Chisago lakes help

[bassfshin24]

Thinking about heading up to that area tonight. Never fished any of the lakes around that area and was just wondering if anyone has any advice and which lake to start out fishing. What is the structure like on the lakes? Is there a lot of dock fishing? Which lakes has good fishing but less boat traffic? I'm just looking for some info, I'm sure I could just pick one and I'd be alright. Just helpful to have some info.

[polarsusd81]

Water levels are still down pretty low, but all of the lakes in the area are great for bass fishing. I grew up fishing Chisago so that is my favorite. There are good opportunities for just about every type of bassin you want to do there. Shallow slop, docks, wood, weed lines, rock piles, deep points. Pick your poison and do it.

[bassfshin24]

Sounds like ive been missin out on some awesome fisheries up there. now that i live in roseville it wont be too far of a drive to get up there. hopefully start fishing a lot more of those lakes this summer.

[BassNut33]

+ 1 with Polarus, but I would say that Chisago/North Lindstrom is the best of the bunch. Focus on stumps and rocks!

[MN BassFisher]

You really can't go wrong with any of those lakes tony! I used to hit them hard when I was in highschool, the water levels were up then. Now the lakes are low and they get hit hard for bass fishing with leagues and tourneys and stuff. There are still some good fish. A work buddy had a tourney on North and South Center recently and had good luck on it. He said it was pretty cool, there are some deep holes out there but a lot of good shallow opportunities! Let me know how ya do.

[TR21HP]

I was out on Chisago today and caught a lot of small fish on points and docks. Haven't been able to catch the big girls yet this year but I know they are there as last years avg. was 3-4 lbs every time we went out. Saw Drop Shot Deitz out there this morning and he went to the Lindstrom side, more depth for that finesse style and that new Thorne Bros. rod.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Fishing was a little slow. Lots of smaller fish. THough I did pull 2 nice ones. One right at 5lbs, and one at 4.5... both came off of rock in about 15 feet of water. I did pull a few 2.5 lb fish on sand in 10 foot. Many of my deeper rock/sand areas had a goofy string weed growing on it. Very tough to fish through...

All the lakes in the Chisago area have had there good days. N/S Center has been decent, Green was on FIRE last year. Chisago/Lindstrom are always a good bet.

[Fisherman45]

I ran into a lot of that real long thin stringy weed on the Chisago side this morning also. It seemed like in 12'-15' the stuff was reaching up to 7'-8' off the bottom messing up my crank baits as it wouldn't rip off the hook to easy. Switched up to some top water and got a few decent jumpers but fairly slow compared to the last few times out for me also.

[bassfshin24]

Thanks for all the info guys. I didnt end up heading up there last night. Ended up hitting the Croix for some smallies. But will be up in the Chisago area soon.

[Fishwrench]

I'm looking for some info on Goose Lake in the area (sort of). 1) is there a public landing, and 2) is there a better launch (resort or otherwise)?

Thanks!

[Deitz Dittrich]

are you talking the goose that is just south of Rush City?.. There is no public landing, but there is a pay landing at the narrows. campground/resort, cant remember the name.

[bassfshin24]

Heading up to the Chisago lakes tomorrow night. Where is the ramp located to launch into Chisago?

[reinhard1]

i believe it is off hwy 8 and off lakeview rd. on your right going toward wisconsin. good luck.

[mww24]

heading east on HWY 8. You turn right at the stoplight after frankies intersection. I believe it Shoquist. Then you will see the launch entrance 100 feet ahead.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Yup, as others have said, its the light right after Frankies and across from Brinks Market.

[Juan Grande]

How can the water levels up there still be down with all the rain we've had? Are they pumping water out or is there an issue with the water table?

[TR21HP]

Chisago and Green are among a chain of lakes that drain into a large watershed and that is controlled by an outlet structure. If it's set to drain it will drain.

[reinhard1]

thanks, i have wondered about that also. seems like the lake's water level has gone up some but i thought after all this rain it would be up more than it is. the water is more clear than i thought it would be this time of the year. good luck.

[Deitz Dittrich]

TR21-Not sure of the info you have. And by no means am I not saying your info is false, yours may be correct, I dont know.

