Lake Minnetonka, MN Fishing Report

Inconsistent weather so far this May has limited the fishing activity on Tonka.  The walleye bite has been best early and late in the day.  Find the shallow sand and pitch a jig/leech or husky jerk in 6-7 feet.

Northerns have been scattered on the big weedflats.  Cover these using a spinner bait or rattle trap.  A blue/yellow pattern has been a good producing color.

The crappie bite has been very good.  The fish are moving in and out of the shallows depending on the sun and weather!  

Good luck!

Still waiting for the ice to be gone!!  The forecast looks good for some improvement later this week, but at the time of this report we are slated for another 4-6 inches of snow.  

Video Update of Lake Minnetonka Ice Conditions featured on Kare

http://www.kare11.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2317204422001&odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|featured

Not much happening on Lake Minnetonka.  Waiting for the ice to break free.  As of today, the shorelines are breaking away and areas with docks and bubblers are ice free!  

Waiting for Ice Out!  

That is the theme, many parts of the lake are still fishable and the edges are just starting to get soft.  Be careful if you head out, but you can still catch crappies and sunfish.  They are active in the weeds anywhere from 8-14FT of water.  Use a small bro-bug tipped with a wax worm for both the crappies and sunfish.  You can pick up an occasional crappie during the daylight if you find them in the milfoil. 

Our next report will be an open water crappie report.  They will be active in the same areas - 8-14ft of water until they move in and out as the spring temps warm the water.  

Walleye, Northern Pike, and Bass season wrapped up this past weekend on Lake Minnetonka, but that does not mean the end to the ice fishing season!  The panfish are getting active in the weeds.  Find the holes in the weeds anywhere from 8-12 feet and you will find active sunfish and crappies.  A small green jig tipped with a waxworm has worked for us.  

For action, you can catch yellow perch hand over fist on most of the outside weedlines on the tips of points!  T

There is still plenty of ice 24-28 in most areas, the bridges and channels are never safe.  Watch the pressure ridges as the temps warm up, stay away from those too!

Check out some of the underwater footage we have captured so far:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKoUPNSwxbI

Good Luck

We are in mid-winter patterns on Lake Minnetonka.  Panfish are schooled up in the deep holes in the smaller bays 20-30 feet of water.  Waxworms have been triggering in active fish.  Crappies are biting early in the morning and late in the evening.  The bigger fish still can be found in the weeds, but you have to drill a lot of holes in search of them.  

Northern pike are still cruising the weedlines.  Downsize your minnows to even a smaller fathead.  The morning bite has been the best, from sun rise until about 9am.  Walleyes are hard to find.  You can catch them at sunset in the deeper basin areas on the main lake.  

Be careful out there.  This year has been a bad year for cars and people falling through the ice.  As a reminder, never drive through any of the channels on the lake or over any pressure ridges.

Good Luck!  

The ice conditions are shaping up and holding pretty steady for now throught this recent warm snap.  As always use caution and know the conditions before venturing out.  The bays have the best ice conditions and the bluegills, pike, and an a few crappies are biting.  The biggest schools are suspended over the deep basins in the bays  anywhere from 10-20 feet.  The bigger panfish are in the weeds 10-14 feet.  Use a waxworm on a small jig and drill a lot of holes to find the bigger panfish.  

The northern pike bite has been steady.  Find a weed flat or weedline that is close to a steeper break.  Set tip ups along the break and on top of the weeds 8-17ft.  Use a small circle hook, split shot, and a small sucker or shiner.  We have not had much luck getting them to hit the jigging spoons in the house.  On the underwater camera they come in and have been spooked off when we jig.  

A few walleyes can be had early in the morning and at dusk.  The window is short 45-1hr.  The best presentation has been a 1/8 gold jigging spoon tipped with waxworms.  Set lines with a fathead or small shiner have also triggered a few fish.  

If you have kids and fish the Lake, check out our new youth fishing leagues. Come join us.  www.fishtonka.com!  

Ice fishing season is in full force on Lake Minnetonka.  Many of the smaller bays have 8-12 inches of ice.  The main lake has 4-8inches in the spots that we have been too.  As always, use extreme caution when traveling on the ice, especially on the main lake.  

Northern pike are active along the weedlines and on top of the bigger weedflats in 10-18 feet of water.  Use a plain circle hook, split shot and a 10-14lb mono leader tipped with a medium shiner minnow.  

Sunfish can be found in the weeds 8-14feet and suspended in the deeper holes of the bays.  They can be caught all day on a small ice jig tipped with a waxworm.  

The crappie bite has been tough, but a few can be found suspended in 20-15feet over the deep holes in the smaller bays.

Walleyes were active last week in the morning and evening along the deeper weedlines and humps.  A jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head, or waxworms has triggered fish.   Also, a set line with a fathead or shiner minnow will work as well.

We will be starting and hosting a youth fishing league on Lake Minnetonka this Saturday.  More information can be found at www.fishtonka.com!

The ice fishing season is just about to start on Lake Minnetonka!  Most of the bays are making decent ice while some of the main basins are still open.  The upcoming weather reports are predicting cold weather, so it will not be long.  

We will be implementing a youth ice fishing season on Tonka this winter!  Come up and join us.  We will start posting ice reports as soon as it is safe.  

