In Minnesota if you sit in shallow water some of these guys will nip at your skin, and draw blood. But these are only the 4 inch fish, imagine having this guy nip at your leg. Although those would be real fun on a fly rod. That's how I learned fly fishing, I caught several that weighed in around a pound each.

Have you tried fishing for the large bluegills? I hear reports of near 2lb. sunfish caught in Havasu. As a Minnesota fishing guide those would be one of my target fish in that lake. I would be using in-line spinners with minnows or gulp minnows. Ever one pound gills would make a good fish fry.

Welcome to the forum Grandpa Bill, I live in Minnesota and have fished that area since the 1980's. I learned of a study that was done some years ago, walleyes around Lake Pepin had been followed during the winter and early spring spawning migration. Fishing the head waters of Pepin and river back waters showed large numbers of fish before they would spawn. Good luck.

Nice catch, While everyone is going to courthouse pond or the trout pond in Coon Rapids. Lakes like Watab are over looked.

Very good idea, talking with bait shop always helps with getting to know something about a lake. MNDNR also has Lakefinder: which can give you the last of survey reports on a lake. This can also give you the fisheries gruop that manage the lake.

As i read the Minnesota DNR report. Amber looks to have Good size Crappie and a few Walleyes. But the one I saw was Yellow Bass have made their way into Amber Lake. Yellow bass have been caught in the DNR gill nets up to
11 inches long. reminder there is NO LIMIT, to yellow Bass. If I lived closer those would be one to fill my pile. Also Amber does have a large number of Sheephead which are also good table fare. remove the red meat on the skin side and they will taste better.

Run & gun, I use very small rubber binders to wrap the hooks. the lures don't hook together nearly as much. I store them in Plano boxes, sorted by depth they run. Longer stick baits are in one container, lipless in another spot and deep divers in another. these are what is in a single tackle that will have 3 trays, If I am going to run mainly crankbaits, I also have one box that has a hanging design that carries my main number of crankbaits. I can have over 150 crankbait in this boxes. plus I have another 50 lures in my main tackle box that has my jigs and soft plastics.

Hey guys, Jiggin Jim here in Minnesota, Deer season is going on this week for the gun hunters. Highs in low 40's, lows at night, early mornings are low 30's. This is a great time for the late fall walleye bite also. We have even caught lots of panfish from shore. In the fall, shiners and tullibees spawn, some of the fish come into the shallow to eat.

Nice bunch of fish guys, Looks like a fish fry dinner tonight. Here in Minnesota, some guys have their boats in storage, I have mine ready for late fall guide trips.

The fishing has gone from catching fish to eat. To how many fish can a person catch in 4 hours, 8 hours. Never mind that several of the fish released may not survive. Which leads to more waste then want. I know fish under size is one thing, but to catch a 100 fish in a day, while a person may have their limit. I have found 29 inch walleyes floating on lakes after being released. Most floating belly up not able to swim down. To them that claim fizzing is the way to save fish!!! They don't survive, they just don't float up. Sometimes rather than target game fish for the fun fishing look to the panfish, and try doing it with light lines. As catching a 13 inch Rockbass, on 2lb test line in summer months on a ultra light rod, can be a challenge many may find a bigger challenge then just catching fish on 8 or 10 pound test lines.

I use a wet fly, white millers, black gnats, Blue wing olive emerger, even pheasant tail adams.

I have told other anglers that in my home state of Minnesota three flies can be used to catch panfish. ( Crappie, Perch and Sunfish) I have used this for Ice fishing, but it will work for open water. I used size 10 to 16, flies on a dropper rig. Several people have used larger streamers, to fish walleyes, using a dropper rig. The only difference is a sinker at the end of the line.

In Minnesota the rule is one line per angler, unless ice fishing, ( cutting a hole in the frozen ice surface of the lake.) If it was changed to two lines, many guys would be trolling over simply casting.

I can go on your boat, show you places and technics for fishing the lake. Call me, 612-644-7657

Have you thought of hiring a guide? Somebody that fishes the lake.