Forest Lake
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Forest Lake Fishing Reports
Stay up to date with the latest fishing reports from Forest Lake. Reports are submitted by local anglers, fishing guides, and our team of fishing experts.
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- Species
Largemouth BassTechniqueStructure JigsSeasonFallStructureDocksAlways a dock bite on this lake, but in the fall it seems to be most consistent.
- Species
WalleyeTechniqueNed RigsSeasonFallStructureLedgesFish drop-offs going from approximately 20 down to 25, they are sitting near bottom waiting for a Ned to be dragged or popped on by. I’m not sure if it was the cold front this past week, but I had to really slow things down to get a bite. Fish that Ned painfully slow.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueSoft Body Swimbaits (Small/Medium)SeasonSummerStructureOpen Water/Basin
I fished from the public dock by the 1st boat launch access. The water there had some vegetation but not a lot. The water was clear and shallow. You can see straight down til 5ft, then that is when the color line started. I cast towards open water towards the swim area side. Small strikes with only a very small fingerling largemouth. Others fishing on the same dock in the area caught a nice 4lber.
SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueBladed JigsSeasonSummerStructureSubmerged VegetationAll bites 5-7', edge of thick grass in scattered grass. All bites on moving baits, tried slow. Biggest 3 lb
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)SeasonSummerStructureLily Pads
Early August bass could be found in very shallow water by flipping dollar pads with heavy tackle. Flipping 1/2oz or 3/4oz Texas rigs with beaver style baits got many bites if the fish were grouped up. Dollar pads mixed with reeds and a hard bottom was the most productive combination of cover.
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueHard Topwater (Prop)SeasonSpring (Post-Spawn)StructureSubmerged Vegetation
Forest Lake is an awesome fishery. Unfortunately the lake has been downhill the last few years since it is in the main area where most Highschool teams schedule their events. There are thee lakes all attached by large channels. You can fish each lake completely differently to switch up styles and try to target the larger fish utilizing different techniques. Typically on the North lake, topwater is very productive using frogs, poppers, buzz baits and frogs around vegged out docks, reed points or burn over submerged veg that is barely topping out on the water surface. The middle lake is known to be good for finesse on the humps, and if you find matted veg, I would suggest flipping it. The South lake, I would mainly focus on docks and punching milfoil if you can find the isolated clumps with hard bottom. This will take some time scanning and trial and error until you find these sweet spots. This should be ample information for any angler to get a good start on this body of water. Good luck!
- SpeciesLargemouth BassTechniqueTexas Rigs (Worming)SeasonSummerStructureDocks
Skipping docks with weightless Yum Dingers. The deeper docks were better.
Omnia Community MemberBronze AmbassadorSpecies
CrappieTechniqueVertical Jigging Mid Depth (10-19')SeasonSummerStructurePointsCruised around lake 3 in search of Walleye off the submerged points. Started marking fish between 14 and 17 feet before it dropped to the main basin. Got small bites but no hookups. Tore my gulp leech in half and got a decent pike and then a few crappies followed. Using crappie specific lures should be the ticket to find them, but would have to weed through the normal 8-10" metro crappies before getting a few nice ones.
