The weekend we were looking for.

[MikeRaetz]

Well as most know ice around the st. cloud area is unsafe to fish and we have been struggling to find fish simply because we have been so limited on where and how far we can go.

Well the tides have turned and we decided we needed to go where the good ice was and that was walker mn. We fished a couple smaller lakes along with some bays on leech and Very well. We fished 12 fow using a variety of different lures and techniques to trigger these fish however, The hot bait was the Custom Jigs and spins diamond jig in orange and yellow and the Lindy toad in green and black tipped with little atom nuggie tails and red maggots.

The fish were still relating to the shoreline structure just on the edge of the weeds and it was fast and furious. We caught tons of big crappies and blue gills along with some nice jumbo perch and pike. We found nothing less then 6 to 10 inches of ice and the little snow cover really helped as we are walkers.

Alot of these lakes we fished did not have maps on our gps systems so we went above and beyond to make sure we were on the right area. Simply put we did alot of studying by looking at any maps we could find and getting the coordinates from that map and placing way points on our gps. We would pin in way points on the beginning of the structure, middle and end so we had a good idea of how it was layed out then when we got there we simply drilled it out till we found the edge. Its was a little bit of work but it paid off great!! I will let the pics tell the rest of the story

[MikeRaetz]

[Hardyboy]

Awesome post and great pics Mike!!!! Just shows how much fun a little hard work can provide.

[DREZLER]

NIIIICE crappies. Better keep that lake a secret!

[masoct3]

Just curious how deep your ice is?

[MikeRaetz]

Thanks everyone. Our love is searching out the big pan fish in lakes and it can be a ton of work but all worth it in the end. Most lakes in walker have 6-10 inches of ice. If anyone plans on going up there check with swansons bait or reeds on ice conditions because they very on different lakes around the area.

[Borch]

Some really nice lakes up in the area. Looks like you had alot of action!

[DTro]

Thanks for sharing Mike! Looks like a lot of fun.

[Mnfisher]

And a few great meals from the frying pan. I need to get out and catch some nice Northerns for smoking!!

[Rick G]

Some nice crappies you guys got. Looks like it was a fun trip

[MikeRaetz]

We let all the bruisers go and kept some good 10" crappie. we stayed 3 to 4 feet off bottom. all of our bigger fish we showing up in that range but they would also rise from the bottom to eat. The crappie were fast and furious while the big blue gill were very sluggish and tricky but we managed to trigger them into biting. I always had 2 or 3 rods on hand to switch lures if needed and that really made a difference.

[Jim Uran]

Great Job Mike!!

[genzbug]

nice fish, that looks like alot of fun

[JackPineGuy]

We let all the bruisers go and kept some good 10" crappie. we stayed 3 to 4 feet off bottom. all of our bigger fish we showing up in that range but they would also rise from the bottom to eat. The crappie were fast and furious while the big blue gill were very sluggish and tricky but we managed to trigger them into biting. I always had 2 or 3 rods on hand to switch lures if needed and that really made a difference.

whylet the big ones go and eat the 10s. shoulda let the grow up. ask any dnr or biolgist and theyll tell ya ta take the big fish and let the spawners go.

[MikeRaetz]

Those big fish are the spawners. Why keep a fish that has made it in that lake for 10 or even 20 years and take it out so what already was a trophy fish and possibly a state record someday is now cut up. If you take all the big fish out then it turns into a situation that most lakes around my area have, tons of stunted fish. Alot of the reason most lakes have 5 fish limits is because they are trying to bring back a healthy population of big fish. I have a huge respect for those monster gills and crappies. Those fish are what guards the spawning beds so other predators cant eat the eggs. Without those fish there will be none to keep the beds safe to produce more fish. When I keep fish once or twice a year I maybe keep half my limit and sometimes less. I like catching big fish and watching them swim away to be caught again by maybe a child and light up his or hers world when that 9 or 10 inch gill or 12 to 15 inch crappie comes threw the ice.

[OnAFly]

Jackpine - It might seem counter-intuitive, but releasing the big fish is what you need to do to let smaller panfish grow.

