Anyone ice fishing?

Saw several trucks head out on the lake this morning up here.

fishthumper wrote:

A buddy was out on Wed. on a lake about 50 miles N or St. Cloud. GThere were still full sixed trucks driving out.

I have made that mistake before at this time of the year. Drove out and drilled a bunch of holes. Seemed like a good 20″ of ice. About 10:00 decide to drill a few more and there was 8-10″ of good ice and the rest was honeycomb. Packed it up and left as quick as I could.

Ah yes. Trampoline ice.

James Almquist wrote:

I have made that mistake before at this time of the year. Drove out and drilled a bunch of holes. Seemed like a good 20″ of ice. About 10:00 decide to drill a few more and there was 8-10″ of good ice and the rest was honeycomb. Packed it up and left as quick as I could.

That is wild and a for sure pucker moment!

There’s another month of ice fishing yet up north. I’ll probably venture out once more anyway.

Erik Swenson wrote:

There’s another month of ice fishing yet up north. I’ll probably venture out once more anyway.

2 places I couldn’t get through without an extension so far today. A little water on top but only the top 3 inches looks soft.

Would you go to Rush lake?

Not sure where that is but definitely not.

Cats tonight once the moon comes up. Crappies in the morning if it isn’t raining. Pulling the boat out of storage Sunday. I’d like to get out next weekend up at the cabin for one more ice trip but might be tough if weather is conducive for the boat.

LOW report for last week.
Fished out of Morris Point Resort Tuesday afternoon. Cuaught several sauger and walleye but only kept one and ate it that night.
Wednesday went out of Long Point Resort. Fished where Kelly suggested for a few hours and started with a 15 eye and then a couple dinks. Started moving around. Tried 31 feet, right next to a 26 foot rock pile, 29 feet without any luck. Before sunset, moved into 16 feet off the two islands and caught 8 in 90 minutes: 5 dinks, 10″ eye, and two 14″ eyes. Only got to 30 degrees but bright sun and no wind. My face was a little red after that day.
Thursday went out on Adrian’s road. 15 walleye and sauger: kept a 15″ and 13 1/2″ sauger and a 16 1/2″ eye. 3-4 bucket stretchers and several dinks. 2 tullibee.
Friday out of Adrians again. Caught 12 eyes and sauger. Mostly dinks with a few bucket stretchers. 3 tullibee.
Fun solo trip. Fished out of the portable to start the day then moved around a fished off the truck’s tailgate. One day I got picked twice in a row jigging, then caught an 11″ sauger that spit out 2 minnow heads.
Friday, a lot of water on the ice with temps nearing 60. They were supposed to get 6″ of snow Saturday. Pine Island sand was getting very rutty with some ruts ~1 foot deep. When I was going in Friday across 4-Mile bay, I met a Chrysler mini van heading out.
Ice depth was mostly ~40″. Glad I bought and brought an extension.
I also got the Buddy Heater tray that Bearcat recommended. It worked great to heat up sandwiches and hotdogs. Mmmmmmmm!!

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I just drove around the horseshoe chain. Looks like fishing is about done. Only seen i guy out on Schneider lake.

Getting on the ice seems to be the issue. The sauk river was opened up.

We didn’t fish today but there was a bunch of people that went out on wheelers, snowmobiles and trucks that I saw go by. Everything is back to a frozen tundra on Rainy.

Some of the lakes in the Faribault area are officially ice free. The rest have a day or two left.

40″ of ice still out of Springsteal, almost needed 2 auger extensions. Friday was so nice out we went to the Canada border to fish off the tailgate and say to our new 51st state neighbors LOL. Saturday the winds were 50mph all day into Sunday morning. Stayed on the house all day. We caught fish all day and night. Pulled the rattle reels Saturday night to get some sleep. Highlights were getting some 14″ range crappie, 43″ northern on a tip up and many many jumbo perch. Probably caught 60 walleye lots of 10-14″ and bunch of keepers in the 16-19.25″ and a few small Sauger mixed in. Was a blast for my son that never been on LOTW. best Late ice trip in a long time.

bigcrappie, how much snow did you get on Saturday?

We are a ways east of there on Rainy and we only got a couple inches here. It’s been coming down all morning now and is supposed to continue all day. Probably got a goot 3-4 inches on the ground so far today.

The temps this week look good for ice fishing on LOW. I’m tempted to go back up.

Not much the wind blew it all to Wisconsin or New York LOL. On the way home north of Red Lake they had 6″ or so we had to drive slow because the roads were still ice/snow covered. Around Mcgregor it was nothing.

Netguy wrote:

bigcrappie, how much snow did you get on Saturday?

Netguy wrote:

The temps this week look good for <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>ice fishing on LOW. I’m tempted to go back up.

I think with the forecast and the weather over the weekend and today kinda seals the deal that there will be ice fishing on the lake until the end of the season.

Found 20″ of ice in Remer MN yesterday. Landing and shore was locked soild still.

Was on a lake just north of Rush, the end of the access was a pond of water, so i went to another access on the other side of the lake, same thing. Pretty sure I’m done.

Was Out on LOW this weekend. Still over 30 inches of ice and drove are trucks out. We were chasing Pike. Fished two days and had 4 over 40 and probably 25 fish in the slot. Spent a lot time on the ice Friday and Saturday.

i’ve been told but no proof as i havent been up in the bowstring/ winnie area in a month that the ice is still ok there….

They were punchin holes on Roosie yesterday.

Lots of ice on Lake Vermilion MN as of Sunday. Had to be nearly 30″ with 8″ of fresh snow. Caught some ciscos, perch, and a few incidental smallies while unsuccessfully chasing whitefish. Never saw another sole all weekend. Quiet and beautiful! I’ll probably be on the ice again Thursday evening and Friday morning, while up trying to solve some early season boat gremlins.

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Eelpoutguy wrote:

They were punchin holes on Roosie yesterday.

north or south side of the hwy 6 bridge????

that channel has to be opening up quite a ways????

South end was where they were fishing but the north end was locked up to the shore.
The Channel itself was open 100 feet or so each side of the bridge.

We fished Rainy last Friday and Saturday. Zero melting there yet. Can still burry the SM40 right to the head.

glenn57 wrote:

i’ve been told but no proof as i havent been up in the bowstring/ winnie area in a month that the ice is still ok there….

I was up in that area today. I had 18-20 inches with some rot in the bottom couple inches. Overall great shape where I was. Fish were fussy but it was a nice day. Definitely open water visible on most lakes and ponds in the area but plenty of good options remain.