Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Recommended Posts

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

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

13metrooy7.jpg12metrong4.jpg12metrorn5.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • 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
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.