FishnCanuck
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I just moved my family back to the metro from St. Cloud and bought a house close to Prior. I've been struggling to find any walleyes at all. I know the lake is better known for Bass and panfish and less so for Walleyes(contrary to the recent article from Ron Schara).
I've only spent a few nights thus far without any success. Can anyone help me dial in which areas have been more productive historically?
So far I've tried:
-jigging with minnows, and artificials in 8-22fow
-pulling lindys from 0.4mph to 1.1mph in the same depths
-even slip bobbering up to and after dark. 
I haven't tried anything other than low light 7pm-11pm.
I know the little @%#^@'s are in there, just cn't seem to figure it out. 
HELP!!!! (please)
Thanks,
FishnCanuck
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Good Luck!
FishnCanuck
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Set the Hook and Get the Net!
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big G
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I have only fished Prior once, and we got into the eyes !!! I don't know exactly where we were, but I can tell you we launched on the south side, headed north and east, and the tell tale sign, was a ski course set up. We were on the edge of the ski course, trolling back and forth with Little Joe spinners, cartruese and black stripe. We caught maybe 10 eyes in about 2 hours. Hope this helps.
big G 
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You can tell how big a person is, by what it takes to discourage them! "Hooks"
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FishnCanuck
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Thanks Big G, I've also heard to fish the 'eyes like they're bass on weed edges. That's a new one by me, but I'll pull out the weedless jigs and give it a try.
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Good Luck!
FishnCanuck
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Set the Hook and Get the Net!
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catfishchef
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best advice i can give you is fish it till school gets out because it get hard to find walleye they hate the noise, try a couple of other lakes south of prior!
The lake will pick up in about late september and is good threw january, its just that it get so much pressure, from fishing and recreation
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catfishing good ol american pastime
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FishnCanuck
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Any thoughts for pulling plugs at night on the shallow reefs?
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Good Luck!
FishnCanuck
_______________________________________
Set the Hook and Get the Net!
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hunting4walleyes
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Big G is right, they are in there. You have to fish them very early and late in the evening. You also have to try new things. The fish in Prior are not always related to the rocky areas. They can be found on shallow sand flats. They also like where the sand meets gravel areas. I fish quite a bit with a slip bobber. I will work the shallow areas around the deeper holes. I also like shorelines with steep breaks. When you catch one pay attention to the area because usually you pick up a few if you find them. The previous poster has a good point. There are many good lakes around Prior that are pretty good for walleye too. And most of them have half the recreational traffic as Prior.
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FishnCanuck
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Long story short - 5:00-7:00 am today, lindys with leeches on the sand - 2 walleyes in the livewell. 
They do exist! 
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Good Luck!
FishnCanuck
_______________________________________
Set the Hook and Get the Net!
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TigerMusky
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Ive been fishing PL for the last 15yrs, mainly because I lived so close. Ill give a few of my opinions and observations. I have seen it change a lot, especially in the last 5. A lot of what has been said is very true. The best fishing for walleyes is low light periods or shortly after (in spring and summer) Winter time has shifted toward later evening 12:00am to 3:00am, Unless you get out before Christmas on 2inches of ice. This is partially because they are feeding heavy and there is way less traffic on the lake during key times. Once the ice is safer, Look out the cirucus comes to town, and the whole lake becomes noisy for the rest of the year and the walleyes react to it.Ill keep that discussion for another time.The two seperate lakes (Upper and Lower) fish very differently. Upper prior has a creek running into it from Spring lake and is usually much more stained with more of a muck ruble bottom. The weeds dont grow as deep maybe 7-10 feet. Lower Prior is much clearer with a sandier bottom and the weeds grow to depths of 15-17 feet. Prior lake is somewhat interesting, Like everyone has said "they are in there you just have to find them" That is what I have found, I will catch them one night and the following night, I can't get a bite. I have caught them on every presentation possible. Early season is usually your best bet. (Like everyone else said, Once school gets out forget it) I was out the wednesday before opener and there were already wakeboarders and jet-skiers out, the water was 54 degrees.
Before the milfoil grows in the shallows you can get walleyes casting raps in the shallows of steap rocky shorelines. Once the water hits 60 and the weeds start going, look for sunken islands with good weeds and fish the breaks with roach rigs and minnows. Prior has quite a few of these on both sides of the lake. You may have to use gulps or alive to make it through the 15 bass you'll catch. Mid summer is very tough, If you are not capsized by wakeboard boats, the Thursday night bass league will blow by your boat doing 65 to the next spot. Live bait gets tough because of the panfish. A container of leaches wont last a half hour out there. You need to save them for the prime times. Some shorelines used to be REAL productive trolling size 4 and 5 shadraps in black and white during humid summer evenings. The problem is the milfoil growth. I have used three-ways with raps to fish the 14-16 foot weed edges in the summer (almost every shoreline has weeds out to that depth) One thing to look for is cabins that have been bulldosed. If you have seen Prior Lake over the years you have seen the lakeshore properties change quite a bit. Cabins and smaller homes (by some standards) have been replaced with mansions. A 1.3 million dallar home owner cant have weeds at the end of his dock so they are sprayed or raked. Sometimes this creates real nice areas to cast raps on a full moon. It seems that once you find a school of walleyes, take advantage of it you can switch to a vertical presentation and catch a limit faily easy. Make sure when you see a good grouping of archs on the electronics its walleye. If you have a uderwater camera use it. There are quite a few carp and suckers not to mention the boat loads of pannies. I also agree with others that once June hits try and find another smaller lake. If you surf the fishing websites you will notice Prior Lake comes up quite a bit. Which makes me laugh, people are coming from st. paul and eagan and everywhere else to fish for walleyes on PL when they have much better walleye lakes around them. Now if its Bass your looking for, PL has everything to offer. Lots of good weeds and plenty of nice boat lifts/docks to clank. If your still having troubles locating some eyes, shoot me a PM and I can maybe help ya little.
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Thats why they call it "fishin" and not "catchin".
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FishnCanuck
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TM,
Thanks for the in-depth input. Your insight should prove quite useful.
On a separate note, the two fish I picked up were on a 8' snell with a red hook and green bead at 0.9-1.1mph
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Good Luck!
FishnCanuck
_______________________________________
Set the Hook and Get the Net!
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Any advice for the new guy?? (on Prior Lake)
Re: Any advice for the new guy?? (on Prior Lake)
Re: Any advice for the new guy?? (on Prior Lake)
