Lake Minnetonka
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Lake Minnetonka Fishing Reports
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Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
CrappieSeason
Ice
Technique
Ice Fishing Jigs
Structure
Open Water/Basin
Water Temperature
32°
Species
Panfish / BluegillSeason
Ice
Technique
Ice Fishing Jigs
Structure
Open Water/Basin
Forage
Insects
Water Temperature
34°
Found Large schools of bluegills roaming around basin in 10-15ft of water. The bite was hot around noon with spirts of fish continuing until sunset. Crappies started biting around 6pm.
Species
Panfish / BluegillSeason
Ice
Technique
Ice Fishing Jigs
Structure
Open Water/Basin
Fished in the dirty water bays, plenty of action in the basin areas, 20-30'.
Species
CrappieSeason
Ice
Technique
Ice Fishing Jigs
Structure
Open Water/Basin
Forage
Crappie
Water Temperature
32°
Carson Bay, Fished at 25ft from 1am - 6am and crappies with finicky but changing baits periodically helped trigger them to bite. Used anything as small as 2mm Tungsten Jig with plastic and as big as a Z-Darter v2 Micro from Eurotackle. Tons of good eaters but you will be to weed through the small ones. Suspended fish that roams with one or alone seemed to be the bigger of the bunch.
Species
Panfish / BluegillSeason
Ice
Technique
Ice Fishing Jigs
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Insects
Jigging for large gills on Minnetonka can be constant action. These fish typically bite in the afternoon through first dark (5:00 PM or so). Finding breaklines anywhere from 12-20 feet near points and submerged vegetation will be the ticket. From my experience different bays will hold different size fish so explore different parts of the lake. Keeping your bait size minimal is key. Tipping a tungsten jig with a wax worm works great. Be sure to lightly hook one end of the worm to create optimal action of your bait. Experiment with different cadences in your jigging.
Species
Panfish / BluegillSeason
Ice
Technique
Ice Fishing Jigs
Structure
Humps
Fish were concentrated around green weeds.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Summer
Technique
Crankbaits 13'+
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
On days with Cloud Cover targeting deep weed edges with a mid- deep diving Crankbait can be productive in mid to late summer. Bluegill related colors. Match your lure selection to dive down to the depth that the weeds top out on. My personal favorites are the Rapala DT series.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Summer
Technique
Drop Shot
Structure
Submerged Vegetation
Forage
Bluegill
Drop shotting the weedlines. Worked my way along the edge until I caught one, then I would pick apart that one area. I was able to catch a lot of bass this day due to weather conditions allowing them to school. Rods are very important when drop shotting, if you don’t have a good one you should get one.
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Summer
Technique
Drop Shot
Structure
Ledges
Forage
Bluegill
Fishing for smallmouth on Minnetonka is hard, especially in the summer. One way to target them is by fishing steep breaks and deep rock. They set up on places like this that are in cooler water which feels more native to them. Dragging a drop shot is the #1 way to catch them. Having a sensitive rod is absolutely key in detecting the difference between a bite and a fish. I was using a 7’3” st croix victory rod and it’s sweet
Daiwa Tatula LT Spinning Reel - EOL 3000 / 6.2:1
Out of Stock
Shimano Vanford Spinning Reel - EOL 2500 / 6.0:1
Out of Stock
