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.

fishing report & ice ???


Recommended Posts

Outdoorav,

You may want to call and check in before you head up. We were up last weekend and traveled anywhere with a large wheel house. Granted we had the scout truck ahead with chains on the tires blazing a trail, then our truck (with chains) and house, and finally a third truck/house combo. We were fortunate to not have any problems, sometime Saturday a large crack opened up and I'm not sure how that will affect lake travel. I know it affected Nodak's quite a bit, travel out of their resort was limited. It seemed the crack was also affecting Denny's too. We were out of Highbanks all weekend and had many options with their road system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30something,

we followed that crack from the north shore area south to center bar. figured there was no sense following any farther.

Rick had the plow truck across the crack once, but then realized that wasnt going to work very well and decided to wait a day to heal up. that night it got even colder and and another crack opened up a half mile closer to highbanks road system.

now things are not quite so cold and a couple days of healing and good luck, we should be able to get a road out and across the crack in two locations. Rick wants to get out towards ravens, and I want to get out to the big hump, but we wont do so until it's safe.

for the record, the crack was 6-7 inches wide in some locations, but the ice was around fifteen inches thick.

I have carved several spur roads, but now my power angle is acting up. I will get it the garage and see if I can figure out the problem. I got some more roads to make and walleyes to catch!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ice conditions are allowing for full size vehicles with wheeled houses to get out there. (We drive a one-ton plow truck and are hauling 4300 lbs sleepers) If you're looking for suggestions on places to set-up, give us a call and we'd be happy to fill you in on the latest for fishing reports at 800-365-2560. Here's the news from the weekend......we've been trying to expand our road system further to the northwest towards Zoomers. We currently have a total of 6 miles of plowed roads that lead 3 1/2 miles to the northwest on the humps and many secondary roads including one to Perch Bar. We had some perch, walleyes and northerns being brought in. All in all though it was tough conditions to be out in the elements. With minus 50 degree windchills and minus teens actual temperatures, it was extremely difficult for those in portables to stay mobile. It seemed that groups were averaging 1/3-1/2 their limits of 9"+ perch. Slush conditions are improving with the colder temps that we've been receiving.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

jigglestick,

Would you by chance be Mr. D, who stopped by our wheel house this past weekend working your houses around the Perch Bar area with your plow? (white house w/ big brown stripe around it...looks like a frig with all the flourecent lights).

As Thirtysomething noted, we blazed a wagon train trail to Zoomers on Saturday. Unfortunately we didn't find the perch once we got there, but by golly we made it!! (part of the fun). Was just too darned cold and difficult to move around much so we didn't cover much ground there. Ice was good though, and only one small spot of slush along the way by a crack that posed no problem. By next weekend, I'd bet mobility should be great out of Highbanks....assuming no big ice cracking/heaving problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hey thank you for the great update.Highbanks I will check back next week.this we be the first time fishing winn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

King,

spur road, a short road sprouting off of the main resort roads outreaching to other areas of interest ie humps, rock piles, mud flats etc.

in years of little or no snow, they are not nessecary.

Barracuda,

yep, that was me. a cold son of a gun this past weekend eh?

I kinda thought that was you guys who headed out and back across that crack. if you would have seen the wide openness of the crack it self, had it not been covered up by the top layer of snow, I'm betting you may have thought twice about crossing it with a wheel house.

glad you made it out and back ok.

I'll stop again when I see you out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heading up bright and early tomorrow morning, should be on the lake by 11 AM, we will be fishing out of house #8 at Highbanks, and I can't wait. We'll be there until Sunday, well on the lake anyway, we'll have the portables along in case we feel like chasing, so stop on by and shoot the bull for awhile!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Zemp, we'll be up there all day Saturday I'm not sure what shack #... but we'll have a Frabil Magnum out as well probably and if its nice enough we'll be outside too. We'll see ya up there maybe good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Barracuda,

I'm so jealous you met the infamous jigglestick! Darn jobs keeping me from fishing. I hope to run into him again up there. Jigglestick is one of the all time great handles and I've laughed at many a post of his over the years.

Hope the young ones birthday is good, maybe the newbie will crack some eggs.

Catch you soon.

S.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ill be headed up to float on the jiggleship maybe tomorrow night or Friday morning, lookin forward to it. Nobody tells a story like Jigglestick, thats for dang sure!!!! \:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

***Newsflash***Late this afternoon we ventured westward with our plow truck and have reached Zoomers, we also have another road to Big Island. All of our roads are "color coded" - stop by the lodge and we'll give you a map to help you plan your strategy. Sounds like the upcoming weekend is going to cooperate with comfortable temps and this "deep freeze" is going to taper. This should make for some great fishing. Give us a call we still have a few cabins available for the weekend for any last minute trips you might be planning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the update and I'm glad to see you made it out to Zoomers and just in time. I'll be there around 4:30 so hopefully the bite is starting to improve.

