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On the way to work this morning I noticed that Detroit was completely froze over. Sallie was completely frozen this morning, but the wind opened up the section by Dunton Locks and that spread to most of the NE side of the lake. Height of Land was froze over yesterday afternoon , and Shell was about 75% froze as well.

The warm weather that's forecasted is looking to undo much of what took a week of below freezing temps to accomplish. Hopefully the forecast will be wrong, and we'll be able to get on these lakes in a few weeks.

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I'm with you, come on ice. How you been Dead? I need to get those stickers from you.

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Quote:

Cya at C....11am Sunday, I'm heading out there.
grin.gif


Scott, how did you do? I fished Big C yesterday and only managed a 17"er in ther first 15mins. Had all the makings of a great day on the water. Has anyone heard of people having any luck pulling plugs yet? I tried right after dark with no luck crazy.gif

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I tried plugs from 13' to 30' and live bait from 4' to 30' and didn't get one bite. Fished the y camp, the islands, & pikes bay from from 12 to 5 pm. frown.gif

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would have LOVED to take advantage of this beautiful weekend fishing BUT, I got roped into working....

my better days on big c this time of year have been when its either windy, cloudy or precipitating.

the nice days usualy suck for catching.

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Is it just me, or is Big C overated? I drove by the west access yesterday and saw 20+ boat trailers, looked like everyone was down in pikes bay. Was tempted to try it, but then I remembered all the times I've been frustrated there and thought better of it. I know there are a lot of walleyes in that lake, but I haven't figured it out. Thing is, I don't see many others catching fish often either. What experience do the rest of you have on that lake?

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I fish Big C. because of it's the closest of the larger lakes in the area for me to go to. If I can't find the walleyes I can usually find pan fish or bass if I,m getting bored. I hear Pelican is better but to me looking at mutimillion dollar homes is not my idea of "getting back to nature" which is the main reason I go fishing. The worst part is that Big C's. shores are getting that way now too. frown.gif

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Question --

Do you guys think with the cold water temps that the lakes will freeze over sooner than most years? That is my thought. Mosst years it takes so long to get to that temp and most lakes are about there now.

Thoughts?

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I've been out on Big C the last two Sundays, and today for about an hour and a half with my two year old boy. Didn't get any today, but on Sunday we got 2 and lost about 6, and the previous Sunday we got 6. I've been hearing good reports, but it's been, you should have been here yesterday confused.gif

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Quote:

I've been hearing good reports, but it's been, you should have been here yesterday
confused.gif


Glad to hear I'm not the only one having some struggles on Big C. I was hoping to get out there this weekend again but the wind on Saturday may be keeping me on the river instead. I will more than likely have an open seat if anyone is interested.

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I hadn't fished Big C. since the tournament until this weekend. A few teams, including us, were using redtails and getting bites where the redtails would come up with a slash or two in them about 2",s long but you could barely feel the bite. The same thing was happening this weekend. Is anyone here experiencing the same thing?

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you guys are wasting your time on Big C. I know it's close for you Hawley guys, but if you don't want to keep banging your heads against the gunwales, find another lake. Big C has WAY to much forage and the chances of a fish taking your bait is slim to none. It's a common problem on fertile lakes like these with a high abundance of forage. The fish are there, no doubt, but sometimes trying them to pick your bait out from the real thing is like finding a needle in a haystack.

my two cents... tongue.gif

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Dead you are 100 percent correct. I think what happens is we hear about some great fishing and it makes us go back People pull out big ones and we go back.

It is not my favorite lake but I keep going back a couple times a year when I hear the bite is great.

Never is -- day late dollar short.

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Yeah, when I was out on Pelican last Friday, I was getting lots of short hits - I had a couple on that felt decent too. Also, are stinger hooks illegal in MN? That used to be a deadly technique in WI using stinger hooks when the eyes were short hitting...

Oh yeah, my buddy and I are going to hit Pelican one more time tomorrow after the Bison game! We were going to hit the ol Big Water, Devils Lake, tomorrow, but 36 dgrees and 20 mph forecasted wind is shying us away... For some reason, the temp and wind forecast closer to Fargo and DL just looks more appealing, so Pelican it is tomorrow! I'll post our results when we get back... Last Friday night, the actin didn't pick up until about 7:30 PM, well past sundown! Good luck to all still toughin it out!

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Quote:

you guys are wasting your time on Big C. I know it's close for you Hawley guys, but if you don't want to keep banging your heads against the gunwales, find another lake. Big C has WAY to much forage and the chances of a fish taking your bait is slim to none. It's a common problem on fertile lakes like these with a high abundance of forage. The fish are there, no doubt, but sometimes trying them to pick your bait out from the real thing is like finding a needle in a haystack.

my two cents...
tongue.gif


Actually I kinda liked the challenge but I'm learning fishing Big C. is no challenge at all compared finding a place in MN to set up some goose decoys. Whew!!! People don't call back and they all seem to have some excuse for not letting you out in a dug field. Is this why I see all the traffic heading to ND to hunt? Do landowners/farmers love the geese that much in Mn?

