't have active links before! the links should work now.
Posted by GEOKARJO on Sep. 02 2003,4:52 pm
I am a catch and release fisherman I fish to relax and get away from the store. SO I fish the channel.
Posted by GEOKARJO on Sep. 02 2003,4:56 pm
The levels are not bad in albert lea and fountain lakes who would want to eat fish more than once a week anyway.
Posted by Tiger on Sep. 02 2003,5:03 pm
I would GEO. I love fish. I don't eat it more than once a week because of the cost in the grocery stores and not enough "keepers" out there when trying to catch your own meal. Fish is very good for your health not to mention tastes excellent if prepared right!!!
Posted by Madd Max on Sep. 02 2003,5:06 pm
I have eat fish out of Albert lea and Fountain lakes Along with the Shellrock river and the Drainage ditches by Emmons and the State line road. I still alive to talk about it. But you are right once a week is enough.
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 02 2003,5:54 pm
How many people here think a fishing tournament would draw some people into the area if there was a fairly decent prize schedule?
Posted by shaker on Sep. 02 2003,9:43 pm
Years ago when the Canton cafe was uptown people would say old Sam Wong butchered cat for the chow mein-- I don't know, but I never heard Him saying here kitty kitty:D
Posted by hoosier on Sep. 03 2003,9:10 am
Being from Indiana I like bass fishing more than anything, and I dont mean any other kind of fishing, I mean more than my wife, my kids, and my dog. Well, maybe not my dog. Anyway, lots of good bass fishing on Cedar Lake up by Fairibault, try Tetonka also. I fish with a spinnerbait mostly, and a texas rigged power worm where I cant fish the spinnerbait.
There are some good fish in Albert Lea lake, at least the channel area. I have two crappie hanging on my wall from the channel that weigh one pound each, about 15 inches long. Three summers ago caught a 36 inch northern at the channel. Estimate its weight at around 12 pounds, should have been more like 15 pounds for its length, but it had a big fat head and skinny body. Still a very nice fish.
Dustin Peterson, its a shame you havent been fishing in that long of time. Would you like to go bass fishing some time? I have a 17 foot lund pro V with a 125 horse mercury outboard, plenty of room for two people slinging spinnerbaits in the air. Or anyone else for that matter, I go nearly every weekend and some during the week when I can, so much nicer during the week, not as busy on the lake. But anyway, I go by myself 90 percent of the time, would love to have some company. Anyone interested, just Pm me, we can set something up.
Posted by hoosier on Sep. 03 2003,9:15 am
Ole1, What species of fish would you be fishing for in this contest? Just make sure it is 100 percent payback, in other words, all money taken in from people intering the contest, go right back out as prizes.
Posted by hoosier on Sep. 03 2003,9:38 am
About eating the fish, in my opinion, any bass, and the larger walleye and norhtern should all be released. It takes these fish way to long to grow to that size, especially here in the north. A 5 pound bass could be 10 years old or more in Minnesota, in Indiana it would be around 5 years old. If you love catching a 10 pound northern, you have to be willing to release that 5 pounder you caught, so it can grow and maybe someone else can enjoy catching it also. But if you do like to eat some fish, choose from the smaller fish you catch and release the larger ones. Never leave the skin on the fish if you have any doubt about chemicals, fillet it, cut the skin off the meat. Most if not all of any chemicals in the fish will be trapped in a fatty layer between the skin and meat. If you do this and you are not pregnant or a young child, you should have no problem eating fish every now and then. But release the big ones to breed and to be caught again.
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 03 2003,9:15 pm
Definitely, would have to be 100% payout (that way it would bring in the most people), after expenses for things like the scale to weigh-in (rent-able? I think it would have to be a state certified scale). Off-site parking would also have to be arranged, with people to work the parking lots, but the more people in town, more money can be spent in town; food, rooms, booze, gas, whatever, as long as money comes to town and is spent. I would think that Cabela's would be a good first pick to hit up for sponsorship. Maybe donate a nice fat grand prize?For fish species, I would say Bass, Northern and Walleye. The basic game fish, maybe a booby prize for the biggest carp?
Posted by Tiger on Sep. 04 2003,8:47 am
I think the lake needs to be stocked with game fish first. You would need a lot of "booby" prizes if the prize is going for carp and bullheads!!
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 04 2003,10:03 am
LOL! That is why we would have to limit it to the largest carp.
Actually, there are a lot more game fish right now in AL Lake than most people think. This is the first time in 10 years or more that the game fish population has been over 1%.
If you know the right places to go, you can catch plenty of 5 pound or larger notherns as well as some nice size walleyes.
