Hunting Lake Christina

[BeerHunter]

I have been talking with some people that have hunted this lake in the past couple of years with success,

I know there are certain regulations on the lake, but i cannot find any info of specific rules on the DNR HSOforum.

If anyone has a link to the laws i would appreciate it, Also has anyone been hunting christina yet this year? any luck?

I am going to make a trip up there on oct 21st and if anyone is willing to help i guy out i would appreciate it.

thanks and good luck

[BoxMN]

Hey BeerHunter,

There are ducks there. We hunted west of Christina, but very close. We usually can hear shooting, but there wan't as much as I expected opener, not much actually. I know there must have been ducks taken, of course, but the guys I talked to on Sunday did better on Saturday, but only got limited shooting on Sunday. Sunday was better for us than Saturday, but still not great. So so at best up there. Sunday only about 3 trailer in the lots, when usually there are like 18 or so...

Here are the rules as I recall, though we usually hunt around Christina and not on it.

"No motors" can be used on most of the lake, but you can use motor from access out to reeds no problem - it is fairly large area still. There is a big line going through it that is VERY WELL marked with signs out in the lake, reflectors. Don't go past that or you will get ticketed, and probably take plenty of hell from the locals. You can row past it, but no electric or gas motors.

It used to have a hp restriction, but does not anymore.

Much of the shoreline doesn't hold enough vegetation to hide behind, so hunting a shore is tough, at least on the west/north side. Plenty of reeds out in the motor allowed area, but there will be plenty of boats as well. It looks like much larger area from shore, and when you are out in it you realize it isn't as big - but still plenty for 12-15 boats to hide in

By that time the "bog" of pulled up sago/etc. will so thick that it will be about 100 yards out into the lake from shore, so shore hunting is useless unless you own a point anyway. The reeds is only real area to hunt, as ducks fly outside of the bog line for the most part.

You will have fun. Good luck. Hope the ducks will be there. I know the coots will, ha!

[tealitup]

Most of the ducks will be cans? Ok, so where is this lake? I want a "can" to mount.

[BoxMN]

Well, maybe I exaggerated a bit. There are some, just that they are easy to spot with all the white. But I think the Mississippi is a great place for cans later on. It is West Central MN.

[BeerHunter]

BoxMN,

THanks for the help, I am excited to just hunt some new water. I will be going there between weekends in ND, so hopefully there will be some divers down by then.

[ChuckN]

Christina used to attract a substantial amount of the world's Canvasback population. A few years ago the DNR killed off the rough fish, and the lake has improved big time. However, it will likely take time to attract the Cans back...hopefully.

When I've hunted Christina I have not seen too many cans or too many divers. But, every day is different.

Like Box said, the only special regulation is the no motorized zone on the north end of the lake. There are white signs marking the line that runs east-west direction. The line is quite far from the access.

Beerhunter- Your boat would be really nice out there, but the lake levels were fairly low and the weed growth was thick this summer. I boated it in September and my small outboard was always fouling with weeds. I suspect the weeds will drop a bit making motor travel easier in the fall. It's a very shallow lake inside the motorized zone. May see you there.

[ironman]

If this is the lake I think it is we drove past it this past weekend on holy c rap!! There were coots as far as the eye could see...literally!! From the west end to the east end and way out...it was unbelievable...I've seen alot of coots in the past but this was mind numbing...I cant even begin to guess the number. I did see some flocks of "real" birds flying around but they land out in the middle in the middle of the coots...good luck with that.

[Sergeant Slabber]

I'm sure you were looking at Christina Ironman. It is a haven for Coots. You will usually see some "real" ducks mixed in there with them. It's fun to pull along the shoulder of the road and watch what goes on in those groups out there.