Any info on fishing Minnesota?

Instead of traveling to Kauai with my family, this year our summer vacation will be spent visiting the in-laws old stomping grounds of central Minnesota.  Although less than thrilled with the idea, a bit of research has shown I'll be less than 10 miles from smallmouth heaven on the wild & scenic stretch of the Upper Mississippi River.  We also have a lakefront house reserved that's home to walleye, musky, largemouth, crappie, etc....I have a pair of yaks lined up to fish from, but am looking for any tips or intel on the area (Annandale is the closest town) or species.  Anyone????? 

tight lines,
beenfishin

Instead of traveling to Kauai with my family, this year our summer vacation will be spent visiting the in-laws old stomping grounds of central Minnesota.  Although less than thrilled with the idea, a bit of research has shown I'll be less than 10 miles from smallmouth heaven on the wild & scenic stretch of the Upper Mississippi River.  We also have a lakefront house reserved that's home to walleye, musky, largemouth, crappie, etc....I have a pair of yaks lined up to fish from, but am looking for any tips or intel on the area (Annandale is the closest town) or species.  Anyone????? 

tight lines,
beenfishin

I don't have anything specific for that area but as a kid, I spent a fair bit of time further north (BWCA and Lake Kabetogama). There's great walleye and northern pike fishing pretty much everywhere in Minn, so I'm sure you'll be into lots of fish.

One thing you'll find is that the locals almost universally worship walleyes and hate the pike, with smallmouth somewhere in between. But for my money, the pike are the best---super fun to catch and just as good eating as walleye, provided you can deal with the row of y-bones.

Don't forget that the state bird of Minnesota is the mosquito. They are huge and incredibly aggressive---any exposed flesh will get bitten, and even unexposed flesh is at risk.

Looking forward to your fishing report(s) from the land of 10k lakes...

Being my name is Midwest on here I figure I should pipe in but I'm no pro. I grew up near lots of lakes with Walleyes, Northern Pike, large mouth bass, catfish, and muskye. I always had luck near a hole or deep spot that had a weed lines along it. I liked to cast into the middle and let it sink almost to the bottom then do a quick retrieve along the weed line. Northerns and Musky are aggressive and have territories and will defend them. Blue and silver rattle lures always seemed to work on the Pike for me. The pike slime up out of the water and if you are releasing them try to handle the body with care and not remove the slime. Hope to see some midwestern fish porn after. Best luck and safe travels.

DUUUUDE!!  I would rather Minnesota than Hawaii any summer day!!


Have fun

Recommend checking out the Northland fishing tackle website site. They pretty much specialize in Upper Midwest tackle.
http://www.northlandtackle.com/
plus they tell you how to catch them too
I've ordered a number of panfish lures from them that work really well. Only one in my family that wasn't born in Minnesota
but sure look forward to the trips back to do a little fishing!
Tom   

I don't think you can go wrong fishing in that area. Good luck! Looking forward to the report

DUUUUDE!!  I would rather Minnesota than Hawaii any summer day!!


Have fun

Much as I fried walleye and the extra nice Midwest folks, I'll take the islands.

I have walleye for dinner at least once every time I go back. All the restaurants offer it and it
is all from Canada as they can't catch it in Minn and sell it to the restaurants... Seems weird but
that's the regulation there. Still tastes great!

I forgot to mention... The biggest northern I ever caught was on a large red and white daredevil spoon, just outside the weed line during the evening bite.

I can always count on the awesome folks here, thanks a ton guys!  I'll be sure to keep a thread going on the reports page of the daily activity. 

You are right about the upper Mississippi River being smallmouth heaven. Shad Raps, spinners and jigs etc.

I haven't fished Clearwater (Annandale) but Diamond near Atwater is good (nice sunfish). Mille Lacs would be great for evenings tossing Shad Raps for walleye and smallmouth (south side). Waconia is an old favorite for multi-species. Minnetonka is fantastic. It has everything. Green (west of you) is good for walleye and smallmouth.

You might get great fishing right off your dock in the evening. Walleyes etc. come in close sometimes. Hang a big jumbo leech below a bobber. Have another pole for tossing crappie jigs or top water for bass in the pads.

I used to catch 50 to 100 smallmouth a day on the Mississippi River when I was a kid in Minneapolis. Big ones were 3 to 5 lbs. Average was 1 to 2 lbs. We even caught them fishing with corn for bait. Lots of 2 to 7 lb. channels too. And crappie and sauger and walleye and white bass and sheephead and northerns and tons of carp... It's still good fishing.

You can check the Minnesota DNR lake finder for each lake you want to fish. Great on-line resource.

You might not come back after fishing there 

Oh, and if you get a chance, get up to Superior for the lake trout fishing.     

looking forward to the reports.  Was going to minneapolis next month but cancelled.  always wanted to try walleye (both catching and eating).

And I'm with scott LOL.  Hawaii >> Midwest

Love fishing the Midwest!  Grew up there rippin wallys and northerns(aka Snot Rockets) lol! Caught a lot of catfish on the Mighty Mississippi droppin bait balls that my old man used to make.  Good times!  A lot of farmers got these little farm ponds, if you know people you can go around fishin for largemouth bass on private land all day.  Good way to see so the country too!  Have fun man!

Good deal, thanks guys!  We're packing up a box of gear to ship back this evening, airline fees are ridiculous!  As a self-confessed gear whore it sure is hard to be selective with my tackle choices.  This is worse than my trip to Alaska! 

Good deal, thanks guys!  We're packing up a box of gear to ship back this evening, airline fees are ridiculous!  As a self-confessed gear whore it sure is hard to be selective with my tackle choices.  This is worse than my trip to Alaska! 

That is the way I have been flying for years so much faster than waiting for luggage. And if I need to bring something back I go to goodwill and buy a cheap suitcase. To carry on or check. so much faster and cheap rent. I just return it to good will and write the donation off.