Big Gill/Crappie Lakes

[FishinChad]

That makes more sense, I guess I misunderstood when he said they dont get targeted as much, I would assume that suspended fish are more targeted these days because most people have flashers, or at least fish off the bottom.

[8-Ball]

Walleye Guy hit the secret. Use a canoe and some sweat to get into some of the "carry-down" lakes up North. Not many people willing to go to the effort of slinging a canoe up on their vehicle and dragging it down to an access. Believe me, it can and more often than not is worth the effort. Most of these lakes see little to no fishing pressure. You will most likely have the lake to yourself and probably have more action than you can handle. DNR HSOforum or those fishing-map lake books you can pick up will tell you which lakes are carry-down access lakes. I have had great luck going this route for numbers/size of pannies, as well as Bass/Pike. Check it out. There are dozens of these carry-down lakes in Itasca/St. Louis Co. to explore... Good Luck.

[fishuhalik]

If ya don't mind driving a bit try either graves or bass lake up by grand rapids. they both have special regs, ya can only keep 5 fish, but there's a state record gill or 30 in both those lakes

[bigreddog]

If you are looking for big panfish lakes close to home, try to get onto lakes that are completely surrounded by private property or have an access that is not used by heavy traffic, such as a walking path. They don't always hold big fish, but they do a lot of times. I was just fishing on such a lake in the middle of Plymouth and hammered the gills. All were 8 inches or bigger with the biggest being 11. Its quite a haul to get back there but it was sure worth it.

[Dkoy]

I would say you guys are all correct! But don't forget, almost all lakes have nice slaps in there. I would recommend picking a lake or two and just totally learn it. I have done this with several metro lakes during the spring and summer for atleast 2 years now and once you learn it, you will be able to know where to target to find yourself some slabs. These metro lakes do have private property and public access but most people only target shoreline areas or are selective on what type of bait/lure to throw. Learn the structures, learn the availble bait in those waters and their feeding pattern, then combine what you learned and locate the fish. I've always caught decent slabs in the lakes that I have targeted. I would say 9-12" crappies are somewhat common in a few lakes here in the metro. You just have to work first and catch them there after.

[united jigsticker]

Bigger Crappies run shallower as a guideline.