Fall fishing reports have been spotty.  Much of our time, has been spent in the woods lately, but a few anglers are getting out and taking advantage of the fall walleye and muskie bite on Lake Minnetonka.  Big suckers dragged along weedlines have been triggering muskies and trolling cranks has been getting the walleyes lately.  Our next reports will focus on the ice bite!  Good luck.

Fall has arrived up here in Minnesota!  With the temps dropping, the water temps on Lake Minnetonka are ranging from the mid 50-'s-low 60's depending on the time of day.  The major game fish species are seaking warm water in the shallow weed flats and inside sandy weedlines.  Muskies, bass, and northern pike are being caught in these areas on Lake Minnetonka.  The best presentation has been spinner baits, rattle traps, and swimming jigs over the tops of the weeds.  

Walleyes are starting to bite on the tips of points and deep weedlines using jigs tipped with small sucker minnows and fatheads.

Good luck and enjoy the lack of boat traffic during this time of year!  

The fishing on Lake Minnetonka has been very good the past couple of weeks.  The muskie fishing has been excellent with big fish and numbers being caught.  Look to the shallow sand flats and inside weedlines between 2-8 feet of water.  Slower moving topwater baits and smaller bucktails have been triggering these fish.

The northern pike and bass are biting in 8-14 feet of water using spinner baits and jig worms.  

The heat and warm water temps have most species of fish on Lake Minnetonka hiding out!  Last week was a little slower than what we have been experiencing this summer.  The heavy boat traffic also is limiting us to early mornings!  But the fish are out on the deep rock piles and weedlines.  We have been triggering fish with drop shot rigged with a small sucker minnow.  We are targeting the tips of points and inside weedline turns.  We are catching bass, northerns, and a few little walleyes on this technique.  

The muskies are getting active.  Night time is the right time this time of year!  Buring big bucktalis during the early morning and at sunset will trigger the bigger fish.  Downsize with a bass crankbait for numbers.  Topwater and cowgirls slowed down are working in the evening.  

The fishing on Lake Minnetonka has been excellent!  Yesterday we were part of a multi-boat corporate fishing event and the bass were practically jumping in the boat.  We had some storms roll through and that really got the fish going.  A majority of the bass are moving out to their summer haunts along the weedlines and rock piles in 12-16 feet of water.  Our best bait has been a 1/4 jig head with an 8in black power worm otherwise know as a "jig worm".  We are working the jig worms parallel to the weedline vs. pitching in to the weeds and pulling it back out.  We are covering a lot more water and giving the fish more time to see the presentation, which I believe has been the key.  We are also picking up northerns and an occasional walleye with this presentation.  

Muskie reports will be coming.  We have not been targeting muskies yet, but have heard and seen a few fish that have been caught, but do not have too many other details to pass on other than they are active in short windows.  

Good Luck,

Kolt 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fishtonka-Guide-Service/276933565674279?ref=tn_tnmn

Early summer fishing patterns are starting to settle in on Lake Minnetonka, which is just a little ahead of schedule for a typical year. Surface water temps are warm and all the major game fish seasons are now open, including Muskie which opened this past weekend.  Muskie action on Lake Minnetonka typically can be slow at this time of year, but a few fish were caught with a majority of the action being limited.  Bass are everywhere!  Some are up shallow, some have moved into the weedflats, and few fish are showing up out on the deep edges already.  We have been targeting the shallow fish.  Our best presentation has been to cast a black gulp sinking minnow on the inside weedlines and over any cabbage beds you can find.  Walleyes and pike are on the outside weed line.  Dragging a modified lindy rig with a small sucker has been getting the pike and a lindy rig and leech is getting the walleyes!  

Fishing on Lake Minnetonka, MN has been very good this spring!  The water is clear, the weeds are ahead of schedule and the northerns are active.  Walleyes can be found on the weedlines early and late in the day.  Drag a leech in 15-18 feet until you catch on, stop, and pitch a 1/4 jig tipped with a leech or fathead into the weeds.  Work them over and move on to the next set of fish!  The best presentation for northerns right now is throwing a rattle trap to the deep weedlines as well!  

Bass opener is this weekend and I know a lot of bassheads who are pretty excited as it should be a good one!  The shallows are active with lots of bass bedding!  

Good luck!

Kolt Ringer

612.819.8500

When the wind hasn't been blowing 25-30 mph, the fishing has been pretty good on Lake Minnetonka.  This past week, the bigger northerns were coming from the deep weedlines casting rattle traps parallel with the weedline and counting them down to 10-15 feet. The bigger weedflats were holding the majority of the fish.  The walleyes can still be found in 15-18 feet of water early and late in the day.  Our best approach has been to drag a lindy rig with leech along the weedline until we find active fish.  Then we stop and pitch a 1/4 jig tipped with a leech or fathead to these spots in the weeds.  Catch a couple and move on to find some more as they tend to scatter along the weedlines rather than school up.  

This weekend is the largemouth and smallmouth bass opener in Minnesota.  Lake Minnetonka has some of the finest bass fishing in the country and recently made it in the Top Ten Bass Lakes in the country coming in 7th, according to Bassmaster Magazine.  Anglers targeting bass this weekend should concentrate on the shallow inside weedlines.  Last week we noticed alot of fish on beds.  Pitching wacky worms will be a great way to target these fish!  

Good luck!