Outdoor Minnesota Fishing - Hunting Forums

Trying to stay on Topic from what I read. Ice out by opener.......so

Sounds like the record of May 23 is looking safe for another year... 

Ice is going fast!  The sun is high and powerful, we're flirting with 70 degrees and the forecast looks promising. I'm feeling pretty confident there will be a lot more open water then most are expecting.  

There will certainly be some areas of open water to fish by the opener! Pike Bay ice is deteriorating fairly fast now. Other small shallow bays are probably not far behind. Cliff 

18 days to opener,  I hope there is some open water we can fish.  our group can't reschedule due to work issues.  Come on Sun/Rain!!!  Our golf courses are just opening up today!!  smh

I see this is an ice report but not I caught fish report!!

Did real good on cats today got 4 wife 4 and I got a huge sucker that was fun. Horseshoe sure opened up today.

Sure glad you had some help moose and all turned out well ! 

Impressive, both Tom and Jeremy

Almost time but maybe not quite... Although I did get the yak out of the backyard today, on to the trailer and up front to spend some time prepping it for time on the water soon.  Indeed it was fun getting out with you and the gang a few times this winter and looking forward to the next outings whenever they may be. WIll share what worked for me and look forward to reading some more info from others. Panfish is what I love going after and I had great fishing with gold jigs almost all winter. Did use a few other colors that worked also but that gold was hard to not use. Tear drop style tungsten in and 4 mm from Widowmaker Lures. Tried some from sportsmens direct also the last couple outings and liked them also. For plastics, the wishbone was good and also impulse mayflies and slug bugs. Tried and bought too many different things to try... LOL. Fished with shrimp for the first time ever this winter and that was a challenge and fun to try something different.  Started out with my good old ultralight gander mountain rods with the frabil titanium spring bobber and then bought a couple of the TUCR Inferno with the orange tip. I really like them for the 4mm and prefer the old ganders with a 3mm. Won a custom 32 inch power noodle from Kichler Custom Rods in Elk River at an event in Wisconsin and used it a few times yesterday. Very nice and looking forward to playing with it more. CGI inline reels still doing their job fine and I did grab one of the new Descent inlines and it worked sweet also. Nice that it now has a pop off spool instead of the gold screw off knob. 10 1/4 was my biggest gill and 14 for the crappie. Even went after catfish 3 times. Saw my first catfish tornado on the vex and iced a lot of fish after being taught how to use a bobber right for those super light biters. thx RickG   My highlight of the winter was getting a PB northern on a tip up up on Mille Lacs with stick in the mud. Fun City! My good old FL 18 is still working dandy and although I am tempted to upgrade, not sure if I will. Nills 6 inch saved my back from the hassles of the gas and when I put the Milwaukee on it life got even better. All in all a fantastic winter fishing with great guys and learning how to be a better fisherman.   Fish On!