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Opening fishing season 2011

The Bowstring River on the north end of Little Sand Lake is a busy spot on opening day.

This was a good year for fishing in the Sand Lake chain of  lakes.  The lakes experienced extremes in water levels and clarity.  In the Spring the water was very low.  Continued rains throughout the season brought water levels up (and kept the grass green). Record temperatures for October brought on several algae blooms.  Like most of the nation, we experienced unseasonable changes in the weather, warm April and October, cold May, weekly rain,  and numerous and frequent weather fronts.  Despite the frequent weather changes the fishing remained good.  The perch and pan fish fishing were exceptional this year with large numbers and sizes in the catches.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is considering implementing new limits of only five each on Sunfish, Perch and Crappie on the Sand Lake Chain.  You will have an opportunity to voice your opinion on their website www.dnr.state.mn.us during a public comment period next spring, summer and fall.  If this were enacted into the regulations it would take place in 2011.   Your opinions and comments make a great deal of difference.

The best hunting this year was the grouse.  Field and Stream has ranked the Chippewa National Forest as the Number 1 grouse hunting location in the United States.  We had several parties who were limiting out on a daily basis.  Hunting parties were from Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina as well as Minnesota.

Legendary Fishing

Anglers find a sportsman’s paradise at Anchor Inn Resort.  Our unique location on the shore of the Bowstring River offers our guests lake access to Minnesota fisheries like Bowstring Lake, Big Sand Lake, Little Sand Lake and the Bowstring River.  Walleye, northern pike, crappie, sunfish, rock bass, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and perch all thrive in the clean and unspoiled waters of the winding Bowstring River.  Anglers come from miles around to fish from the “Anchor Inn Bridge.”  Its walkway, just a few feet from our front door, produces everything from stingers of sunfish to buckets of bullhead as well as wall-mount walleye and trophy-size northern pike.  Our guests often find a shady spot under a tree and shore fish along the resort’s mile-long river frontage.  Just downstream is Rice Lake, a spectacular fish hatchery, with 817 acres of sun-warmed shallow water nearly covered with wild rice.