I had the chance to go try some ice fishing on Lake Zumbro today. The bite has been typical of mid-winter – somewhat on the slow side. The first thing I noticed was that the current was very low, which is always a good sign when ice fishing. A stronger current will put the fish on the move and they tend to be less likely to bite. The ice is over 2 ft. thick on much of the lake and you can still drive on from either end.
I decided to start the fishing with my usual choice of lures/bait – a diamond jig tipped with red spikes. I quickly found no reason to try anything else. The fish were there and willing to bite. The action was actually quite good early in the day and tailed off as the day went on.
I set up in 23 FOW and saw almost constant activity on the bottom. The active fish would slowly raise up off the bottom and take a swipe at the lure about 2-3 above the bottom. Without the use of my Marcum LX-5 I would probably not have caught many. It was imperative to see the fish start to rise and then be ready for the bite. The bites were light and you needed to set the hook almost immediately, or the fish would spit the lure away.
The fishing should get better very soon on Lake Zumbro. In a normal year, we start to see the fish move up-river around this time, and there is some indication that a few of the fish are moving already. The Zumbro Zinger GTG is coming up March 8th. There is a post in the Rochester forum with details. Sure was fun to catch some decent fish on the Zum again! Hope you all have a chance to get out fishing soon.