I have looked into this quite a bit, talked to quite a few people in the geological society, talked to quite a few old timers.. You get it, I been diggin around.

From what I understand, yes all the lakes are semi attached/connected. Chisago/South Lindstrom/North Lindstrom/North Center/South Center are all attached. There is an adjustable weir that goes from Chisago to Green, but only goes into affect during high water in what is called the chain. This is because Green has a Natural swamp/filter for high water that goes away from the st.croix river valley. Now this is where it gets kind of tricky.. S.Center and N.Center both have natural ground seepage into Ogren lake, which is not attached, but by underground water table it is.. Ogren does seep naturally into the croix even though it is 6+ miles away.

ALL THAT SAID~~~ All the heavy storms last year missed us, We got ample rain this spring. I would say all our lakes are up from last year. Green looks good, but it empties the other way(west) for some reason, It may be getting water from the Comfort watershed.. which has a creek/river that flows into it. Green is ok, not as high as it was years ago.. N/S Center are up from last year, but still not what I would call normal.. I can see land where i won a tournament about 6 years ago.. But its up, and you can get between the channel fine, and the ramps are usable(which is WAAAAY more than I can say for last year.)

That leaves us Chisago.. Ohhhhhhhhh Chisago.. Which is supposed to be attached to the Centers, but is not, because the water is not high enough. Go there and look, all the retaining walls are 20-30 feet from shore with beaches in front of them.

Which brings me to my next question, which I do not have an answer for.. What is "normal" for chisago? I dont know. There is wood in 3-5 feet which used to be, there is an old dance floor which again is out of the water, that has been underwater for 25 years? Things change. But at this point, I dont know what is "normal".. just know, that for water to reach peoples retaining walls, the water would have to come up another 4-5 feet.. AT LEAST.

Ok. .that was way more than anyone wanted to read. If you can tell, I have looked into this a bit. More just to understand, because we did get rain, it just didnt seem to "catch".. From what I have been told by people way smarter than me. The lakes around here leaked into the ground system which was depleated by lack of rain.. Lakes like green which have swamps attached and possible underwater sheds will be ok, but "The Chain" as we call it up here.. Hard to say. Sounds like it needs more rain that normal to keep it going, and if we get extra, it then flows into Green(which I think is 8' lower water level by elevation, which is why the lakes are not connected)..

[bassfshin24]

Well the first trip to Chisago wasnt as good as i had hoped haha. Still caught some fish but not too many...i have the hardest time learning new lakes. everything on chisago from above the water looks the same. Im still getting use to Minnesota lakes. South Dakota lake structure is completely different. Did get a few decent toothy criters though. Anyway thats fishing. its not going to stop me from heading up there again.

[Cecil]

Would creating a channel between all of the lakes help or hurt the water levels? I know it would created unwanted boat traffic from a fishermans perspective, but wondering if it would help levels at all. Im guessing not, since all other than green are low...

[river rat316]

I checked historical levels for the lakes on the dnr lake finder sight, the historical low for I think it was South Lindstrom or one of the bigger lakes that they actually have good data on is like 7-8' lower than what it is right now, that was in 1964. So while this watershed is suffering right now it is not near a record low, I would bet that if they had data from the 30's and 40's it would have been a good bit lower than that. Right now it is about 7' below ordinary high water mark. Here is the link

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/showlevel.html?id=13002800

[MN BassFisher]

Lots of good info there Deitz. I've watched the water levels change alot up there since I've been fishing there. Probably about ten years. Spots I used to slaughter the bass are now wayyy to shallow for me to fish effectively.

Tony - there are nice fish up there so stick with it!! We'll have to get out again soon. I have a tourney on Green this Thursday so we'll see how we do!

[Juan Grande]

Good info Deitz. Sounds like a pretty complex system up there. I think Mille Lacs was down something like a foot last year and it's back to normal or even above normal if that tells you about the volume of rain they've had this spring and summer.

I know they had a big problem with White Bear draining last year, but I think that was because they were pumping water out of it. Not sure though... Same with Demontrevile, seems like anyone with a boat bigger than 14' can't launch there. I fished there two years ago with my 17' and the launch was fine. Just goes to show there are a lot more factors that go into water levels than just rain fall.