Ice Fishing Report

[ClementsonResort]

The ice fishing on the river this year so far has been outstanding. Many locals are very impressed with the excellent water clarity this year, many haven't seen it this clear in years. Your jig is visable 5-6ft below the surface. Anglers have been catching walleye from 16-18 inches in size and we also seen larger in the 20+ catagory. I even got a 25" walleye. But the neighbor girl pulled a 29"! A change in the weather slowed the bite last weekend but we started seeing a rebound this week. Groups getting their limits and one angler caught and released a 27 inch walleye. Others have seen the 18-20+ come around again. Jig color of choice has been pink or gold, but yesterday we were doing better on flourescent yellow.

[ClementsonResort]

The fishing had picked up during the week again after last weekend. My son caught and released a 25 inch walleye and last night a guest pulled in a 26 inch walleye. Morning bite seems to be running from 7-9am and afternoon is between 3-6pm are the best bites. Anglers are also doing well with northern catching them mostly all day on tipups. Had a report that Vidas Landing is another good spot. Anglers up there were able to bring in their limit last night, a couple were thrown back due to being 19.5+. We moved our houses the other day and drilled fresh holes, ice thickness was about a foot. Glow in the dark and pink/white colors are doing well.

["theicemanmn"]

Thanks for letting me use your landing today. The fishing was pretty good, caught some real nice keepers. Hopefully I will be able to make it back over there again soon.

[Badger_55]

hey I was just up there this last weekend and I want to thank you guys for a great place to stay and good hospitality. Everybody had fun and to top it off we did catch some fish. Thanks again and hopefully I will get to see ya guys again soon.

[ClementsonResort]

Hey thanks guys! Hope to see you again soon!

Today you could definatly tell the drop in the temperature. With the wind blowing it felt even colder. The bite was quiet today. A group we had here did catch a few keepers this evening with a 25 incher in the mix. They also mentioned the bite was soft today.

[ClementsonResort]

Did I say it was cold? Well now it's really cold! Yesterday the wind picked up and put us in a Wind Advisory until noon today. Last night it was around -16 degrees without the windchill factor, with it was around -27. Art and the neighbor went out last evening to move the icehouses to a deeper depth due to the weather and they were able to bring in 3 walleye and one sauger but they were all pretty small.

We heard that anglers were doing pretty good up by Birchdale last week. They pulled a couple 10pounders out of a more shallow depth of 8-10 ft, but are sure after the weather turned cold, so soon, they'll go deeper.

We have anglers this weekend so I'll let you know how they do. We're supposed to stay in single digits the next couple days but the wind is expected to die down and the sun's out now.

[ClementsonResort]

Despite the temps dropping to about 26 below last night anglers were catching fish last evening and this morning. Walleye sizes ranged between 16-18 inches. Even had a few just over 19". Temps are still cold but looking better today. Yesterday at this time it was still -13 degrees. Today we're at 1 degree above!

[ClementsonResort]

Today was the first day in about a week we hit 20 degrees, felt like a heat wave! The cold snap brought us some unforeseen technical difficluties we've had to address so we didn't get out tonight but I'm sure we'll be out again soon. Anglers here the last couple days have been catching mostly walleye, not too many sauger, but a few. Our neighbor called the other night to see how I did and I got the same as him, one, nice one, but one. He said the guys in the house next to him limited out! I want to know what they were using! I've been using jiggin spoons and usually do ok, but I might switch back to the regular round jigs again, some anglers we talked to did better than other houses and that's what they were using.

[ClementsonResort]

It wasn't too cold today in fact it was nice we even got a dusting of snow to freshen things up. After we got our work done today Art and I went fishing for a little while. We got 5 walleye and threw one back. The bite was soft so we did miss a few. We did better when we jigged occasionally and not in a constant motion. Pink was a hot color tonight.

[ClementsonResort]

The fishing on the river has been interesting. The time of day the bite is on has been the same, morning and late afternoon, so during the day anglers have been setting up tipups and catching northern. The interesting part is that although the houses in front of Clementson are in the same general area the bite will vary from houses to house and night to night. One house will have one while the house next to it limits out and the house next to them has to throw back the couple they catch because their 20+ in length. The kicker is the next night that whole scenario will change houses. One night I caught a limit in a very short time, the next night same house I got one 20.25" and the house next to me limited out. The good thing is their still catching fish out here. In fact yesterday morning an angler caught and released a 26" walleye.

[ClementsonResort]

The recent cold snap that continues to sit has slowed the bite again. We're looking for a more stable pattern to come around again.

The cold weather has the ice thickness on the river pushing the 2 ft mark. We drive out on it everyday. In fact last Sunday there were 10 vehicles at the mouth of the bay alone.

[ClementsonResort]

My oldest son Nick and I went fishing tonight despite the high today of only 15 BELOW. We just wanted to see if we could get anything to bite. My husband went and moved the house in closer to about 15ft earlier today so we thought we'd see. Well we did. My 1st walleye was 13" so I threw it back thinking it would be the only one we would get. Well I was wrong, we had 6 in all. The 13" turned out to be the smallest, we had two 15", one 17.5", one 18" and a 20"! We couldn't believe it! We were jiggin about 1 foot to a foot and a half off the bottom. The pink/white color jigs we had got no bites. The yellow/white/orange mix were the ticket!

