Bass lakes in the Metro

[couillard.10]

I've fished Marion for bass about six of seven times this year and there hasn't been much of a turnout. I tried fishing around some weeds near Antlers Park and the biggest fish i caught was about 12 inches on a black spinner bait. The guy i was fishing with hooked a larger one and it jumped one before it shook off the hook.

So if looking for a good bass lake, i wouldn't recommend Marion. But in that area Crystal and Orchard are better.

[BassProAddict]

Hmm...I wonder how deep bass can go.

[Ray Esboldt]

Deepest for me was 38 feet (and I caught a half dozen), on a jigworm, dropping the bait straight down under the boat. It was on some lake by St. Cloud. Does Big Watab sound right?

BTW - Their eyes darn near blow out of their sockets when you haul them up from that deep. Those aren't very releasible fish.

[LEECH21]

Got this one out of Waconia the first time I've fished it!

The fish is a graphite repo. It was promptly CPR'd!

[sicheneder]

watab is a trout lake and very clear water

[ricqik]

Just about every lake in and around the metro has decent size bass. Today I spent 4hrs fishing a metro lake, pulled 10 bass, 3 at 18", 5 at 19" and 2 20" and lost one, what appear to be a 7 lbs class to the dock post with a wheel. My 20 lbs powerpro line broke 10 feet from the jig when I set the hook, ease up to grab the floating line, realized the fish was still on and hand fought it with boat and dock side by side. I could almost lipped the bass while laying on my stomach, just inches away. Maybe next time, what a day.

Of the metro lakes that I've fish, every one of them has yielded atleast one 20" bass for me so far. 4 of them I've seen fish that can be the next state record.

[bassNspear]

nice looking fish bud.

[couillard.10]

I was fishing for bass this morning at Crystal Lake and ended up with a topwater pike. It was 25 inches 3 pounds. Not bad for around here. The only bass I hooked got off but i got a good look at it because it jumped onto a a lilly pad. Around 18 inches maybe 2-3 pounds?

But for the most part, the Northwest side of Crystal Lake has some good bass.

[bassNspear]

thats awesome. Glad to see that you had some luck.

Also, Welcome to FM, glad to have you part of the family.

[ocf1]

Couillard you dont happen to have a son at RHS do you?.

[ricqik]

Again, went out to a different metro lake today, landed 2 on the 20" mark (20" & 20.25"), lost 2 about the same size. The other ones are of various sizes ranging 12"-17" and a northern mixed in. I wage swimming a jig and trailer while traveling between visible structure and pitching to docks, pads, laydown logs & branches and stumps. All fish caught in 2' and less with the exception of one of the 20"er, that one was in 8' over rock. Another great outing.

Mind you, metro to me means within 30 of the twincities.

[LanceJ]

Turtle Lake in Shoreview is pretty fun. Largemouth catch and release regulations make for some decent numbers.

[NCLaker]

ricqik,

I am amazed at all the 20+"ers you are nailing. Do you mind sharing what you use to have this type of success? Your last post mentioned a swim jig ... I recently started messing with an OutKast swimming jig with a 4" white grub in stained water, couple hits but not a lot of success yet. What is your go to trailer/color with swim jigs? Thanks.

[Deitz Dittrich]

NC- It could be the lake he is fishing as well.. Some lakes kick out more big fish than others.

I too like the OutKast Swim jig, I use a white trailer.. I throw the bluegill one the most with a green grub tail.

[mngirl]

Crystal lake? I live by there, I'll have to try it.

[ocf1]

Ive never fished crystal lake but its a very nice place to hang with friends. I guess ive always overlooked it for fishing.

[ricqik]

Yep, Deitz is right.

It's not a swim jig, I was just swimming a jig to burn time intead of picking up a spinner or crank rod. I'm just trying to cover as much area as possible before I reach the next dock, fallen tree, stump, or any visible structure that can provide cover for the bass to hide next to or under. I just cast it out and reel it back at a moderate fast speed while at the same time twitching my rod to give it action. I was using various colors like white, brown, olive, green, black, and blue and 3/8-1/2 oz jigs with also various color craw trailer. On the lakes I fished, it didn't matter on color, it was more placement of the jig that made the most difference. My all around go to is always 3/8 oz black or black/blue with same color trailer and I clip half of the weed guards off for increased hookups. The type of trailers I use have lots of appendages, something that moves alot and draws attention, basically my purpose is to slow the decent of the jig. The water I was fishing is very stained, more like dirty, about 10" clarity. Oh, always have rattles, crayfish makes lots of clicking noises when they move around. IMO, bass are honed on this sound.