Fishing in the twin cities (Minneapolis, St. Paul: camping, food, suburbs)

[Mr Ambitious]

Are there any good spots for fishing in the immediate cities or inner ring suburbs?

[Duk123]

Shore or by boat? The lakes in Minneapolis and also I believe St. Paul are gas motor free. A couple of my coworkers fish on Nokomis and Calhoun using an electric trolling motor. They've taken muskies and walleye out of both. I've taken my 8 year old daughter to Powderhorn Lake. Where we catch tons of bullhead and catfish which I would never eat but we have a blast catching.

[wamer27]

A friend of mine started fishing just to get away from his family for an hr on a river in TX. He would fish from shore and use an RC boat to get his line way farther out then anyone could cast and then turn sharp to drop the hook and catch bigger fish then all others. Just an ingenious option if your shore fishing. I see people fishing on Lake Owasso in Roseville/Shoreview all the time.

[Mr. In-Between]

Don't write off Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun. They both go around 90 feet deep, and some pretty nice-sized northerns and even muskies have been taken out of those lakes. They are fished pretty hard, though, so the populations aren't high, but they're still there. Lots of people take walleye from the shore on both lakes, too.

[BillWallace]

If you are shore fishing you might try this DNR site which lists all of your options - Fishing Piers : Shorefishing Sites : LakeFinder : Maps & Guides: Minnesota DNR

[WoodburyWoody]

Originally Posted by BillWallace

If you are shore fishing you might try this DNR site which lists all of your options - Fishing Piers : Shorefishing Sites : LakeFinder : Maps & Guides: Minnesota DNR

Don't know about "good" but this seems like a good place to mention the DNR's "I Can Fish" events ... a summer series of assisted fishing in various state parks (including Ft. Snelling, in the metro):

I Can! Program Series: I Can Fish!: Minnesota DNR

There are a bunch of "I Can ..." events: camp, fish, climb. We've done the "I Can Camp" once and it was great - you bring your food and sleeping bags and they supply a couple of people to help everyone in the group get set up/tear down/cook and really nice camping gear (REI is one of the sponsors). They also brought fishing gear to the one we were at, enough for the 12 or so kids there to give it a try. Well done by the DNR.

[JONOV]

If you're willing to wade up to your knees, fish Calhoun for bass at twilight. Throw a floating Rapala or floating frog late in the evening and watch the bass and pike swirl.