Shore/Pier Fishing in West Central MN

[relgeiz]

Hello,

I no longer own a boat or truck and am just looking for areas I can access via car or walk (legally) to do some shore fishing in west central Minnesota to introduce my wife into fishing. As for species, I would be looking for bass, walleye and northerns depending on the time of year.

Maplewood and Glendalough state parks look nice and I'm ok with paying to get in, I just want to be sure where I fish is fairly easy to get around and I'm not trespassing or anything. Renting a canoe/small boat would be an option too, I just don't have the means to transport one.

Any suggestions would really appreciated!

[mainbutter]

The DNR owns plenty of public fishing piers. I don't always have the best fishing off of the piers compared to lakes where all the lakeshore is public property and you can walk all around, but it's better than nothing. If you can find any local parks that own the lakeshore around small lakes and ponds, you can fish more water

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing_piers/index.html

[relgeiz]

lakes where all the lakeshore is public property

Thanks for the great link - do you have any examples of lakes surrounded by public property?

Also, some road ditches border water, are those legal to fish as long as you're not a traffic hazard?

[mainbutter]

Well I'm not versed in west central MN. In Minneapolis for example, you can walk around and fish the shore of Harriet, Nokomis, Cedar, Calhoun etc. There's a lake called Lake Loch Ness in Blaine and it resides in Loch Ness Park which I believe is a city park, so there are smaller lakes/parks with fishable water as well.

There are lots of parks that border rivers such as the Mississippi and provide great opportunities for shore fishing. While I didn't have much luck last year in particular, the Coon Rapids dam on the Mississippi at the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park is a pretty popular angling spot.

Some local or even state parks provide access to smaller rivers that you can wade in and fish as well. If you have access to a body of water and are able to cover enough shoreline, you should be able to find fish once the water warms up a bit.

I'd hit up google maps, look for green areas (on google maps that color usually signifies public park land) that borders lakes or rivers near you. I use that and the DNR link I sent you to find shore-fishing opportunities.

I got a canoe last season and don't shore fish as much anymore, but those were the techniques I used to find shore fishing near me before I could get out on the water. I wish I had specific examples for west central MN, but I've only been in this state a couple years and am still learning all about what the outdoors here have to offer

[My_Key]

When I think of West Centrl Minnesota, I think of the Willmar area. There are a ton of options within an hour drive of Willmar.

[relgeiz]

Wilmar may be a bit far south for me but it may be worth a nice day trip, any places in mind? Thanks!

[My_Key]

It would help if the rest of us had a better idea where 'west central' is. My point is that if you go to Willmar, a lot of businesses use the West Central name. So if that's too far south, exactly what area are you targeting? Maybe giving the rest of us the name of a large town near you would help narrow the search?

[relgeiz]

It would help if the rest of us had a better idea where 'west central' is. My point is that if you go to Willmar, a lot of businesses use the West Central name. So if that's too far south, exactly what area are you targeting? Maybe giving the rest of us the name of a large town near you would help narrow the search?

I would say within 1 or 1.5 hours of Fergus Falls would be a good area of the state I can travel within comfortably.

[My_Key]

The Alexandria area, Ottertail area. Hell, I think even Detroit Lakes would be in that range.

There should be a ton of options available.