I'm going to head out tomorrow am to a North Metro lake and see if the Crappie bite is picking up. With the warmer temps the bays should be heating up.

Last weekend I only found a small spot that had 59 deg. Fishing was slow. A few here and there

Hit the Chisago chain this am. Fished shallow less than 5 feet. with CT plastics and a thill stealth mini float. I got on the water at 7:00 and left at 10:40. ended up catching 20 crappies and kept my 10. Got a few small bass, and a bonus 18" Eye.

Temps were anywhere from 60-65.

I was not able to get out over the 4th of July weekend. Too many family functions - but it was a good time.

I have been putting my posts in the pansfish section "whats working now. Hopefully I will get out Fri. or sat and will post on both places.

They Eyes are going to have to wait for a few more weeks

I put a post under the panfish section. Hit a lake in the Chisago area yesterday. There was a bass tounrey going on in the am. Maybe 25-30 boats.

The gills were still shallow 4 ft with gloats set at 15-18" down.

Crappies were in shallow as well to my surprise. Color on plastics did not make a difference. purple body/chart tail , bluegill body/orange tail, blue body/pink tail . All on Minnow type plastics.

I quit at 11:00 am and got out of there before the tournament guys invaded the boat launch.

Got home and it just started raining for the afternoon.

Hit a small metro lake Fri afternoon. Found gills and a few small crappies on the weed edges in 12 ft of water. fishing with floats set at 6-7 ft down

They were picky on colors todsay only hitting on blue ody/pink tail, and purple body/chart tail on small plastics minnow style.

Brought home a few gills for the frying pan

I put a post out in the panfish whats working now topic.

I got out for a while after work last eve. Found gills in 10-14 ft on the weed edges with thill mini stealth floats set 4-8 ft down.

Colors that worked were purple body/chart tail and bluegill body/orange tail. in the minnow style plastics. I did get a few of the bigger ones on paddle tails.

The final count was 43 . I kept 8 for a meal. I did get some in the 8-9" range so not too bad. Those went back in the water

Going to hit the water again in the next few days to play with some different colors

I have been putting most of myposts in the panfish section on "what's working now".

Here's a quick one. I had a chance to get out last eve after work for a few hours.

I was on the water around 5:00. Things were pretty slow until around 7:00. After that the fish started to cooperate. I fished until 8:30.

The Gills and Crappies were caught back trolling with the electric, or pitching floats right up against the weeds. Nothing on the safety spinners last eve.
Colors, purple body/chart tail in the minnow style plastics

Going to head up to Ely tomorrow through Sat. targeting Eyes, Smallies, and see if I can find the crappies as well. I will report when I get back

Got back from Ely last Sun. weather was okay, but not as nice as it was down here. The leaves were just starting to turn, so in the next ten days it will be near a peak.

We caught a lot of Eyes but on the small side with nothing going over 18". We did keep a few for meal up there. We managed 10 Crappies while rigging for Eyes in 17-19 feet. They were hitting spinners, or a plain hook red bead with rainbows. Size was awesome in the 12 - 13 1/2" size. we kept three to go in the frying pan.

I did manage one 324" pike while rigging as well. Hard to believe it didn't break 6 lb mono. Had the hook swallowed.
Hard to come back home after being up there. No boat traffic at all. Maybe only 2 to 4 other boats out there.