Big Metro Crappies (?)

[th64]

Dare to dream right? Big is anything over 10" for me and I throw back anything 12+. Looking for a lake anywhere in the 7 county metro for a few city-slabs.

Thanks

[goblueM]

Hahah good luck getting anybody to spill the beans on that one

[fishuhalik]

Ya, they're out there. You won't find anyone naming lakes on this site though. I know of 2 lakes in the entire metro that consistently put out decent gills and crappies and you'd never guess it by looking at em. Just keep trying new hole-in-the-wall lakes and you'll find em. Stay away from lakes that get fished much.

[fisherman-andy]

Back water pools, rivers and streams. Otherwise small neighborhood lakes or ponds. The problem with them small gems is their prone to fish kill. On hot Summers like this year could yeild disasterous results. Or cold Winters kills. Dont feel guilty for keeping a few meals out of the smaller honey holes due to this.

[th64]

Pm me if you do not the whole world to know. I never 'hammer' a lake, partly because I get bored if I fish the same species in the same lake all the time, even if the bite is good. Oh and I can share some lake names too.

Thanks

[fish_eat_sleep]

I havent written on here in a couple months, too busy with work and other things that come up. there are nice crappies all over the place, so to say that the metro has nothing worth keeping, taking a picture of or mounting seems silly to me. yeah maybe it not like the little shallow lakes north of here that are factories.

I literally catch crappies over 11" 85% of days i pull the boat out of the garage. yeah, its really difficult mid summer to find any with a belly. but its possible. iv already caught a hand full of fish over 15" this season within a 40 minute drive from minneapolis. and for anyone that says walleyes don't live in the suburbs, again its not true. opener i had my 6 fish limit by 8am on lake X (14"-20" fish). and on a different lake in a different town, not known for eyes. i have landed probably 6 or 7 this season while bass fishing, smallest was 19" biggest was around 27.5"

I wont share lake names for a 100 million dollars though. Iv seen how people shy away from the popular lakes when they see the DNR inspector standing there. and iv seen how people read online and hear someones story of good luck and think thats they place to be. but in reality, if theres a hot bite being talked about online. or in a magazine, its probably long gone by the time anyone reads it.

yes, big metro crappies, walleyes, and anything else is possible. I almost hit a 10 point buck standing in the street at 1am in burnsville saturday night, and I'm not exaggerating at all. he didn't budge when i drove around him either. common? no. possible? yes.

i would recommend picking 2 or 3 lakes and fish those 3 lakes all season. (summer and winter). NEVER LAKE HOP. you won't learn anything if you switch lakes every night. try your best not to be discouraged, and keep moving. never anchor or bobber fish unless you have already found a spot. and don't lose focus and assume the lake your on sucks. you just gotta search a little harder than you do in canada for example. the type on line, size and shape of lure, color. and retrieve speed play a huge role. you could be floating over a school of crappies and not even realize they are there. don't rule out shallow water late summer either regardless what people say. and try to fish mornings and nights and equal amount of time. fish don't eat consistently all day, and sunlight effects things too.

Good Luck

[th64]

Love to lake hop-can't help it.

[fish_eat_sleep]

See, I always feel like I'm at a disadvantage when i do that. I think exploring new territory is fun but again you cant always expect results unless you back again, and again. yeah i do get bored seeing the same scenery but honestly i don't even need the fish finder anymore. I know pretty darn close to what the depth is and where the weeds stop growing.

By sticking with a couple lakes for the whole season you will learn the spot within the spot, and hopefully be able to follow the crappies around the lake most of the season. There are times in the spring where if i didn't fish late ice on a specific lake i wouldn't know where to start the day after ice out. The crappies school so tight in the fall you can literally troll over them and not even get a bite because they are under the weed tops in warmer water.. In an area smaller than a dump truck. literally.

[mainbutter]

@fish_eat_sleep:

I did that this year, pick two lakes to stick to for almost all my outings.

What I learned: One of the lakes has terrible fishing, are overrun with bullheads, hold no sunfish or crappies over 6'' (even those are hard to find), the typically small-size-structure northern pike population has crashed, and for some reason even the carp are having problems.

The other lake doesn't hold anything that bites my flies or lures except crappies and sunfish, which is fun but gets old.

[fish_eat_sleep]

Thats unfortunate, at least you can cross 2 lakes off your list with confidence that you know your not missing anything there. I know theres going to be people that disagree with me on this one. I cant learn from my last outing if each time i get out is on a different body of water. its like starting over at square one, all the time.

[th64]

Come clean F.E.S. how many different lakes did you fish last year? Skip the reasons just a number please. Most people who go to a site like this are probably lake hoppers.

Some fisherman go to the same lake all the time to fish for the same species in the same way, how much do you think they learn? Oh and do they go on a forum? Probably most do not, why would they need to?

Also have'nt you been very successful at a lake and that made you want to try something new?

[fisherman-andy]

There is no need to really limit yourself to just a couple lakes all winter long unless you really have no where else to go. Fish the lakes in the open water season and get to know the fish population and structure if possible.

If your fishing a new lake or pond, find out about as much information about the lake as you can. Lake surveys, lake maps etc.

Most people tend to fish the lakes or area they already know. I enjoy exploring new waters or lakes during the ice season and have done well.

