What's Working Now?Fishing Reports.

[Duffman]

My partner and I caught around 14 fish last night after work. Working plastics, the fish were all on the shallow part of the stucture we were fishing. 19.5" was big fish of the day. They seemed to be pretty aggresive, had a couple make a made dash as I was lifting the worm out of the water boatside.

[st.crioxfishin]

I'm at the University of Iowa. Theres supposed to be some decent fishing in the area, but I can't wait to get back up to MN over labor day to do some fishing at our cabin.

[Bullwinkle]

I was out on Tuesday with a buddy of mine and the fish were active. Started throwing wacky rigged Comidas under docks and pontoons. Picked up some nice fish right away. After hitting some shallow water I suggested we try an underwater point that I have caught alot of fish on in the past. Hit a nice school of largies around 2.5 to 3 lbs a piece. Caught 6 fish in the one spot throwing DT7 style crankbaits. Burning them seemed to be the ticket as these fish were aggressive. We also missed a hand full of fish in the same spot. Hit some more docks later with limited success. Finished the night off throwing top water over shallow pads and milfoil. Plenty of blow ups but hooking success was minimal. Overall I would have to say that it was my most enjoyable night on the water yet this year.

[Muddog]

I was out on the 22nd. Throwing a yellow and white soft stickbait at dock and weeds. I landed 11 Bass 14-17" in 3hrs. Lost 2 and 3 small ones.

[EBass]

I hit up a different lake other than Tonka. I skipped the docks as that's what I do (shallow fishing. It wasn't all that, but I did manage 2 18.5" and some in the 15" and some of them pocket bass. Oh and a lil pike

[MedicineMan]

Went out for a few hours sat and sun morning after work. Fishing was great for the first hour I was out saturday. Once the sun came out fishing just died. I ended up with 15 Bass, all were between 17-19". Sunday was much slower, only managed 8 fish. I did loose a monster at the side of the boat.

[rosspj59]

MedMan, may I ask what you were using and what type of structure you were fishing? Thanks.

[BASSproJOE]

hey i need some good spots out on minnetonka. i have a tournament coming up and i would be willing to trade tips for some other metro area lakes aswell.

and hey st croix i think i am in your junior bass club.

[st.crioxfishin]

Whats your last name? I think we are in the same club. I won't make it the tonka tourney. Last year we had a club tourney out there around this time and the docks produced a lot of good fish, espeacially the marinas with the bigger wooden pillars, good luck!

[BASSproJOE]

hey i would like to get as much help as i can since i wont be able to prefish much, and since you may not be there i would appreciate the help, in our last tournament on Briggs, julia, rush i caught all my fish under docks. I ended up in third and lost only by a few ounces...

by the way my last name is ponessa

[st.crioxfishin]

Yup Im in that club, but will no longer be in it because of my age. I don't know much else about Tonka, I've only been out there once and that was for our club tourney last year.

When it comes to tournaments and figuring out patterns, areas, lures to use, etc. I am a firm believer in figuring it out on your own. Now theres exceptions and I admit to asking for some info for lakes, but usually its more about water clarity, weedline depth, fish shallow or deep, that way I have a little bit of an idea of what the lake is like before I go. I learned my lesson last year in the jr. state tourney. I saw a guy out there he came over and told me that all the tourney guys catch fish on a drop shot on that specific lake. I had never used a drop shot and tried to figure it out and ended up wasting my time. The tournament was won on a t-rigged worm, so much for the drop shot and trying to use something I had no confidence in. I don't mean to sound harsh. stick with your confidence baits, fish cover you like to fish, and if all fails then I would try something different, but you should be just fine. Figuring things out on your own not only make you feel better that YOU were the one who figured it out and not somebody else, but it will also give you confidence and make you a better all around fisherman. One other thing you might try is doing some research on this site. You can go to the "search" page to look for info on Tonka Bass. OK I'll stop preaching now, I just hadda get that out.

Good Luck out there!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Mr.Downey, you are wise beyond your years!!!

[BASSproJOE]

my confidence baits seem to always produce in tough conditions. thank you for the help

[st.crioxfishin]

Thanks Deitz, that means a lot to me!

[TNFL]

Last week I caught bass on Tonka around the docks. Most were very pale looking and I thought the fall move-up was on.

Yesterday on Tonka the dock bite was not on. I caught a few fish in the pads and I mean IN the pads, not on the edges but way way way deep where you would think "most people wouldn't cast it in there". I'm not real fond of that type of fishing though. Sure its nice to put some in the boat, but reeling them in is equivilant to pulling and anchor through slop. Once the fish gets a pound of weeds on them they give up and you just have to winch them in.

Good Luck.

P.S. my team took 2nd in our fishing league for the year. I'm a little disappointed, but the main thing is getting out on the water on a consistant basis.

[bassNspear]

Has anyone been out on the chain up in Alex. If so, how is the water level been, and how has the fishing been. Want to go up there all next week to spend some time up there with my brother. Thanks. By the way, nice fish matt.

[montanagriz]

Was able to get out on the water both Wednesday and Thursday this week to chase some bass. Overall fishing was pretty slow. Wednesday evening fished the edge of the lily pads with topwaters, and also hit the deep side of the weed edge with a spinnerbait and Rapala DT-10. Neither persentation was producing so we decided to work the docks of a long shallow channel, where my buddy Mike was able to pull a nice fish that crushed his Pop-R.

