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...to adapt to the ever-changing patterns in South Central MN for walleyes. This has been the theme during the phase of algae bloom and weed die-off, but I'll tell you what, these 'eyes down here never cease to amaze me. If you don't give up, they won't either. I've spent the last few days scouting and guiding and today, especially, everything came together and the bite was darn good. The "big girls" have played 'hide and seek' as of late but the numbers of 16 - 21" fish are still there, bountiful and more than willing to eat.

Unlike last week and the week before that, the fish have definitely changed their location and preference from smaller profile baits and fast speeds to larger profile baits and slower speeds. Wind-blown rip-rap and/or weed stubble shorelines are holding quite a few fish right now in 2 - 4' of water. The best way to get at these fish and make them want it has been making long casts with 1/4 oz. Rat-L-Traps and retrieving at a mediocre pace that includes a handful of jerks and twitches on the way in. 95% of the fish are hitting right next to the boat, so be sure to finish every cast. They need a good look at it before committing (this hasn't changed). Some of the better colors have been black and gold, shad, blue and chrome, perch, green and gold and fire tiger. There is also a very promising open-water suspended trolling bite taking shape too. When you go through a school of these fish, trust me, you'll know it. Holy buckets! Long-lining #7 and #9 Wally Divers in a variety of colors 100 - 120' back in 18 - 24' of water, set the drag and listen for the clicker. For this bite to be productive, again, speed has been critical. I tried "powering" through these fish at 3.0 - 3.5 mph but could not get bit. So, we slowed to 2.1 - 2.6 mph and BINGO! One thing is for sure; the quality of fish that are suspended is tough to beat. Of the walleyes we went through today, with the exception of 1 21" 'eye, each of the suspended fish were between 17 - 19". Hard to argue with that.

All the fish that have been caught recently are still swimming, so they are around for the taking.

I'll get some recent photos up as soon as possible. I've got a great action photo of a youngster fighting an open water fish. grin.gif The best is yet to come, so ignore the comforts of A/C and get out and enjoy the awesome walleye fishing in your backyard. smirk.gif

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A couple bass tripped over those Rat-L-Traps today. smirk.gif

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It looks like I'll have to throw out the drift sock next time I'm on Tetonka. It only get better until the water starts to cool.

It's good to see there are still walleyes in Tetonka. I was thinking they all went through the ice last winter.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
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