Got the itch to catch a few crappies

Got the itch to catch a few crappies, so I dumped the boat in Waconia and chased them around for about three hours. Had some pretty good luck, but not much for size. They are still in pretty shallow. I caught all of my fish in less than 6 feet of water. A bobber and flu-flu without bait are still producing a lot of fish.

The lake has been very busy with panfisherman for three weeks. Living here all my life I have never seen this many boats on Lake Waconia in the spring, ever. I am a little concerned being that most of the panfish are very vulnerable to harvest with the low water. They have no other spawning grounds except the bay, and it is full of boats. If you haven't heard, they have closed many of the shallow bays on other lakes this spring due to low water and fish vulnerability. People are taking pails full of fish home every day. I am not sure what the long term effects are going to be, but if you want to have fish for years to come, all of us have to protect the resource and let them go. I can only hope that this weekend's opener takes the focus off the panfish so they can try and recover. It will hopefully alleviate some of the pressure since most guys will be going after game fish.

When you see pictures from the 1950's, 60's ,and 70's with all those fish they used to catch, doesn't it make you sick? Are we are doing the same thing? We have to preserve our resource, not drown it.

Fished on Lake Pepin today

Fished on Lake Pepin today and battled some wind in pursuit of the elusive bronzeback, a.k.a. smallmouth bass. I fished a lot of rip-rap on the Wis. side. Fished two different size spinnerbaits, 1/4 oz. and 3/8 oz. Tried a few different colors, with my best luck coming on white. The largest smallmouth I boated was 20 in. I also had two others that were about 2 1/2 pounds. The bonus fish was a three pound largemouth and one about a pound. The smallmouth will continue to bite on Pepin for a few weeks yet. The water temp was 56 degrees.

Fished out on Waconia again today

Fished out on Waconia again today with Joni and Nick and caught some nice crappies in Waconia Bay. The fish are biting anything you throw at them. Bait is not necessary. If you want to catch the bigger crappies try throwing a beetle spin. You won't catch as many but they will be better quality. Flu Flu's are still catching a lot of fish. The wind has been blowing pretty hard so the water is starting to get stirred up. Keep checking back for up-to-date reports. If anyone has a report or a story please submit. Also check the fishingmn.com website for info. My screenname is Basmastermatt. Good Luck and Good Fish'n.

Fished Waconia today and caught about 35 crappies

Fished Waconia today and caught about 35 crappies. They are getting hard to catch. The few we caught were up shallow, and still by the park. We tried a few other spots with no luck. Same presentation that I have been using. Work the 2-4 foot range until you find them. They are not very big but you can sort through to get enough for a meal if you would like.