2 of us also fished Lake Pepin yesterday with little to show for our efforts. We were the second boat to put in at Hok-si-La landing and started our day pulling cranks upstream around the Maiden Rock area. We managed 2 small saugers. On the downstream pass we picked up 1 sheepie and 1 short walleye. Seemed like more fish were being marked in 14-17 ft versus 8-12 ft.

We moved down the lake and tried straight across from Lake City as well as the area in front of the DQ. Neither of these areas produced fish. Our techniques consisted of pulling cranks on lead core and long lines. We tried a variety of colors with fish coming on UV green shad raps and wonder bread rip shads.

Hoping the warmer weather this week will turn the fish on for the weekend.

Brett

Does anyone have a recent report on the bite? 3 of us are heading over on Friday for a couple of days and was hoping to get some more up to date info on what to expect.

Thanks.
Brett

Nice fish! Looks like a fun trip. Can you elaborate a little on the trolling setup – leadcore, long lines, stick baits, shad style baits, size, speed, etc? Not looking for all the details but just a starting point. Planning to head over there in 2 weeks – hopefully there are still some active fish in the system!

Thanks.
Brett

Also fished the Hunter’s Couples Tourney. Pulled lead from 11:00 on and had a consistent bite. Only managed a 14.5 and 17 to weigh, lost at least 2 more that would have been weigh fish (nothing big though). Did get a 30″ pike in 34′ of water (thought we finally had a decent walleye). So, the lead bite seems to be picking up. We only pulled lead around the gravel and used smaller profile cranks (salmos, shads, etc).

Might try again this weekend in the open basin with some tail dancers, reef runners, etc.

Good luck if you get up there.

Nice to hear a good report! Care to share which side of the lake you were on?

10 Day Forecast looks quite promising for the I-Falls area!! Chris, my crew is looking forward to meeting up with you next Friday. Hoping to hear great reports of trophy size pannies along with a change in the current walleye bite. Good luck to all those who venture out. Put the to them over the next week but be sure to save a few for me!

5 fish = 28.4 pounds
BF = 10.2

Good luck tomorrow guys. I will be in Holcombe tapping maple trees to kick off the annual maple syrup season.

Team 18.4
BF 6.2

I was thinking more Packer colors!

Thanks for the report Bob. I had a chance to run up to the lake last night from 5-7 to get one last chance at some jumbo’s. As mentioned, the ice around the shorelines is starting to get pretty bad. We were able to find some fish during our short time out but I think that may have been the last trip of the season for me. I guess we now start counting the days until opener…

The open water sounds a bit scary. A couple of us are heading up tomorrow afternoon to try to find some mid week jumbos. Bob – where are you accessing the lake right now? Are you still able to drive trucks or is it 4 wheeler only? Thanks. And anyone who is interested in hooking up to drill some holes let me know.

Poison Pig Bay is the bay that you can see as you drive down to Sportsmans Park when you go down the dip in the road. I am not sure if that is the real name of the bay but that is what my grandpa always called it. It is a pretty easy spot to access early ice – and a good spot to bring people that don’t ice fish much as it is a short walk to shore. I am guessing Pine Lake is good to go now, I just didn’t have the chance to get out there and try it over the weekend. On another note, I did catch about a 20lb musky on Lake Wissota on Monday on a tip-up!

I was out on Holcombe (Poison Pig Bay) for a few hours this afternoon. The ice was about 6 inches in all holes that I drilled. I wasn’t fishing too hard as we had some family members with and spent too much time BSing but I did manage to catch a few small crappies and marked many more that weren’t interesting in biting. All fish were caught in 21 ft on eurolarvae and a green flirty girty. There were probably 15 other people out but I didn’t hear or see much action from them. Good luck if you head out.

I am planning to hit Holcombe either this Saturday or next Tuesday for the first time this year. Most people have not been venturing out too far yet as the ice is still a little questionable. I will report back what I find for both the fishing and the ice conditions next week. Good luck to all who head out.

Sportsmans Park and Lions are the same place and the wayside is the channel right off Hwy 27 that runs east out to the main lake. These are usually a decent first ice spots as you can walk to them. Here are some things I have always found for Holcombe crappies – stay within 1 foot of the bottom, smaller presentation the better, and make sure your hook is not exposed. Good luck.

