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I LOVE days like this!!!


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Well my instinct was right in that this weather has some birds moving. When I left work for lunch I stopped and took a look over the lake I hunt and sure enough there was a flock of 30 or so mallards flying around, so I just HAD to get out there. I was set up by 12:30pm and within 2 minutes of getting the boat hidden I had a flock of about 25 mallards come right in. Picked out two drakes and got them both. A few minutes later a flock of 15 or so mallards comes by, a drake breaks off and I got him. Then a flock of 5 pintail come by and I took the closest drake.

Great day to be out there. Saw a decent number of high flocks headed south, way up in the stratosphere where the commercial airliners fly. tongue.gif

I'll be the first to admit that I'm by no means a good photographer, but I did try and take a few pics.

Today's limit.

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Mixed flock of widgeons and pintails

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A few mallards that wanted to check things out.

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And a small flock of ringbills that decided to land yet keep their distance from the goose decoys after I picked up the duck decoys.

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By the way, if you look hard, way in the backround just off the point in the backround there is a iittle bit of white on the water....about 10 swans.

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good shooting! and nice pics! I managed to get out with my buddy also this morning and got 3 redheads(hen, 2mature drakes) hooded mergi, 2 ringnecks, and hen canvasback. I was limited to shooting til 8am because of class frown.gif no mallards though!

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That it!

I am hunting in the morning!

Those pintails sure are a cool looking bird. I got a nice drake yesterday not too far away from the area your hunting.

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Great pics and what a hunt . I have to go in the morning

Quack Quack BANG BANG> can't wait till morning.

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The interesting thing about today's hunt was my neighbor was out in the morning in the same spot I was, he hunted until 11:00a.m., saw some ducks, but couldn't get much of anything to decoy. I get out there 1.5hrs later and it's a turkey shoot.

This is just an observation of mine, and mostly my own opinion, but on days like today when it's semi-cold, the wind is blowing and the skies are mostly blue, the mallards seem to head off the lakes early to go out to feed, then will head south and by 11:00 or later, get to a point where they need to come down to rest. Over my years of hunting waterfowl, it seems the better mallard shooting is later in the morning, at least on the lake I hunt. This is just what it appears to me, and I certainly could be very wrong, but I've had some awefully good shoots by sticking it out until 1:00pm or so while others head in at 9:00 or 10:00 to go pheasant hunting, catch the Gophers or Vikes, or whatever they're doing.

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That's the prettiest drake pintail I think I've ever shot. Of the 5 that came in, it was easy to see that 4 were drakes and one hen. In my second picture of the mixed flocks flying over head, the bigger flock was all pintails and I could see quite a few drakes in there. I don't recall a year where I've seen this many pintails before. A pleasant site to see. smile.gif

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Awsome shoot and pics Eric. I am now and itching to go especially when I'm sitting at work and that lake is only about 2 1/2 blocks away from my desk.

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Nice Job! Great pics!

I'm drooling over that little flock of divers! Fun to shoot and good to eat! Mmmmm! Lots of nice drakes in that group.

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Nice! That pintail is sweet! That's one duck I can't get. I've shot at them but they must have feather armor on whenever I get a decent shot. mad.gif

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hey basscatcher, I am a student at MSU mankato. I've been itching to shoot a nice greenhead (haven't got one in 2 years). Can you share some info on what lake you hunt? Awesome pics!

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Lake Titloe...funny name huh? smirk.gif It got that name for a reason....because that's about how deep it is. tongue.gif It's only about 5' - 5.5' deep at it's deepest, and that's when water levels are normal. Mostly just a mud bottom lake, poor water quality with carp and bullheads.

Because it's a shallow lake, it tends to ice over early on when it gets cold out. Case-in-point....1/3 of the lake is covered with ice today.

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There were 6 ringies in that flock....5 of which were drakes. They sure are a pretty bird when the sun hits them just right.

What am I saying??? Pretty much every duck is pretty, except I sure wish I could get a bw teal when they have their color, but that ain't gonna happen. smirk.gif

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Doser....we're gonna have a bit of a "crew" out there tomorrow morning. Keep an ear out...maybe you'll hear us light some up! smirk.gif I know, that's a mean thing to say, especially if you're stuck at work. wink.gif

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Quote:

Lake Titloe...funny name huh?
smirk.gif
It got that name for a reason....because that's about how deep it is.
tongue.gif


Good stuff! Is it a coincidence the swamp I hunt is called Lake Shrinkage. tongue.gif Only a couple feet deep. smile.gif

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Quote:

Is it a coincidence the swamp I hunt is called Lake Shrinkage.


If you fell in right now, I think you would know why it is called that. grin.gif

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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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