A little advice

[crappie55409]

ok guys i know its absolutely taboo to ask for hot spots and im not doing that at all. I dont want you to give up that info and im not asking for it. I just bought my first permy this year for ice fishing and im very excited to have it. Before this i always fished with my grandpa and his friends or just sitting on a bucket. i like fishing for crappies mostly but i also enjoy walleyes. I generally ice fish minnetonka but what im wanting to know is if there are any lakes you would recommend in the metro that have an evening bite where you can catch both panfish and walleyes? Minnetonka has seemed to me to have action early morning and dusk but not into the evening. Again im not asking for GPS coordinates to your hotspots and certainly if you have a little 200 acre secret honeyhole lake i wouldn't expect you to divulge that info either but its getting time to decide where to put my permy this year and i would love to find a lake with an evening bite for when im staying out overnights this year.

Bring on the Ice!!

Crappiehunter

[cavalierowner]

Lurking...

I fish Minnetonka too. This is the first winter since I have retired, so I am intending to spend a lot of time listening, asking questions, and fishing. I have no trouble finding panfish (although small), but I am on the hunt for walleyes this winter for the first time. Just look for my little 1 man blue portable that's in my avatar.

[muskE]

I'm fan of Waconia some years. I've never seen much in the way of big panfish but they have drum in there that get the heart pumping thinking you have a record walleye. I sit on open flats away from the villages and pride in finding fish where nobody fishes and have done well there. Good numbers (quantity vs. quality), nice variety, some Walters, some pike, and always a mystery fish that was huge but never got to see.

[songbirds]

Well Crappiehunter, if you want to drive a little ways north, let me suggest Green Lake or Chisago Lake in Chisago. I've been putting my perm on Chisago for about ten years now. Nice size crappies and sunnies if you work for them. Walleyes can be had in the evening as the season goes on. Early ice they go between Chisago and S. Lindstrom. Green Lake has a larger crop of crappies. Channel a good place to start there.

[speedbump]

Good post, but tough question. I have put in A LOT of time on Minnetonka over the past six years, during all four seasons. My best advise is to try to focus on one bay at a time. Each is really like a different lake. Don't give up and don't get too frustrated. Just when you think you have the walleye figured out, you will get skunked the next several times out. I did find a very good pattern, but it took a lot of misses before I finally began hitting them. I strongly think that one of the things I have done to greatly improve my chances is to use a fishing log program to keep track of where you fish, when you fish, what you fish with and how well you do. I really like the fishing log on the Contour Elite program. I also spend a lot of time researching the bottom with my underwater camera to find areas with a very specific kind of bottom structure. Good luck and have fun "hunting".

[crappie55409]

hey thanks guys! im thankful that you found ways to give good info without giving up your secrets. I've seen a lot of posts that ask for info like i have and fisherman interpret them to be asking for their "secrets" and get offended. Im not out to steal anyones spot im just wanting to know the basic tools needed to find my own hotspots. Minnetonka is a tough lake to fish. Im thinking the best way to tackle it is to set up my permy like a campsite and use my portable along with my GPS with lakemaster chip to branch out and find the hot bite when its not happening at permy. Im thinking i might set up in Browns Bay this year. My grandpa always fished near big island so Browns Bay would be a completely new area for me but hey, thats half the fun right

crappiehunter