big marine?

[seaner]

anybody been out on big marine? ice conditions,luck??

[Ladoga]

On Tuesday, Dec. 25, we spent a few hours on Big Marine. It was covered with a lot of snow with big snowdrifts which made it hard to pull the sled. At the place where we stopped the ice was fairly thick - about 6" of solid ice and 3-4 inches of frozen slush on top of it. At 12 FOW we found a bunch of crappies with the camera. They were sticking close to the bottom between weeds. Fish started to bite somewhat actively at the sunset. Most of the fish we've got was somewhere between 6" and 11.5". We released the small ones but what we had left was still enough for a decent dinner later that night. Please note that the light scared the fish away so we had to use the light from the heater. All in all it was a nice season opening for us.

Good luck!

[seaner]

thanks a ton for the info, very helpful

[fast40m]

I haven't fished big marine in a few years. Someone told me there is a new access on the west side by the vets camp. any truth to this?

[Ladoga]

To the best of my knowledge they are going to reopen it in 2008. I saw some construction going on there when I drove by.

Good Luck!

[Ladoga]

more info:

http://www.co.washington.mn.us/info_for_...ve_development/

Good Luck!

[blueroof]

FYI, there is a winter only access on the west side, down 185th St. LB

[blueroof]

Found a pretty decent crappie bite on Big Marine this evening, hooked into around 30 from 4-8pm. Got pre-dusk action on eurolarva with a glow pink diamond jig, it was all dorsal fin hooked minnows after sunset using a white genz bug. Got a few over 12", one a hair over 13". I was in 10'.

good luck, LB

[BoxMN]

HEy Blueroof, I bet we were the ones discussing ATV towing elsewhere?

Glad to see you did well on Big M. I was out last weekend and did rotten. But I was pulling by hand, so we didn't go out too far from the east access.

Nice crappies! Very nice!

[hondavxr]

Those are some nice crappies. I tried everywhere on the Big Marine and have yet to hit slabs like that yet. Good work.

[blueroof]

Hey Box, yup, that was me for sure. Thanks for the ATV info, I put my 15 sq inches of reflective material on the back of my trap sled last night!

VXR, Big Marine has a wide range of crappie classes in it. I find that if you are on them and you fish higher in the column, and/or throw out a bigger minnow than you might think necessary you will get a few of them. I got the big one 5 feet off the bottom, with a medium sized fathead, I only brought one Nalgene of minnows out, was running low on bigger crappie minnows. Most of the fish caught were 9" or less though.

LB

[seaner]

has anybody been driving out there yet?

[fishrman]

I was out on Friday night and saw a few cars and trucks out there. I didn't drive though. Just walked.

[minnbowhunter]

I was out Sat & Sun and Drove out with the atv. Saw cars and full size trucks on the ice. Looks like 14-15 in of ice but where I was (3 different spots) the top 3-4 in is frozen slush.

[Sandmannd]

I was out Sunday and drove out a ways. Parked and then blueroof hauled our butts around with his wheeler. Good ice where I parked, but was less when we went farther out.

[fishkaholic]

how thick is the ice from the west access on 185th? is it driveable?

[jwhjr]

What's the best access that has "decent" fishing within walking distance? I'm taking my daughter out on Monday for her birthday, and I'll be pulling the portable out on foot. Any help is appreciated.

[blueroof]

jwhjr, the best access for a day bite would probably be on the west side off 185th street. Lots of folks setup over on that side in about 10' for gills. Good luck! LB

[jwhjr]

Thanks blueroof, that's where I was leaning towards. Looks to be the "shortest" walk.

[angler_for_life]

Are there trucks driving everywhere out there or are there any "trouble" spots? Thanks for any help!

[thehawk]

those are some great crappies. Nice work. Are you getting them that size on a regular basis out there or is it pretty spotty like everywhere else.

[blueroof]

hawk, pretty spotty like you'd expect. Rarely do I pickup over one 12" an outing. LB

[jrwalleye]

How is the ice thickness.Would like to take the kids out this weekend and put out some tip-ups. Thanks

[jrwalleye]

hos the ice thickness on big marine

[blueroof]

I haven't been on it since the cold snap. There should be lots of ice. People were driving all over before the cold hit. LB

[Fishpondc]

Are there springs or bad ice spots in this lake? My buddy and I were out today, looking for a crappie spot on this lake. We found a likely spot with the gps, but there wasn't a vehicle or even tracks leading to the area. There is a 12 foot weed flat that must have had the city of scandia and half of forest lake using tip ups, at least 50 vehicles in a pretty small area. Otherwise, the lake doesn't look like its too busy[ reletive to the area]

[blueroof]

Fishpondc - big marine is fished like that, most folks fish the east arm in the large 12' bowl, or the west side of the main bay. A few brave folks drill elsewhere, but generally you have those two spots were people flock. To be honest, that is where panfish are regularly found. I've found crappie deeper, but not too often.

The only spot that I know to stay away from is the far south end of the main bay, lots of springs once you get off the break into 12' or so.

LB

[Fishpondc]

Thanks blueroof

[Doonbuggy]

Any update on Big Marine? Might be able to ice fish the lake for the first time on Sunday. We'd have access on the south side of the east arm.

From the comments above should I look for 10-12' of water in that area for crappies and set tip-ups for Northerns?

Thanks in advance.

DB

[CrappieFshr651]

Thinkin about headin out there this coming weekend. Was out a few weeks ago on some weed flats on the north side and had flag after flag but only got 3 northerns on the ice, they were ripping my suckers right off