I live in Champlin and i am looking for a few good lakes close by adn some info on them. I dont expect your hot spot but at least some guideance on them. I dont expect some monsters but just a little action. Can anyone help me out? dont wnatto travel up north and jsut find a few good lakes that are small and easy to get to. I have a map of the lakes here and a gps.... please help a desperate guy out

Ethan - I'm in Brooklyn Park. My favorite close lakes are Eagle/Pike (Maple Grove) and Medicine in Plymouth. If you wanted to drive a tiny bit further, Minnetonka or Independence are good bets.

what kind of structure should i look for? what depths are a good place to start?

If you wanna drive a little bit i would suggest heading over to the chisago area. All the lakes in that area can produce and you have a chance at a bigger fish as well. Just be careful venturing out this early, hate to see people makin the news. But minnetonka is a good bet, as is Medicine. Good luck

On Eagle, I fish the deep hole on the SE side. I haven't been out there enough to experiment with other parts of that lake, but I hope to this year. On medicine, I'd look for weedlines early. Otherwise, sharp drops for walleye and deeper holes for crappies.

Hey thanks for posting this thread. I just moved down here to the metro as well so I figured I should change forums... Does anyone have any info for places around white bear?

try bald eagle tons of spots just grab a map fish by deep holes for crappies and walleyes off structure in 15-18 feet is starting point morning and night ofcourse is best chance

there are a couple good breaks by manitou island and ramsey beach. when the icegets thick a village will appear right out from ramsey beach... thats your first break, aned there is another right out from matoska park right outside manitou island. i caught a 29in northern there last winter.

be carefull though, according to posts here the ice is still very thin in spots, and you must know the good spots to fish right now. later it will thicken up

Thanks for the info guys. I would like ot try chisago.. but there are so many lakes there and alot of ground to cover and I dont knwo the first place to try... any ideas let me know.. or just steer me in the right direction would be great

I like to fish Crooked in andover. Some of people bash this lake and say its full of small fish, but I have done well at this lake. Have caught some decent sized blugills,with a decent crappie bite at dusk and thereafter. But it seems like I have caught bigger crappies in the spring than through the ice. There are some nice bass-5#ers,and have caught some channel cats in summer,also around 5#,and would like to ice some as well.

If you go to the Chisago area. Stop in at Frankies bait. It is on the left side, at the stop light, as you enter town. They will steer you in the right direction. Very good people.

lol, yeah whitebear lake;walleyes. Ethan, I know some guys that live in champlin that do quite a bit of fishing on diamond lake, which is a good 15 minute drive up 169, then head west on dayton road and you'll see it.

Is there a place to get maps of the lakes around the metro? I have a mapbook of all the lakes from up where I used to live (Pelican Rapids, Ottertail County) and it would be really nice to find something like that for the metro

I live in champlin also it’s a lake dead zone, in summer the river is closest thing you can get a boat on with descent fish, I have fished diamond lake summer and winter it’s a good bullhead lake its only 6’ to 8’ deep.
When I go fishing locally I go to Minnetonka, Monticello area, or chisago area. These are all a bought 45 min from my house. Good luck RR

Gander sells the books for East and West metro lakes, most bait stores have the plastic maps, oh and Gander also has the GPS coordinate maps (Hot Spots and Lake Masters).