| Forest Lake By: Joe Anderson July/2001 As most of you know, Forest Lake can be a very interesting lake. When I first started fishing this lake 10+ years ago, it had nowhere near the recreational activity and it received a fraction of the fishing pressure that it does today. The lake shore has changed from a lake with modest cabins and 14 foot fishing boats trolling the weedlines, to a lake with more than it's fair share of 1/2 million dollar homes with not one but two or three jet ski's circling in front of what used to be a quiet weedline. One thing for certain, the dock fisherman will love the newer structures designed to house all of these toys. The new regulations on Chisago, in my opinion, have significantly increased the tournament pressure on Forest Lake. A few years ago it was not very common to see a big money tournament on Forest Lake, but now every brochure that you see seems to have replaced Chisago with Forest. I have been fishing this lake my whole life. We used to slip-bobber for walleyes in my younger days. During the later part of the summer we would catch four pound fish all day. I wish I could say the same today. With that said, the first thing you will need to know is that Forest Lake can and usually is a very finicky lake. The fish can be under docks, on weedlines or even in the pads. They may be stacked up on a weedline or on a dock one day, and seemed to have moved half way across the lake the next day. There are many different techniques that can be used to catch these fish. The biggest key to doing well in this tournamet is to get out and pre-fish. You may have spots that have produced in the past, but you should go out there and work those spots. Also try to look for other things such as deep pads or a nice weedline. Finding good clean pads is going to be hard to come by this year. This is due to massive weed treatments that have been done by the lakeshore owners. If you do happen to find some clean pads, try flipping jigs into the pockets or tossing some surface lures to work the inside. If you are a deep water fisherman, you may want to try and find a weedline somewhere on this lake. I know that it may be hard to stay on for a three hour tournament, but usually this is where the bigger fish come from. On the other hand, if you are a shallow water fisherman, look for anything that will provide the fish with both protection from predators and cover from the sun. Do not be afraid to try docks that you know have already been worked. This should be a fun and interesting tournament. Good luck to all of you and see you all on the water Tuesday!! Joe |