A friend of mine is thinking about buying a cabin around the Paynesville/Eden Valley/Richmond area. He asked me what I knew about Rice Lake near Paynesville. I am unfamiliar with the lake because I usually go to Koronis when I'm in the area. Could anyone provide a description of the lake, its water quality, and fishing? Do you recommend the lake? I refered my friend to the DNR website, but I thought my FMers would be able to provide some better insight. Thanks for your help!

Rice is a good lake, basically a mirror copy of Koronis

I like the lake water clarity is pretty dirty come summer time but the fishing can be great at times. THere is really good walleye action out there i would reccommend the lake.

A very good fishing lake that has had some water quality issues in the past 5 years or so. Very prone to Algae blooms with some years being really bad. Tends to be a bit more severe than Koronis although they both follow the same pattern.

Murkywaters what kind of price range is your friend looking for I work for a homebuilder in St. Cloud and we are building a spec home on Rice lake in Paynesville. The price is going to be between 400,000 and 450,000 I believe. We are in Utility Rough in stage right now so he would be able to walk through the home and see the floor plan.

I think he's looking for something smaller / cheaper than that. I bet it will be a nice place! Thanks for your help guys.

Hey,
I have the family cabin on Rice, here's a few thoughts....

Water clarity: suspect at best at times, but the lake association is working on things, targeting septic systems, agricultrual run-off, residental lawn treatment, etc. Progress has been made.

I like to troll all season and cover water to establish a pattern and location. Fat & Shap Raps on the outside weedline in 8-12 fow are a great option. Plus, it's a great way to catch a mixed bag. Once I've honed in on an area, I'll change tactics and pinpoint the fish.

Bass: I may be somewhat vague here, but it's an underfished population in my opinion, both for greens(LG) and browns (SM). There's not a ton of emergent vegetation, so when found it'll be a good option. Docks and shoreline stuff like trees are good too. One Saturday afternoon this year in July no less I would have had a 5 fish bag in a tourney going 93 inches and over 20lbs, biggest three fish being browns, with the biggest at 20 inches.

Panfish: Nice crappies are there, pretty heavily fished in the winter, but early Spring can be good. Sunfish can be good too, although somewhat hard to find.

Overall, a fun lake, a little different than a traditional northern Minn lake, but lots of productive fishing options. Lots of other trailerable lakes close by as well.

Hope that helps!

We have had a place on the lake since '91. Some notes: the crappie population took a down turn in the late 90's. It has since been on the rebound. This can also be said for the walleyes. In the past the lake held White crappies and cats but I haven't seen any in about 10 yrs. It is possible to navigate to Koronis by way if the river so you can actually fish both lakes.

(purely opinion follows)
One thing to keep in mind is which way the property is facing the lake. Some areas tend to see alot more wind than others. Another thing to keep in mind is that because it is part of the river system the water level changes a couple of times during the year. (I have seen it change about 2-4 ft from spring to fall) And it will fluctuate up and down during the early summer depending on rainfall.