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Gearing up for ice fishing


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Deer rifle season had a little slower start with the warmer temps, but when the temps dropped and we got a little snow it started improving; all in all a pretty decent season and we saw everything from does to a 12 pointer! There's a few pics I took on our fbook site (listed below-you don't have to belong to fbook to see the pics), if you want to check it out.

Now that it is over it's time to switch gears and get ready for ice fishing season, and like the temps the last couple of days-last night's low was 0, and single digit lows in the forecast the next few days. A quick drive to Blackduck Lake shows that it appears totally frozen over, but honestly it is not safe enough yet to head out there (seeing a lot of tracks in the parking lot from folks checking it out but thankfully everyone is playing it safe!); Upper Red Lake some are saying they are seeing 3 to 5" and a couple of folks have ventured out BUT there is a lot of places with just skim coats of ice so DON'T head out just yet (remember you are not only putting yourself at risk, but others who would have to come out to get you). Just give it a little longer and as always on Upper Red, check with the access owners for their recommendations.

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We had our first angler in last night who was on Third River spearing (he got his limit of pike, with one a bit over 30"; picture added). He said that yesterday (Tuesday) he was measuring 4" of ice; it was mostly solid, except where there were very small snow drifts. I drove around yesterday and didn't see anyone out on a couple of the lakes, and he said last night he hadn't seen anyone on the other lakes yesterday, but he's thinking about heading back this weekend and giving one or two of the smaller lakes a whirl. Sunday it got down to 3 degrees, Monday's low was 0, last night was 10; today it got to 25 and tonight it's suppose to get down to 9.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Jon, you plan on hitting several lakes when you are up here or just the Duck? This week folks are really doing pretty good at Red, so the majority are hitting that, and then some of the smaller lakes in the area for panfish. Ice thickness is variying from lake to lake-Red running around 14"; Blackduck & Island 11-12"; and the smaller lakes are running around 8", but several zero and below nights in the forecast. Jigs or plain hook tipped with a minnow has been working for the eyes and the perch on Red & Blackduck (bars in the 8 to 18' depths). Few folks up pre Christmas fishing, but next week plan on the fish cleaning room being real busy with folks up during their week off.

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Planning on fishing duck for sure and possibly red or both.. tried call you for a Res. But got the recording.. waiting for your call back before I go somewhere eles.

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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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