back to minnesota

[iowathorn]

after a 44 year stint in iowa i've moved to rochester. i have only fished south dakota & have no clue where to look for some panfishing lakes around the mille lacs or winnie area. i have a wheel house & hope i can rent boats on a lake up in that area. i would really appreciate any information you might be willing to share. i will probably be fishing solo for now.

[Scott M]

Welcome to Minnesota iowathorn. There are some dynamite lakes around either the Mille Lacs or Winni area, and some panfishing lakes in your new neck of the woods that are often overlooked. My best advice is to check around in the McGregor-Aitkin-Crosby-Deerwood, Mille Lacs, Winnibigoshish, Deer River-Marcell-Remer, or Grand Rapids forums. And of course check out the Rochester-Winona-SE MN forum.

You're probably in the last week or two of driving on ice before things become unsafe, if not earlier, so think about that if you decide to head north with the wheelhouse. Watch the weather, especially if we get heavy wet snow.

There are some mom and pop resorts that still rent out boats, and some of them are on pretty good little panfish waters. If you have an idea of where you are headed, you can probably get some help on that before the summer gets here.

You'll get a lot of help from folks on these pages, so the more and more specific questions you ask, the better the answers.