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Ice Sighting


vanwalleye

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Was just snooping around some of the local webcams, starting to see a little ice floating around...Hopefully this breeze dies down so it can lock up the next few days

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I was thinking the same thing.  Given the forecast, it should get locked up sooner rather than later. 

 

Of course, it *was* nice to get out fishing last week in the boat.  First time I can honestly say I've fished the lake in a boat in December.  And if the quality of the fishing last week has anything to say for it, it's going to be another amazing year on the lake. There'll be plenty of fish caught, that's for sure. :)  

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I sure hope so, fishing was pretty good last year and over the summer, seems to be a couple of pretty strong years classes to be caught..Might be tough to squeeze a keeper in out of there, but hey a picture lasts a lifetime and a meal is only temporary...

And Stick, which end of the lake did you get the boat out on...

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I think the fishing will be outstanding this winter.   They were certainly going crazy in early December.  I honestly don't care about keeping any fish, though it is nice to have the option of bringing one home.  I don't understand why guys drive four or five hours to catch dozens of dinks on Red Lake--especially last year when you could only keep two or three--when Mille Lacs was *insane* last year with both numbers and size.  Oh well.  It obviously sucks for the businesses, but I won't complain about having the best flats all to myself. 

 

We were up on the northwest side out of Myr Mar.  The harbor didn't even freeze up. We did nothing special...trolled slowly using big baits, on shoreline breaks, over remaining weeds, and over rocks. It was just like the old days, only back then we thought we were tough when we fished in early November. :)

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Nice thats what I like to hear, was doing an annual trip to LOW with my buddies, but to be quite honest biggest fish I ever saw in 10 plus trips was 27 inches, I caught 3 bigger than that on the pond last year, and hey I can stay in Wright county where I live and catch 10 inch walleyes.. I don't make it up to that end of the lake ever, usually fish the south end..Bought a wheel house this year, would loke to set it up as base camp and hopefully be able to head up toward that end and do some exploring..And thanks for the input, thinking there is a lot of readers and not many writers on this site nowadays...

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Mille Lacs is locked up. And there have been a couple brave souls walking out in the big bays since Thurs.

Waukon, Cove, and Isle Bay have all had a bit of foot traffic.

Be very careful.

 

Game on !!

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Quote

 

Thanks for the ice report, Sculpin.  With the weather forecasted for the upcoming week, I'm sure I'll be up there next weekend, hopefully walking out from the northwest side.

 

van, yeah, I hear you.  I've been up to LOW a few times, and it is very fun to know there's the chance of catching a monster....but driving all that way for a bucket full of 12'' fish?  Not my cup of tea. I'll save the money and buy three dozen T-bones to make it through the winter. I'm sure people who know the lake better than I do have done better on the weekends I'm up there, but the reports at the resort we used were pretty similar. 

 

I like the northwest side on ML because it's where we've been for almost 20 years, but it also has close access to sand, rocks, whatever weeds remain, mud flats, transitions, etc. The only thing we don't have up there is extensive gravel.

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I have been on the lake both Sunday evening, and yesterday. I have been out on the East side, main lake, drilled about 15 holes yesterday, and never saw less than 5" in any one place. I was out about half a mile yesterday. Check with area resort sites, Chapman's, Portside, MyrMar, Hunters, McQuoids, Red Door, etc. and I would imagine they will all have pretty accurate updated reports for the upcoming weekend.

Given the bitter cold temps, I'd venture to say there will be ATV's all over the lake by the weekend.  

Fishing is very good, but the elusive 19/21" fish are just that, elusive.

Be safe, take your time, and stay well away from any cracked or wet areas. The wind is blowing, and the ice will be moving.

 

Good luck 

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • 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!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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