Thread: MINNESOTA... How's the bite this year?

There is a lot of construction this weekend around the cities - good luck getting to your preferred body of water and crappies.

Major closures throughout Minnesota over the Independence Day weekend Heads-up If you're traveling across the state this weekend, here are some of MnDOT's major construction-related traffic impacts to watch for: Twin Cities Metro area Hwy 61 - Single-lane traffic in both directions between White Bear Avenue and north of Hwy 96 in White Bear Lake Hwy 65 - Southbound between 53rd Ave NE in Fridley and County Road 10 in Spring Lake Park is closed Hwy 36 and Hilton in Pine Springs - Lane and ramp closures; northbound I-694 ramp to eastbound Hwy 36, the ramp from Hilton Trail to westbound Hwy 36; and access to Viking Drive from eastbound Hwy 36 are all closed Hwy 101 and County Road 144 in Rogers - Lane closures; northbound to eastbound County Road 144 is closed; westbound County Road 144 to northbound Hwy 101 is closed; County Road 144 is closed west of James Road; Hwy 101 between South Diamond Lake Road and 147th Street is single lane Hwy 169 in Edina - Southbound is closed between Hwy 62 and Valley View Road Hwy 41 between Chaska and Shakopee is closed due to flooding Northern Minnesota Hwy 10 east of Glyndon - Lane closures; traffic reduced to one lane in each direction Hwy 29/Broadway St., downtown Alexandria - Traffic detoured to adjacent streets Hwy 10 in Rice - Narrow lanes, lane shifts, reduced speed limit, temporary signals Hwy 95 at Rum River in Cambridge - Detour via local streets, width limit Hwy 33 northbound - Restricted to single lane near Doddridge Avenue/Big Lake Road intersection; entrance from Big Lake Road to Super One is closed; frontage road entrances are closed on both sides of Hwy 33 at Doddridge Avenue and Big Lake Road Hwy 71 in Browerville - Road closed, detour via County Roads 14, 11 Hwy 22 in Eden Valley - Road closed, detour via County Road 9 Central Minnesota I-94 in Monticello - Narrow lanes, lane shifts, reduced speed limit, Go Hasty detour uses County Road 75 in Monticello to County Road 8 in Hasty; through-town detour uses Hwy 25, County Road 18, Broadway/County Road 75 and Chelsea Road Southern Minnesota I-35 in Owatonna - Two-way traffic with crossovers, ramp closures, detours, delays Hwy 52 in Cannon Falls - Lane closures Hwy 63 south - Detour from north of Stewartville to south of Racine Hwy 14 - Detour from Florence to Tracy Hwy 24 - Detour from Litchfield to Hwy 15 Hwy 7/22 - Detour from Cosmos to Hutchinson Hwy 212 - Detour from Dawson to west of Hwy 59 Hwy 169 from St. Peter to LeSueur - Lane restrictions Hwy 22 in Mankato - Detour Hwy 60 near St. James - Detour Hwy 19 and 93 from Hwy 169 to Henderson - Closed because of flooding For the duration of the Fourth of July holiday, and the remainder of the construction season, MnDOT urges drivers to: Stay alert, especially at night. Obey posted speed limits. Fines may double for violations in work zones. Expect work zones to constantly change. Day to day, you could experience lane shifts, closures or moving workers and vehicles. Stay off cell phones and mobile devices. Move over one lane, if possible, or reduce speed for stopped emergency or maintenance vehicles, including ambulance, fire, law enforcement or maintenance and construction vehicles. Use 511mn.org to plan trips and avoid delays. For more info about major closures this weekend in the Twin Cities Visit: mndot.gov/weekendtrafficimpacts/

Construction popping up down this way too.

Locally the waters are starting to get back to normal levels but they are sure staying dirty for a long time. I think a lot of mud went into the systems this last time around and now with the heat all the nutrients that went in with the mud, along with fertilizer, is starting to suspend and brew. The Mississippi is still running with a lot of extra water.

Family gathering last week Sat to Sat at Fish Trap. We had a dependable evening bite of very nice crappies in the 11-13" range. We had a couple of big meals and took home limits; so one couldn't ask for much more. All our fish came on 1.5" twister and lil hustler tubes with most fish grazing on mayfly nymphs at the border between the outside weedline and deeper mud flats.

Here in the Cities I can get you all the dinks one could possibly ask for. Some docks have thousands of 2-4 inchers visible like one would expect of sunnies and they have been there for weeks not apparently drawing the big eaters either. Slabs are few and far between this year, though, at least from the shore and docks in the heart of the metro. The high water has limited access to some of my former favorite spots. Admittedly I haven't worked the crappies very hard this summer, nor have i stayed late into the evenings which is when the better fish tend to show up. The metro mosquitoes are terrible this year.

We just returned from a trip to Two Harbors and the cabin and the deer flies and skeeters are un-real this year. I had to have a sweatshirt, cap and gloves on along with jeans and bug dope just to mow. I had places where the gloves and sweatshirt just didn't quite cover and the deer fly bites were running with blood.

Lake Superior gave up a nice lake trout. I had a couple other decent fish come un-pinned bringing them to the net and a couple small lakers went back to grow. The fish I netted made up two zip-locks that weigh about 3 pounds apiece....a couple nice meals.