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see what I told you a few weeks ago Scott? I told ya it would be hard frown.gif Besides, I think half of those farmers in MN live in ND in the winter shocked.giftongue.gif at least the ones in Wilkin County anyway....

Sorry to hear you had such a hard time trying to get out goose hunting... Looks like you'll have to get ready to start hole-hopping soon. grin.gif

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Quote:

see what I told you a few weeks ago Scott? I told ya it would be hard
frown.gif
Besides, I think half of those farmers in MN live in ND in the winter
shocked.giftongue.gif
at least the ones in Wilkin County anyway....

Sorry to hear you had such a hard time trying to get out goose hunting... Looks like you'll have to get ready to start hole-hopping soon.
grin.gif


JP...No doubt you were right so far. Most of my time searching has been around Fergus Falls. I've never felt so unwelcome anywhere. Guess I'll keep looking in Clay and Becker county until iceup. Actually I like learning the area anyway by driving around and looking. Never know when your going to run into that Honeyhole of an icefishing spot. This time of the year I could pull the boat, carry a pickup load of decoys and guns plus carry the hand auger and ice rods and possibly use them all in the same day if I find some turned corn fields to hunt. grin.gif

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there you go Scott, that's the right attitude.

Fisherdog was over this afternoon and we were looking at the mods I did to my portable; it really got me wanting to get out for some early ice action. only problem is there's no ice....

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Quote:

there you go Scott, that's the right attitude.

Fisherdog was over this afternoon and we were looking at the mods I did to my portable; it really got me wanting to get out for some early ice action. only problem is there's no ice....


I went back to last year and looked at a post I entered from 11/27...here it is:

Quote:

Don't put the boat away yet!!

For about 2 hours I was walking all over the ice (5") northeast of Hitterdahl. Only set up a tip up for 15 minutes while I checked out the lake with my LX3. Nothing happening so I drove around and......

At 5:00 pm Sunday evening I saw a boat out on Big C. with a couple fishing just off the north landing! Not a sign of ice other then 50% of Leif starting.

Hmmmm....what's a guy to do??


If the wind stays down do you think we could do this again in 15 days? smile.gif

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see the problem is Scott, you're not thinking ice... Bad boy. Think ice grin.giftongue.gif

It was worth a try though huh? have fun with the open water while the rest of us are miserable waiting for fishable ice.

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We could easily be fishing by Thanksgiving if everything works out well. We only need 4-5 nice cold days to walk out on some small lakes or bays. I'll have to get my stuff out and ready this week.

Fisherdog

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Well the boat will be getting put away this week as well. A bit dissappointed but excited for the ice as well. I will be digging everything out and getting it ready for the upcoming season also.

Dead, what type of mods did you do to your portable? I am looking at doing some type of lighting yet before the season starts. There are quite a few different options available that it's tough to decide crazy.gif

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check out my portable mods here

and lighting installation here

I'll be installing some reflectix insulation here on the celing pretty soon. I showed Fisherdog the idea yesterday and I think he is doing it as well in his. When my brother in law comes up for thanksgiving next week I should be getting hooked up with two salvage 12v fans from a computer to help ciruculate heat. I saw at a store that they were selling those same fans for $20 a piece, ouch...

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Dead, I called Reeds yesterday and purchased 3 of those 6' led rope lights you had. Still only $8 each! I'll be in Fargo next week and I'll pick up a roll of 4'X 25' of that reflectix and some aluminum tape. I'm not sure what I'll do for mods if any, I think the lights and insulation will work just fine for now until I get a smaller one man portable. You can pick up 5" computer box fans online at amazon for about $8 each if your intereste. Coleman also makes some neat battery operated magnetic fans that work for quite a while on D size batteris. Check them out on their website.

Fisherdog

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A little Mod I did with my portable was took a sheet of 1/2 inch plywood and laid it in the shop and put the flip over portable up. I then marked 4 holes in the plywood with a 5 gallon bucket allowing room for 4 boots, 1 vevilar, 1 heater. Then when we go out we just lay the plywood down mark the holes, drill them, lay the wood down pull over the roof and we are fishing in 15 minutes. It helps keep you feet warm not haveing them on the ice. also helps with traction.My fishin partner is a overwheight (450lbs +) disabled guy who cant walk on the ice so the plywoos helps him get in and out of the house easier.

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F-dog, let me know when you pick up that reflectix, I want to see how it looks in the yukon grin.gif seriously, unless you're gonna use all 25' of that stuff, let's split it. That trap is 86" long by 62" wide so I'd need 10 ft to get full coverage.

Thanks for the tip on the fans, I'll wait a couple of weeks to get them for free.

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JP or Peter, do you guys have the reflectix installed in your shacks? I would really like to see this and to look over your shacks for some ideas for mine.

You guys have anytime after work during the week?

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