Posted by hoosier on Sep. 04 2003,3:40 pm
Tiger, I think you would be surprised by the number of game fish in AL Lake. Take a look at the last lake survey, it was pretty impressive.
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 04 2003,8:23 pm
Here's part of a survey I found at < the DNR web site >.A fish population assessment was conducted on Albert Lea Lake in the summer of 2000. This assessment was completed by using twenty-one overnight trap-net sets, seven in each of three major lake basins, as defined by the lake improvement committee. In addition, eight shoreline areas were sampled with boat-mounted electrofishing gear in mid September. This assessment was conducted to update information on resident fish populations, and, in part, because of increased local interest in rehabilitating the lake. Similar population assessments were conducted in 1984 and in 1992.
Gamfish populations have generally increased over the last sixteen years. Northern pike and largemouth bass are the only gamefishes native to Albert Lea Lake. The pike population has increased by five-fold since 1992, although it is still at only half the level of abundance recorded in 1984. Northern pike can reach trophy sizes (to 40 inches) and about one-fourth of the fish captured were thirty inches in length or larger. Although about half of the largemouth bass were captured in trap-nets, these data taken together with the daytime electrofishing sample indicate a relatively low population. Both of these species are often associated with vegetative or woody cover, both of which are generally lacking in Albert Lea Lake.
Walleye and channel catfish populations are apparently increasing in lake, due to continued stocking of these species in upstream Fountain Lake. Both the relative abundance and rate of growth of walleye are above average for lakes like Albert Lea Lake. Approximately one-third of the fish sampled in this assessment were fifteen inches or larger. Because the observed pattern of growth is similar to that for the Fountain Lake walleye population and each age-class of walleye found in this survey can matched to a specific stocking record in Fountain Lake, the presence of walleye in Albert Lea Lake is due to immigration of Fountain Lake fish via the Shellrock River.
Similarly, channel catfish are increasing in abundance despite never having been stocked directly into Albert Lea Lake. Due to similar size distributions between the Albert Lea and Fountain Lake populations and that roughly three quarters of channel catfish captured in trap-nets were caught in a single net located at the mouth of the Shellrock River, channel catfish are present only as immigrants from Fountain Lake.
Black and white crappie populations have dramatically increased in Albert Lea Lake. Black crappie were the most abundant species observed in the trap-net catch and accounted for nearly one-half of the total weight of this sample. White crappie were the third most common species and showed a quality size structure with nearly one-third of the adult population reaching sizes of twelve inches or larger.
Although black and white crappie are the most abundant panfishes in Albert Lea Lake, bluegill and yellow perch were also sampled. The bluegill population has remained relatively stable since 1992. Although overall abundance is low, bluegills are average sized for lakes with growth conditions like Albert Lea Lake. In contrast, the yellow perch population is at a historic low level, declining by about 90 percent in the trap-net sample and by 73 percent in the electrofishing sample.
Beyond the apparent increase in abundance of the major gamefishes and the explosion of the crappie populations, the decline in relative abundance of most rough fish species is another major shift in community structure. With the exception of buffalo and white sucker, all rough fish populations were measured at or near historic low levels of abundance. This was particluarly true for carp, which are currently at about five percent of the maximum abundance observed in 1984.
Overall fish distribution within the lake varied by species. Larger bodied species (e.g., walleye, channel catfish and carp) tended to occur in the west basin of Albert Lea Lake where there is on average more deeper water than elsewhere in the lake. Also Foutain Lake empties into the west basin of Albert Lea Lake via th Shellrock River. Fountain Lake is the source of walleye and channel catfish. Bluegill and orangespotted sunfish, in contrast, were more often found in the north basin where most of the submergent and emergent aquatic vegetation exists. Black crappie and black bullhead were concentrated in the central and west basins, respectively.
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 13 2003,2:00 am
Now here's a fish story that ain't no lie!< 533-pound Halibut >
Posted by bottom feeder angler on Sep. 19 2003,7:14 pm
i hear u can catch four bad county commissioners, and one really lousy county admintistrator, by violating the article 19 law. u know what the difference between four bad county commissioners and a horses ass county administrator and a bull head is? ones a fish and the rest have crooked whiskers and smell!
Posted by Ole1kanobe on Sep. 23 2003,12:12 am
Going up north for one last fishing trip for the year. Leaving Thursday about 3:30 AM.Going to go up North of Grand Rapids and hit a few lakes, drink a bunch of beer and swap fish stories.
I hear that it has already gotten down to freezing up that far, anyone here know what the weather has been up there as far as rain?