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Living in Missouri (Lake of the Ozarks area)
Wife and I have planned a trip to your beautiful area next September.
We will be staying on Lake Carlos for a week.
Any information on what to expect up there (crappie or walleye mostly) would be appreciated. I do a lot of trolling crank baits at LOZ. How does that work up North?
Thanks!
Husker
Carlos is a premier lake. Lots of scaled goodies there. Do a search of Minnesota's dnr website for lakefinder, the snoop out Carlos....all kinds of info there.
Agreed. On the Lake Finder be sure to checkout the Fisheries Lake Survey and the topo map. Big lake as Minnesota lakes go and with some real deep water. As you get deeper into September you will be getting into Fall patterns with the big hen pike coming up out of the deep to cruise the weedbeds for the increasingly exposed sunfish, often augmented by very nice walleyes and largemouths.
The Survey shows a very respectable size spread for crappies, walleyes, both species of bass and pike. Make sure you bring some steel leaders. Even here deep in the Metro smaller lakes very often produce very good fall pike. The Minnesota DNR has done a pretty good job of restoring pike size since I was a boy. My best this fall from internal Metro lakes is 34" or maybe 10-12 pounds. I do not see that Carlos has muskies, which is a good thing; walleyes, however, are stocked heavily.
Carlos has zebra mussels and rules to prevent their spread further. The DNR was set to impose pretty strict rules for trailering boats this year, but those got suspended for this calender year. Pay attention to potential new rules next summer, if you plan to trailer your own boat, and be aware that some rules are already in place.
Also note that there are consumption advisories for mercury on many of the species.
Just be sure you pull the boat's drain plug when you pull out of the water each time and be darned sure its out when you arrive at a launch site. Pluck off any weeds you may have hung on the trailer before leaving the launch site and you'll be fine. You may encounter a DNR scrub crew who wants to spray the boat off. Let them. Chances are if there is a crew there they'll want to know where the boat will see water again, and just tell them right back here and you'll get passed on a lot of the garbola.
2014 was a season from hell regarding boats and trailering in Minnesota. All of that crap is pretty much behind us now as long as your rig in free of weeds and the plug is out.
Thanks for the replies!
I will not be bringing my boat up to Minnesota. Would like to but sounds like it is a big hassle once you get up there as well being a long ways up there. We live in a condo on Lake of the Ozarks and ramps are a ways from here as well as our boat is in a slip here at the condo and our trailer is stored at another location. Will be able to get a boat at the resort, but will not have electronics, so will be a challenge.
I have done a little back trolling years ago for walleye, but mostly in shallow (8 - 15 feet) of water, but looking at the topo map of Lake Carlos, without a depth finder, it may be difficult, as it drops off quicky. I like to troll crank baits with my boat, but I have a 60HP 4-stoke engine, so can troll 2-3 mph and great to fish 10 to 15 feet down. On LOZ the crappie suspend over 25 to 75+ feet of water, so they are relatively "easy" to catch, but walleye are normally close to the bottom.
I would appreciate any ideas on how to fish your lakes! I am considering going out with a guide the first day, but they are pricey!
Husker
Check with the resort to see if they know of anywhere local there to rent a portable depth finder. Some resorts even have depthfinders that they rent out both separately and in combination with the boats.
Other wise buy yourself a portable depthfinder to take along. Considering what all you are already laying out for this trip, you can add a relatively inexpensive one for pretty reasonable. The variety is quite large and the prices quite variable. Additionally you will then have a backup to your normal unit.
Otherwise start your passes at the outside weed line. That should still be visible pretty much into September. Local bait shops are normally willing to point you to general portions of the lake as well.
Find a good paper map of the lake and study the heck out of it. Look for inside turns and sunken points with weeds along both where the weeds and deep water meet. Weeds will be key as will deeper water. And deep water is a relative thing. Look at 15 feet in some areas as deep water if only 3-9 feet is the norm. Weeds may be fully emergent or they may be non-emergent . Weeds found in slightly deeper water that seem to have a "top" a couple feet down from the surface can have fish active right above that "top" during daylight or the fish my be burrowed right in...no way to know other than to fish the top to see if you'll get action. I prefer fish weeds with an "edge" along a deeper drop as the fish can be anywhere from top to bottom along the edge at any time of the 24 hour day.
Drop-offs and steep breaks without weed cover also will hold fish. On breaks and the do's look for fish on the deeper side during the daylight but right up in shallows during the night and low light periods.
We will be getting to Alexandria next Saturday. I have been following some of the fishing reports...Joe Scegura and others in the area have good reports out there. Looks like the fishing was really good this summer, but has really slowed down in the last few weeks and will probably be tough next week. Still planning on fishing for walleye, but may have to change to bass, crappie or northern. How would you local experts fish for bass and northern this time of year?.....looks like there will be a cold front early in the week. I plan on fishing early and late during the low light periods. I did send for the Fishing Hot Spots map of the Alexandria Chain and have been studying it, but the lake is so big. I am not going out with a guide, nor will I have a depth finder. I will probably concentrate on fishing outside weed lines..hopefully will get some ideas from local bait shops.
Any other tips?
Regards and Thanks!
For pike troll 1/4 to 1/2 safety spin spinners tipped with a small sucker (4-6") over the tops of the edge of weed beds or along the outside weedline. Tip the same size on 1/4 to 3/8 oz bucktail jigs drifted bottom bouncing across flats that have occasional weed beds. Use a 12" wire leader of some kind for pike or you will get a number of cutoffs. Pike fishing is often best during well lit portions of daytime; so you can switch over to pike trolling from walleye fishing as the day brightens.
For walleyes you are handicapping yourself pretty badly not to at least have an inexpensive portable depthfinder. Depth control is quite important, even if the unit does not show fish. You do a lot better when you know where the bottom is.