[fiskyknut]

Hey Clementson Resort Lady, just want to say a BIG thanks to you for keeping us up to date on the haps on the Rainy around your parts this winter. I have'nt been out that way since December but do plan on hitting a good wintertime Crappie spot downstream from you on the river here in the next few weeks.

Best Regards to you and yours and again thanks.....fiskyknut

I do kind of miss good old Sandee though....

[ClementsonResort]

Thanks a bunch for the positive reinforcement!

Although it's SUPER cold here the weather has been pretty stable in that pattern. The bite has really turned on again. The boys out last night caught 15 walleye. Many of them over 20 inches. 23"s 25"s and even a 28.5" for the wall! Sounds like tonight they've been doing extremely well too. I missed tonight but will be back out tomorrow night for sure!

Oh, my name is Gail

Take Care!

[ClementsonResort]

Shallow is still the key! Anglers have been doing very well with the evening bite on the river. Since the last report another 27" was caught and released and we got word in town that two 31" walleyes were caught in the river recently. Tonight we lost a big one but got a limit of keepers between 16-18".

[bumble]

Howdy! We're heading up there this fri.-mon, and was thinking of coming down that way for an afternoon of fishing the river, would it be worth the effort?? And what about these crappies I've heard rumblings about??? The Bumble

[ClementsonResort]

The late afternoon bite has been doing really well lately and we've been having alot of fun. I would have to say it's definately worth it. In fact I'm heading out (yet again)tonight, Art say's he can outfish me! We'll just have to see about that! Not much more time for ice fishing left either, soon we'll be talking iceout!

We haven't seen much in the way of crappies or heard much. So if anyone can give those crappie anglers a hint I'm sure they'd be grateful!

A change in the weather is coming, but since it's a warm change I'm not complaining. But we all know changes in the weather sometimes will challenge the bite, we'll just have to see. We've heard from many people that shallow is still where the fish are biting and I agree you definately don't want to be deeper than 15ft lately. Yellow/orange/white mix are the colors we've been using lately.

Take Care

Gail

[ClementsonResort]

Well Art did better than me yesterday. He had 2 northern and 4 walleye. I had 4 walleye. I did have the biggest walleye at 23". We both had a couple 21 inchers and some keepers. One of the norherns was a respectable 31". I did have 5 walleye but I dropped #5 down the hole before I could measure it so we didn't count that one, but it was 20+.

Today was a different story. It was a beautiful day, warmer than we've seen in weeks. Between that and a change in the wind direction the bite was slower tonight. We only had 2 walleye in our house. Others had one or none. The bite was better for northern early in the day.

[icecold]

Sounds like the fishing is great, Are the fish biting right before dark or later in the evening?

[ClementsonResort]

The fish are biting just as it gets dark. The night before last was really quiet, then last night it picked up a little with a 27 inch walleye a guest caught and released. My son and his friend each caught one and another guest had one plus 2 northern early in the day and also 2 perch.

My night was tonight, I'm still on cloud nine! Anyone who checks our website out knows Art got a 31" walleye last fall. Well I'm trying to beat that. I started with a 24" then at Christmas time I got a 25" and vowed to take him even if it's an inch at a time. Well tonight I came an inch closer with a 26" walleye (my biggest ever). I caught and released that one, a 24", a 14" and a teeny 7inch. And I limited out! The sizes in my limit were between 16-18 inches. The bite was hard, there was no mistaking a bite! The house is at 13-14ft depth and my color jig was still yellow/orange/white mix.

[tearin' lips]

Clementson Resort Lady,

You have been doing a great job keeping everyone updated was to the great fishing on the river. I can't do it as often as I am going to school in duluth now, but I did make it up this weekend and we fishing below the manitou rapids and did well on friday. I posted in the other post too so I don't want to be repetitive...Keep up the good work. I hope to be down in your area for an evening over spring break.

Take Care and Good Luck Fishing!!

[ClementsonResort]

Thanks for the motivation! I've been trying to update as much as possible. We're going to get super busy very soon checking the river for open water.

The last couple days seemed to cool off, meaning fishing, around here. The temps have been good, even hitting 30 degrees! But now a front carrying snow is passing through over the weekend. Anglers have been getting a few here and there. Tonight we had 2 walleye. A repectable 24.5" and a 16.5" but that was all. Sunday the front should be through and we'll keep you posted.

Take Care,

Gail

[ClementsonResort]

Well we're on the backside of the icefishing season now so these updates will be changing to open water updates soon!

In the meantime we dodged the last storm which was fine with me but not with the 3 boys in my house wanting a snow day out of school that didn't come.

One of my boys and I went out tonight and did much better than before these systems went through. Most were 20+ and they were biting hard again. We each had 2 lines in, 3 differnet colors and we caught something on all of them. white/pink, yellow/white/orange and pink/gold. 14ft depth. They say the backside of the icefishing season is great on the river because the large walleyes are moving up river at this time!

Take Care

Gail

[bumble]

Hey Gail, Bumble here. Do you have a cabin open for later this month,23rd., or 24th?? thinking of coming up for the weekend only, and fish the river one afternoon, then stay the night. Do you let people stay for just one night?? Let me know, or leave a e-mail, Thank-you, The Bumble

[ClementsonResort]

Hey Bumble, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. If I didn't have enough to do around here I'm also going to school so I'm trying to juggle! We have a couple spots left between the 25-27th but that's all we have left for the end of the month.

Ice fishing is coming down to the wire so I went out on the ice tonight and got my limit, so did Nick, and I also had a nice 26.5"!

Take Care

Gail