Need help please

[bigascanbe]

Hey Guys... Heres the deal I am an avid outdoorsman and grew up and currently live in North Carolina. My wife may be taking a job in Rochester. What advise can you give me on crappie fishing, fishing in general, hunting in general in the area. Really nervous coming to an area I have never been before. Please help!

Tripp

[horseshoer]

Well I'm in VA but a MN native and in the Rochester area I remember the lake on the east side of Waseca as being good, and Rice Lake near Faribault. (for crappie) I am from directly across from Rochester on the western side of the state, but lived in Owatonna for 1 yr and fished em then, this was 32-33 yrs ago so you may want some updated info.
One thing I think I can say is prepare yurself for an overall reduction in the size up there. You are going to be in fishing heaven though man! Dont tell the wife this but back home all the boys flock to Rochester to party. Reason: 7-1 woman-to-man ratio due to all the medical jobs. I found this to be accurate info during the year spent in Owatonna. I dipped into the resources available readily. It was everything I'd hoped for. An excellent case of supply & demand.
Good luck, sure someone will give ya a hand.
PS The state hospital is in Willmar. This is where they take you if they see ya dump vinegar in BBQ. Better pack yur own grits too, or get used to likin Cream of Wheat. Yur winter mos. are about to change radically if you never lived up there. Sell that off road mud bogger and pick you up a snowmobile. You are about to experience nirvana when you load up an ice house with good friends & booze, and go to pullin fish up thru the ice.
Go ahead. Try it out. Say it. GO VIKINGS. See, it aint so hard.
It is after you've been with em as a fan since their inception in 1960.

[CTom]

Fear not....plenty of good fishing in the Rochester area. I just returned from a morning trip to the MississippiRiver and did well there.

The immediate Rochester area is peppered with flood control retention reservoirs and most have crappies and sunfish. Some are better than others for fish size. North of Rochester 11 short miles is Lake Zumbro which is a great body of water for crappies, but also holds Northern, Walleye, Muskie, Catfish, Perch and Sunfish/Bluegills. The Gills and Sunnies can tape out at 11+" on some and the Crappies can tape out at 13" to 14", with an average of around 11" to 11 1/2". The Crappies will sow a mix of white and black with the blacks being predominant.

There are a couple of very good pools of the Mississippi within 40 miles that are outstanding for Walleye/Sauger, the Sunfishes, both of the Crappies, Northerns, Perch and all kinds of Catfish. This morning Crappies to 13 inches were taken, but one pool in particular will hand you 14", 15" and even 16" fish on a regular basis.

As for the women thing mentioned. Stick with the wife. All of these twinkies mentioned are here for education and they would need to be trained properly to be of any value. You'll be happier with what you have already.

[Slabasaurus]

"PS The state hospital is in Willmar. This is where they take you if they see ya dump vinegar in BBQ" As a current MN resident who grew up in Abingdon, VA... this is refreshing. Doubt too many of my MN buds would even get it. And don't get me started on grits... and how could i forget the old "Hey are those doughnut holes or what??" Referring to, of course, hush puppies.

Good thing about MN Crappie fishing is it rarely gets hot enough to keep you off of the water during an afternoon.

I've had a lot of success this year for crappies, both in the Twin Cities and outstate too. I hear a lot of positive things about the River pools in southern MN, but as a twin cities native, I focus more on pool 1 up by Coon Rapids. My Slab of the year was a good 13" caught in Northern WI, But i've landed some HUGE gills and greenies in WBL, 11" gills, 12" greens.

Walleye, Pike, Musky, Sauger... etc.. all are plentiful in the Miss, a drive to Pool 2 (St Paul to Hastings, 30ish miles south of st paul) will afford one the opportunity for year round C&R for Bass and Walleye. Due to the rich environment there (Minnesoat and Mississippi confluence) and the C&R only, the average walleye caught in that stretch is 23". (yep, pool 2 has special regs due to it's proximity to the downtown metro areas). Fall walleye fishing is just getting into full swing, frogs are starting to migrate into the lakes and walleye are waiting to take full advantage...

I'm more familiar with northern metro lakes (White Bear, Bald Eagle, Pelitier, etc etc) and rivers (CR Dam/Pool 1, St Croix) and a handful of lakes in Northwest Wisconsin... so if you ever have any questions I'd be happy to help out.

Those Med ladies are all too picky with your lifestyle in my opinion... lost a handful of em due to my inability to "moderate" certain activities... including chasin slabs all over the place. I'm single now and it's much more conducive to fishing.

[CTom]

I made it out on the docks at Lake City [Lake Pepin in the Mississippi River] this morning and did well. I brought home 7 black crappies that were over 12.5 inches each....largest was 13.25". Sunfish were scarce for me today with only one over the 9 1/2 inch mark. I nailed a very nice walleye too. Just a hair over 9 pounds. It never ceases to amaze me how many walleyes I see caught in that marina, but then there is a ton of food in there right now too.