The more spawning big fish that are removed, the more smaller fish will try and succeed in spawning. This does two things. First, it forces these smaller fish that spawn to use more energy for making eggs and spawning, less for growing. Second, it increases the number of panfish in the lake by increasing the amount of successful spawning fish in the lake. Since the lake has a set amount of food to support the fish within, you will wind up with a slower growing fish.

[JackPineGuy]

then why do a lot of high quality panfish lakes have size restrictions. only allowing you to take the big ones? WHY, cuz they want the smaller ones to grow up. "stunting" is not really a real thing. most of the lakes with stunted panfish are because of over harvest in general. thats why with game fish they have like walleye slots. to protect the spawners. alot of those 16 inch plate crappies are nearing the end of there life cycle. hence the over harvest and bust on red lake. Im not trying to argue really cuz i let almost all my fish go regardless with exception for an occasional pike or two for eatin. but keeping 4 of them 15 inch crops, is much better to a lake then keeping 10 of the 10 inchers. plan and simple

If you to the mn dnrs HSOforum or mnlakefinder it will tell you over and over again, let the healthy spawning size fish go and take some of the bigger aged fish. Its just like deer hunting. say your hunting public land and you see a freak gigantic buck that somehow survived the miracle onslaught of deer seasons, say hes a record class deer, should u let him go and harvest that immature 4 pointer.... alot of the younger gen pros will spread this mis nomer about letting the big fish go simply because they realize there becomming more and more scarce. they film there shows on these lakes up north and there dependent on these big fish to make there shows. nobody would be impressed by 10 or 11 inchers so they want u to leave the big ones for them.

[Ishikawa]

I read somewhere, could have been from DNR HSOforum, that the reason they recommend leaving the larger fish to spawn is because they are more successful at having a healthy spawn rate of bigger fish for next generations. It's in the genes! :-) Just like humans, one would assume if you have short genes no matter how much you eat you won't ever grow taller than what you inherited!

[Feathers Rainin]

"Anglers can maintain the quality of angling by practicing selective harvest. Selective harvest encourages the release of medium to large size fish while allowing the harvest of more abundant smaller fish for table fare. Releasing the medium to large fish will ensure that the lake has enough spawning age fish on an annual basis and will provide anglers with more opportunities to catch large fish in the future."

Straight from a DNR lakefinder report. You can find this at the end of many of their reports.

Also JackPine please tell me a lake with a panfish slot that onlys allows the harvest of large fish. I'm not calling you a liar I have just never heard of one.

Panfish populations get ruined pretty quick by overharvest. Jim Uran has a good post in the panfish forum you should read.

Great post Mike. I will be chasing the big pies tomorrow morning.

[silverbulletguy]

Nice trip ! !

[JackPineGuy]

"Anglers can maintain the quality of angling by practicing selective harvest. Selective harvest encourages the release of medium to large size fish while allowing the harvest of more abundant smaller fish for table fare. Releasing the medium to large fish will ensure that the lake has enough spawning age fish on an annual basis and will provide anglers with more opportunities to catch large fish in the future."

Straight from a DNR lakefinder report. You can find this at the end of many of their reports.

Also JackPine please tell me a lake with a panfish slot that onlys allows the harvest of large fish. I'm not calling you a liar I have just never heard of one.

Panfish populations get ruined pretty quick by overharvest. Jim Uran has a good post in the panfish forum you should read.

Great post Mike. I will be chasing the big pies tomorrow morning.

i could name a ton of lakes that have a minimum size limits on them. i dont want to give them away tho cuz half the time im the only guy on the lake and there chalk fulla slabs. tons of lakes have a 10 inch size limit on crops....

[JackPineGuy]

anyways nice fish dudes.

[Vitreus]

I recently made a post specifically to inform people about this:

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubb...ase#Post2970977

Nice fish Mike. Great species diversity. That looks like a great time!

[lispeej]

I'm not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't do. Just want to thank you for sharing these nice pics and congrats to you and your crew on a job well done.

[MikeRaetz]

Thanks guys. everyone has there opinion and all in all I don't really keep fish but I will always throw back the biggins because I want to see some young child catch it and watch there eyes light up and also do my part in stewardship and try and help as much as I can to provide these lakes with a better fishery. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and more pics and reports to come soon!!