panfish lake in south metro

[Irish]

Do any of you know of a good lake for big 'gills or crappie in the south metro. Not looking for any secret spots just a decent lake to try.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[jesse larson]

what part of the south east or west??

Jesse

[Quetico]

Yeah people are likely to be very tight lipped about this one.

[pulleye16]

Marion off 35W near burnsville is a good lake to pan fish. Try right out from the landing just slightly north. Or try straight out from the landing, mid lake, and just south. you'll see plent of people in those two area's so just pick a spot, drill a hole a check your flasher. There are better lakes but this one is extremely close (for me) and I can hit it after work on weekdays.

[Quetico]

And its being talked about on multiple different boards on this forum alone. Hence why there hasn't been any decent pans in this lake in years.

[JimBuck]

Do some research on the DNR HSOforum and check out stocking reports and net surveys. As Quetico said, nobody is giving up a good crappie or gill spot since they are so prone to meathunters and trolls.

[erickol]

The mn dnr lakefinder and recreation compass are indespensable (sp?).

You can (for the most part) click on any body of water and pull up lake info, plus they have a topo on the compass to give you a general overview of the lake. The info I look for on the finder is the species present, sizes of species sampled, year of study, public access.... if the lake looks like it hgas what I'm looking for I'll read the notes, and do additional searches on the lake to round out the opicture, plus you can pull up topo maps in pdf or tiff

just last night I was using it, and it did not cure my insomnia.... in fact it got me really excited to try out a couple of smaller bodies of water I had previously written off (I should have known better).

good luck

[MNBEEF]

Are there any new maps and info the DNR maps seem out dated. Do you just go by the old info as far as traps and netting numbers and hope since the info is old that the fish are just bigger now?

[me_fathead]

Are there any new maps and info the DNR maps seem out dated. Do you just go by the old info as far as traps and netting numbers and hope since the info is old that the fish are just bigger now?

It depends on the usage of the lake. Typically the busier the lake, the more current the information. I assume with old info that the fish are smaller now, following the usual trends.

[erickol]

the older studies still give the species present, and lots of times thats what I'm after. I suppose older studies can show you what a lake is capable of, but with winterkills and other possible changes, the numbers could be better or worse

[Irish]

what part of the south east or west??

Jesse

A lake in the southeast metro would be best.

[jesse larson]

hastings has a decent one for fishing

lake rebecca

Jesse