where to fish around St Cloud, MN>???

[walleye king]

WE have recently moved to Cold Spring, MN which is just west of St cloud a few miles. What are some good lakes to try for Walleye, Northern, Sunnies of Crappies? We like to fish anything, but Walleyes the most-

Thanks-

Michael

mobrien@hotsyminnesota.com

Mille Lacs is an hour away one of the top walleye lakes in North America.

Isn't Dan Gapen from St. Cloud? He was well known as a river fisherman years ago. He used to appear as a guest/guide on several televised fishing shows.

[Nainoa]

>WE have recently moved to Cold Spring, MN which is just west
>of St cloud a few miles. What are some good lakes to try for
>Walleye, Northern, Sunnies of Crappies? We like to fish
>anything, but Walleyes the most-
>
>Thanks-
>
>Michael
>
>mobrien@hotsyminnesota.com


Well you're right on the Sauk Chain of lakes... That river when you come into town on 23 headed west... There's a motel, and right by it is the Access... You follow that river upstream about a mile, and you'll be into a chain of something like 9 lakes.

I mean literally the most popular lake chain in the area is in your backyard.

Now note, I said Popular... Not necessarily productive...

There's some good Walleye to be caught... But after the early spring season they're hard to find.

There's a ton of pan fish, and if you're into Cat Fish... Oh boy is that the place to go!

****

Mille Lacs is about 80 mins from Cold Spring to the South End... Awesome Walleye fishing...

There's some other Musky and Walleye lakes between you and Mille Lacs, but I can't give those away.
Sorry...


Another place to look, which is probably closer to you than Mille Lacs are the western lakes between Alexandria and Glenwood...

In recent years in that area there have been highly productive perch and Walleye spawns in the spring.

For about 4-5 years now this massive bloom of Perch has shut the Walleye fishing down in that area. But now the Walleye of those successful years are coming of age, and there are 4 massive year classes piggy-backing on each other...

Last year you couldn't swing a jig out there without hitting a 12 inch eye...

So they should just be coming into that 14 inch eater size, and then it's going to be 4 years of nice eaters on that western edge.

****

One of the true advantages of living in Central MN is that you're just an hour away from just about anything you want to go after.

Just gotta toss some hours at the water to find the honey holes.

Good Luck!

[Burr]

That's all great advice - there are many choices, some a little furhur away than others.

The mighty Mississippi is right in St Cloud - there's got to be one of two walleye there.

I would suggest the (sp) Lahamadeau Chain in the Alexandria area too.

Talk to a few bait shop owners, or local sporting goods store employees for suggestions. Dick Gustafson in Alexandria is a great guy, I'd be dropping by his store in Alexandria.

Check out the DNR website and research the netting results when you get a few idea's.

[walleye king]

Thanks guys,

I am actually from about an hour north of Brainerd, so I am very familiar with Mille Lacs and will definately be making the tri[p several times, but I am hoping to find something closer to home as well.

So how do you get those Catfish?

Michael

[Box]

Check out Osakis. I haven't fished it, but always wanted to. Pretty well known and decent sized, and "home of the Mother Walleye" or somethign like that :)

Have fun,
-Box

[dutchboy]

Welcome to the area!
The Horseshoe chain can be an awesome fishery. Just scout around and ask a few questions, you will get on fish.
E-Mail me and I will give you a web site with alot of info regarding Horseshoe.

Be VERY, VERY careful until you get to know the river, I left a lower unit in there! :-)

[Tom B]

I fish the Miss and the Horseshoe chain. We have caught enough catfish, that my daughter will not fish for walleyes anymore, they don't fight hard enough for her and don't get big enough.

In the Spring, we use chicken livers and have had many 50+ fish days, a couple that were +100. Once things get warmer, we switch to cutbait.

Catfishing has gotten a little tougher as more and more people target them.

We have also caught some absolutely brutish carp while catfishing. Several 30 lbers. I tell ya, I 30 lb carp will wake you up in a hurry.

If I lived in Cold Spring, I would fish cats everyday.

Tom B

[Burr]

Also, if ya live in Cold Spring, don't they have a real big processer of chicken livers right in town, Gold N Plump?

They used to make their own beer too, not sure when the last time is that I had a Cold Spring Brew.