Thanks Again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

good luck to everyone who is fishing this weekend. I will hope for good reports on monday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ice thicknesses on the main road are approx 24". Secondary roads are 18-24". Off roads we are finding 14-18".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30-something - At Gunflint let's have Johnnie tutor Monster Energy for breakfast. Won't be any sunny sides up, but scrambled eggs should be OK, maybe just a little crunchie! HA HA! He'll learn to crack an egg sooner or later tho.

Speaking of meeting Jigglestick, someone w/ FM should offer us the option to buy little lapel pins or something so we know when we bump into each othe. I don't write much cause I'd rather read on FM, but would love to meet some of the folks who we've come to know over the years thru our "codenames". Like Jigglestick. Who would have guessed he'd come knockin? And we figured it out later by chance. Glad to have met you though! And yes, I'm the dumb one sometimes, although suppose I should be the smart one calculating ice thickness, temp, ice growth rates, etc....then I say "good" and blast across the lake w/fingers crossed, window cracked and ice picks around neck. God's watchin over me I guess so far. Rick too, from what I heard. Stop by and say hello any time you see The FRIG. We're there on Winnie every now and then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

makes me chuckle. truth be known, I've been gone for a while persuing other interest I guess.

kinda forget how many people I used to correspond with on the net once upon a time.

just ran into another guy today who said, "hey, you wouln'dt be that jigglestick guy would ya"?

can't help but grin when that happens.

I do have my name on my IBOT jacket, but I don't always wear it. A certain amount annonimity helps keep the fishers at bay from my rentals.

not anti social by any means, it's just that when the portables come piling in between my rentals, the noise shuts the good walleye bite down for every body.

I would rather, if they don't know where to go, just come ask me and I'll point them to the best spot I can figure out, away from the crowds. they will have much better luck that way and so will my guests.

I know how the bars and humps lay and would be glad to help any one out.

Today, highbanks shut the access down.

we went out to get one house full of renters out and back to shore and that was it. the road blew shut behind us.

we will be back out there tomorrow to re-open every thing, if the wind lays down.

here's the view from the dam

101_0165.jpg

101_0167.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just looking at them pics.I sure am glad I went with my gut feeling and pulled my sleeper off the lake yesterday!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just wanted to comment on the class A operation that HighBanks and Jigglestick's run. It's nice to see that people aren't in it just for the MONEY and they think about the best interest of people. My wife and I had a day off together, we were going to try one of jigglesticks houses. Rick at HighBanks had the road closed due to the weather. Keep up the good work and thanks again for looking out for our safety. I'll see ya again real soon

robg785

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob, what can you say, it wasn't in the cards today.

I dropped the minnows back off where we got them. they will live to be scooped again.

there are things we can control, and things we can not.

maybe we could have pulled it off, but then again, we could have ended up in a pickle too.

we made the right call.

school is off for tomorrow in Deer River I have now heard.

funny they didn't close it today.

you guys pick another day and give me a call.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey jiggleship it just dawned on me that you may be writing on the whinnie thread. How sweet it is. Glad to see your having a good time. I may have to move in to the area to find some fish. If I bring a house down there do you think I will have any runners left when I get there? Does winnie have any crappies? Only fished it once on opener and we did ok but the wind blew us off the second day and we had to find a small lake that day.If you see my snooping around load the potato gun as I try and capture the flag.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Jigglestick, is that you! Same one that fished Red like it was goin out of style a few years ago? Remember going out with Kelly P and the Auger flying out of the back of someones truck! Memory if foggy but I remember that!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mr. paperpmouth,

that was I.

as I recall, we were heading out to an area to go crappie fishing on big red and we wuz haulin azz.

there was a new pressure ridge running to the north that i was un aware of and I learned about it rather quickly.

I still have that auger.

well, most of it.

the good old days eh?

Cookie,

here I is.

no to crappies on Big Winnie, well lets just say their like looking for the needle in the haystack anyway.

the fish of choice down here is the perch.

for the life of me, I can't understand what they see in them, but what the heck, at least the perch fishermen aren't sitting on the couch at home.

we'd better weld some hardface rod on your runners if your going to drag a sleeper down here.

we could wait for a snowstorm and skid her here on new snow?

just a thought.

halfway through the ice season now, or close any way.

I think after the slow start for our ice, were finaly going to make it.

say hi to your bride for me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey there you willey veteran! Have you been fishin winnie much this year? I have friends who live on the lake and it sure is fun goin up first ice! I am headin to Rick and Kim's mid february for a fishing fiasco ! cant wait!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

well, actually I pretty much live on the ice in the winter.I can explain later.

you guys must be staying in the hilton?

I have a butt load of guys coming up that weekend. that includes a few of the old IBOT group too. Goose will be up there, he was driving the red dodge that was behind me when the auger took flying lessons.

if you think of it, give me a call when your up there or I'll more likely forget to come looking for you.

218-259-5229

I'll be on the ice all weekend.

here's a tip, bring a portable(s) with you that weekend, if you have the room.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me & the missus(aka the queen of clamp) are in. Got plenty of bottle rockets. Just wish I still had that loud generator. Maybe a new chapter meeting at Highbanks?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • 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
×
×
  • 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.