Mike with a nice bass taken on a Pop-R working the docks

Thursday afternoon/evening we fished North Arm and Maxwell Bay on Tonka and also had limited sucess. Mike started the day off with a nice bass on his very first cast of the day. Unfortunately things were very slow for about the next 3 hours. Finally the last hour before sundown the fish started to turn on a little bit. We boated 7 fish in that last hour working the docks in Maxwell Bay. Mike was fishing a wacky-rigged 4" Yum Watermelon colored worm, and I was throwing a texas-rigged 4" Northland Slurpies Dip-Stick Worm in the Red Shad color.

While the fishing was relatively slow, it was easily the two most picture perfect nights of the year to be on the water. Now that it's September, this fishing should only get better from here on out.

[Matt Johnson]

My dad and I caught a few bass off a rocky island yesterday. There was a distinct area where rocks mixed with weeds and they were all over it.

We pitched jigworms and both largies and smallies were holding to that area. Nothing huge, one might have gone 3 pounds, the rest were 1-2 pounds.

Docks produced a few fish, but they were slower than usual.

We also did well on a steep shoreline where it goes from about 3 to 15 feet in a few yards. Just pitched a jigworm up along the break and slowly worked it back. A lot of strikes on the fall.

The rain didn't shut off the bass too much, but they were holding tighter to spots, so there were not as aggressively cruising it seemed.

I'm excited for some of the shallow water bites that are in the near future. Fall is getting close...

[Deitz Dittrich]

Nice report matt... I found fishing very strange myself.. I went to a shallow lake that has a lot of shoreline weeds(IE lilly pads, milfoil)..I knew the fish had to be either shallow or shallower...I tried shallow with how I usually fish this lake(scum frogs).. and went 2.5 hours with only 1 bite...I then when shallower.... another half hour with only 1 more blow up still no fish... but I saw pads moving.. I figgured the fish to be there, but not willing to break the surface to get the bait. I then started flipping a tube, had a few bites, but came up short on a hook set... It took to flipping a tube(way back in the pads)then let it sit for a peroid of time and very slow movements.... Then 24 fish in the next 2 hours....strange how those darn bass are....

ohh and I am over the 500 mark.. I dont think there is a chance in H E double hockey sticks to reach my goal of 1000.. but stranger things have happened.

[cjac]

Look at it this way.......20 more 24+ fish "bonanzas" like you had and you'll just about be there!!! Gotta love Sept-Nov even on a teachers schedule!

[Mr. Pike1]

I was out on Friday evening fishing my close to home back pocket lake. The lake was like glass so I as well thought that a topwater or scum frog over the pads would do well. Got a few but the action was to slow for this hyperactive guy and I quickly swithced tactics. I got a couple of very nice 21" fish but over all numbers were slow. I am at the 470 mark for total fish and need to hit the my goal of 500 very soon as my attention will turn to fall walleye on the river and Milleacs very soon.

The lake I was fishing also has a very very good tiger musky population which I chase in the fall as well. I have never found the lake to be much of a Pike lake but I bumped into a guy fishing musky and he told me about 50% of the fish he catches are pike and that they are actually in the 8-15lb class. Nice size for a metro fishery. I may have to target them a bit as well as a 10lb pike is always a fun battle

[Maximum12]

Out on a north metro lake on Thursday evening - what a fantastic night! The wind was whipping pretty good out of the west. Our only luck came off the shallow, sandy docks, with weeds within 10-15' but no weeds under or in the docks. In three hours we pulled more than a dozen bass from the docks with plastics, including an 18" fellow - all on the non-windy side of the lake. We spent a lot of our three hours fruitlessly fishing humps, deeper weeds, & docks on the windy side of the lake & managed a single fish in those places. The 45 minutes we spent out of the wind yielded all of the other fish. A 5" Gulp sinking bait was my bait of choice, my buddy had all his success on a Junebug Gulp.

The fish were on the slow baits. Spinners, mepps, etc. hooked only a single small fish.

[Ole the Guide]

Was out on a west metro lake Sunday afternoon from 11-2:30pm. Caught 8 nice bass, biggest was 4.7 lb.s followed by a couple of 3.5's and the smallest weighing in at 2 lb.'s. They were very tight lipped, holding to structure. I also missed a few.

Wacky rig and flippin' tubes were what worked for me. I could have left my other 8 rods at home!

It was a great day to be out as the weather kept the lake traffic down to a minimum! Looking forward to Fall fishing!

Ole

[Deitz Dittrich]

had a great morning today... I hit the lake very early(about 45 mins before sunrise) and started throwing a topwater popper(ivino slash it) boated 20 fish before I could see the sun above the trees. Biggest was a hair over 3 lbs... then moved out deeper and started to throw the stupid rig... boated 15 more with the biggest being 5lbss 5oz.. very next cast landed 5lbs 2oz... Giddy up!!!! I'm going to take a nap and hope to head back out for the evening bite.

YTD Total 556

[Matt Johnson]

Quote:

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boated 15 more with the biggest being 5lbss 5oz.. very next cast landed 5lbs 2oz... Giddy up!!!!

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You didn't cast the 5lb 5oz fish back out there and reel it back in did you?

All jokes aside, nice fish Deitz! Sounds like an awesome morning of fishing! Shoot me an e-mail and let me know where you caught them