What species are you targeting? I have always had decent luck first ice for walleyes using tipups/shiners in 5-7 ft. and crappies are usually found in the river channels and will relate close to the bottom. A lot of the “community” spots are good first ice spots (i.e. Sportsmans Park and the Wayside). Good luck.

You are correct – the shacks are on the other end of the lake. I believe most of the shacks are put out there by the locals that live on the lake. There used to be a small public landing on the north end but I am not sure if that exists anymore?

Nice work – guess I should have taken that extra seat after all! Next time I hit the pond, I will likely have to drill a hole to catch my fish!

For vertical jigging, I use a 6’3″ rod, medium action/extra fast tip rod and spinning reel with a superline (personally I use fireline). I like the sensitivity it provides and I especially like the extra fast tip for the vertical presentation. When casting, I switch to a 6’6″ rod, medium action, fast tip with a spinning reel and superline. I like the longer rod and less sensitive tip to work the blade back to the boat. These combos have worked well for me but, gain, use what you are most comfortable with.

I park at the wayside right by the bridge and walk in on a snowmobile trail. It is a decent walk to where the permanent shacks are located but I have caught panfish throughout the entire lake so I don’t think it is necessary to walk that far.

Calvin – I saw your truck at the launch and talked to Rob in the harbor but didn’t see you on the water? Would have definitely said hi if I would have recognized you! I was fishing out of the Lund Explorer – no marine radio so I couldn’t see who was in the area. How did you guys end up?

I am likely heading up again tonight. The wind/temp forecast seems pretty reasonable. Should be a good night on the pond. This weekend, I am taking a cue from Lip and chasing deer and roosters! Good luck to everyone that will be fishing the next few days.

I usually fish Pine Lake for some good early ice action on big gills and crappies. Typically you will have to move around to find them and do some sorting but it can be a fun place to kick off the hard water season.

I was one of the two guys that filled the open seat last night. I won’t steal too much of his thunder but I will say that we did have a good night on numbers and also found some nice sized fish! Trolling inside weedlines 5-9 ft with a variety of stick baits – FT and Shad HJ’s as well as rogues in craw, black chrome, and firetiger all put fish in the boat. Thanks for the trip Calvin.

We have been launching out of Terry’s all fall. Good ramp and protected harbor – worth the $10 in my opinion.

The biggest were 2 over 26. A lot of cookie cutter 23inch fish that were really fat! We did bring 5 home for the freezer that were 19-20 inches. We also ran into one boat that was trolling without bow lights – it is pretty dark out there without any moon and to me that is not only a stupid thing to do but also pretty dangerous!

I wish there was a chance for some sleep in my future! I got to bed about 5am – slept for 2 hours and am now sitting at work. Heading to WI this weekend to try to fill my archery tag – I hear the front end of the rut is starting to kick in! Leave a few in the lake for me to catch next week!

We weren’t giving Kooty a hard time on the radio last night. Actually I was fishing out of a friends boat – his maiden voyage with his new rig on ML. Although we were getting fish throughout the night, we never were able to put together a consistent pattern. Trolling with 4 guys at night without boards does deserve a pat on the back. When I started doing this I had a hard enough time managing 2 poles!

We will have the radio on tonight for sure. Should be interesting to see where everyone ends up going with the south winds. If we can’t handle the wind we might just have to head over to Hunter’s to ring the bell a few times .

We launched out of Terry’s – good launch and easy access to St Albans, Pike’s point, Seguchie and Wigwam areas. Defintely worth the $10. We focused our efforts on rocky areas mostly south of Terry’s. We came off the water around 2am and there were a lot of boats working the north side of Seguchie Pt. How did people do that were fishing that area?

I was up last night – fished out of the west side. We ended up with 8 fish, biggest was 27 inches. We kept four for the table too that were between 16-20 inches. It was an absolutely perfect night to be on the water. All fish came on #7 SSRs in dark patterns in 7-9 fow. I am thinking about heading back up tonight – there will probably be a log jam of boats working the wind protected shorelines if the wind forecast holds true! Good luck to everyone this weekend.