Forest Lake
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Forest Lake Fishing Reports
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Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Soft Swimbaits (Sm/Md)
Structure
Open Water/Basin
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Bladed Jigs
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Bluegill
Water Temperature
80°
All bites 5-7', edge of thick grass in scattered grass. All bites on moving baits, tried slow. Biggest 3 lb
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Texas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)
Structure
Lily Pads
Forage
Bluegill
Early August bass could be found in very shallow water by flipping dollar pads with heavy tackle. Flipping 1/2oz or 3/4oz Texas rigs with beaver style baits got many bites if the fish were grouped up. Dollar pads mixed with reeds and a hard bottom was the most productive combination of cover.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Texas Rigs (Worming)
Structure
Docks
Forage
Bluegill
Skipping docks with weightless Yum Dingers. The deeper docks were better.
Species
Crappie
Season
Summer
Technique
Vertical Jigging 10-19'
Structure
Points
Cruised around lake 3 in search of Walleye off the submerged points. Started marking fish between 14 and 17 feet before it dropped to the main basin. Got small bites but no hookups. Tore my gulp leech in half and got a decent pike and then a few crappies followed. Using crappie specific lures should be the ticket to find them, but would have to weed through the normal 8-10" metro crappies before getting a few nice ones.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Fall
Technique
Structure Jigs
Structure
Docks
Forage
Bluegill
Always a dock bite on this lake, but in the fall it seems to be most consistent.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Structure Jigs
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Bluegill
Water Temperature
70°
Offshore bite was slow. Docks and a jig yielded bites quickly.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Summer
Technique
Texas Rigs (Worming)
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Bluegill
Water Temperature
81°
Found fish roaming around the outside weed lines but we’re not really in the mood to bite moving baits. So I used a jig worm like the Zoom Trick worm and rigged it Texas style. Used a 1/8 ounce weight and a split ring ewg hook. Worked great. Caught many fish in the 3-4 pound range.
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Topwater Prop
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forest Lake is an awesome fishery. Unfortunately the lake has been downhill the last few years since it is in the main area where most Highschool teams schedule their events. There are thee lakes all attached by large channels. You can fish each lake completely differently to switch up styles and try to target the larger fish utilizing different techniques. Typically on the North lake, topwater is very productive using frogs, poppers, buzz baits and frogs around vegged out docks, reed points or burn over submerged veg that is barely topping out on the water surface. The middle lake is known to be good for finesse on the humps, and if you find matted veg, I would suggest flipping it. The South lake, I would mainly focus on docks and punching milfoil if you can find the isolated clumps with hard bottom. This will take some time scanning and trial and error until you find these sweet spots. This should be ample information for any angler to get a good start on this body of water. Good luck!