[fish_eat_sleep]

Last season I fished 5 lakes. Keep in mind i fish a lot more than most people. last summer i had 45 days in a row logged in my fishing calendar. Of those days, I only fished 2 lakes. and the second lake less than 10 days. Online forums are good resources for sharing ideas and having discussions about various topics. I intended share that most of the time, if you read in-fisherman, or you read on a forum, or read outdoor news. its actually information that as likely already passed. as far as where a good bite is. or how deep the crappies are. All it takes is a hot afternoon with a lot of sun and all that good information will change.

th64, what i meant by learning is that if you know a lake well, you will notice when the lake map chip in the gps is wrong. you can see what kinds of weeds grow where in a lake. and how the fish relate to each different plant. you will notice small holes, edges, and rocks that do not exist on lake maps. if you caught crappies in one corner of the lake before dark for example, and the next morning it is sunny and warm, you know they aren't far away. this to me makes catching that much easier. if i tried a new lake every friday night i wouldn't be able to fine tune any of my own ideas or technics.

fisherman-andy, exploring new lakes, and trying different things is fun. traveling and preparation is half of the fun in the sport. nothing wrong with that. The original question here was about big metro crappies and where to find them. my intention was to explain that learning specific lakes, in detail. which i believe would be more beneficial than lake hopping and following the media. That is really what i meant to say here in this thread.

[OnAFly]

There's no doubt in my mind that repeatedly fishing a lake will give you more knowledge about that specific lake. But, sometimes you need to find a lake worth putting that much effort into. That's when you lake hop.

[fisherman-andy]

There's no doubt in my mind that repeatedly fishing a lake will give you more knowledge about that specific lake. But, sometimes you need to find a lake worth putting that much effort into. That's when you lake hop.

Well said. Depending on the size of the lake I find in 1-3 outings if you dont do well, no need to waste any more effort when exploring. If your gonna comb and work a lake to your advantage all winter long I suggest choosing one with a reputation that has a history of fair or good fishery.

[fish_eat_sleep]

Thats exactly the opposite of what i would recommend. reputation is history after a season of ice fishing on most small lakes anyway. you gotta be the one writing the report. not reading it. challenge yourself to catch the one fish that others don't believe is there. 1-3 outings might not prove or disprove any information you had on the lake. i see it all the time where a guy says "this lake sucks, i just caught a few little ones" and if its a lake i know well. i understand its the way he went about fishing for them. not the idea that this lake had no adult fish at all in it. if by chance a lake get fished out, it can rebound back in less than a decade. dont wait for the news paper guy to write about a hot bite though. it will be gone by the time he clicks print. summer is no time to catch crappies anyway. so the time of year you try a new lake is kind of important.

[fisherman-andy]

Thats exactly the opposite of what i would recommend. reputation is history after a season of ice fishing on most small lakes anyway. you gotta be the one writing the report. not reading it. challenge yourself to catch the one fish that others don't believe is there. 1-3 outings might not prove or disprove any information you had on the lake. i see it all the time where a guy says "this lake sucks, i just caught a few little ones" and if its a lake i know well. i understand its the way he went about fishing for them. not the idea that this lake had no adult fish at all in it. if by chance a lake get fished out, it can rebound back in less than a decade. dont wait for the news paper guy to write about a hot bite though. it will be gone by the time he clicks print. summer is no time to catch crappies anyway. so the time of year you try a new lake is kind of important.

I think we fully understand already what your trying to say. That hard work pays off. We dont disgree with that.

Were just saying there no need to spend more time on a certain body of water then we have to. If it aint happening its likely it aint happening.

Scouring for information, maps and contours, dropping cams to structure and weeds, using every bit of knowledge and strength that we have to find fish. We will fish a lake hard all day and may hit it again on 1 or 2 more outing just to make sure we didnt miss anything. If it doesnt produce we may not hit that same body of water again for the rest of the season, no point when there is so many other opportunities that will yield or may yield more promising results. But that doesnt mean we wont try that same body of water again sometime in the near future or completely ignore. We keep very much aware of population and size of fish and how it may produce again in the future.

[fish_eat_sleep]

Yeah, I'm just using my own experience to make attempt at answering the original question. Reading and discussing where we (fishermen) differ in ideas and the different ways we all go about tackling new water and finding those giant crappies that we dream about is worth talking about. no doubt. I think my main point was that i try to "master" a specific lake geographically, to the point where the map in my head is more accurate than the one on paper. And my GPS has waypoints that hold value to me. Weather it be different vegetation, or unique areas of the lake the other guys don't pay attention to. Time on the water is knowledge and knowledge is a huge factor in putting the big ones in the boat.

It's fair to say everyone is going to go about it differently. i think too, every lake and situation is different, there isn't a one size fits all method for fishing. After all, forums were made for discussions and sharing opinions and ideas.

[RumRiverRat]

Pelican Lake in Saint Micheal.

Fish Lake in Maple Grove has huge White Crappies.

[th64]

I see your point F>E>S. and I am ready to make the commitment. But what lake has a good population of decent fish? You can pm me. I know you do not want to give out lake names, but do you know an acre is about the size of a football field-we have several lakes in the metro that are over a 1000 football fields and you are talking about a spot on a spot. I will continue to lake hop for bass, I can catch those buggers anywhere.

Good luck and thanks for all the help.

[th64]

Thinking of fishing Fish(sunday) but I got another report from a DNR guy about some results(on a lake) they will not post 'till spring, cannot decide. Can you tell me more about Fish in a PM and I'll be happy to tell you about this other lake.

Good luck

[icefishingmn]

[Shack]

Been a few years now but a small body of Metro water we took a chance caught us by surprise and produced. Seriously have not ventured or made the long walk back out but also have noticed no one else has the past few years now. The metro holds some great panfish if a person just go long and tries the hail marry instead of just running up the middle:

[Hoffer]

Fun video. Glad I watched it till the end...very impressed with the fact you guys lipped a Northern. Granted it was only a smaller one - but they still have sharp teeth at that length. Not sure I would have done that

Also nice with the C and R.

[strait-meat]

Try in the north metro Loch lake and The Lakes in Blaine. I caught some very nice ones out of there and they don't get fished much either