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Ice Conditions on EP Lakes

Vallejo

By Vallejo
in MN Twin Cities Metro Area Fishing Reports - Hunting

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Squirtis Contributor

Squirtis

Posted
Posted

Let's shoot for next Thursday Dec 27 to fish Riley. I am planning on fishing some different lakes on Wed and Fri too, but maybe we can all congragate out there and put some faces to names. I think I will try to be out there by about 11am and will probably fish through lunch and onto about 4 or 5. Does anyone know of a good place to start on the lake? This will be my first time on this one. If you guys are out there, look for me in my guide and say hi.

I'll update this post if things change.

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chuckwagon Rising Star

chuckwagon

Posted
Posted

chuck here .... going to riley on sunday with powerstroke and his buddy look for an otter house and a fish trap (you know the bright blue ones that are really rare) next to each other out there. proly be out there a good chunk of the day. any time works for me!

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Powerstroke Grand Master

Powerstroke

Posted
Posted

ditto- I'm in a green Otter cabin. I've never fished there but I'm thinking about heading to the West side. The map shows some nice points and inside turns there.

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daveyred Enthusiast

daveyred

Posted
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Was out on Riley tonight for an couple hours around dark. The bite sucked but the ice was great. 1 inch of white frozen slush than 11 inches of clear ice.

Be safe and good luck.

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jeff127 Community Regular

jeff127

Posted
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I was on riley this morning and one spot I fished had no more than 6 inches the other had 8.5. The weather was great but the fishing sucked.

jeff

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Kodiak Experienced

Kodiak

Posted
Posted

i am going to be out of town till the 26th starting today....i still want to get out there with you guys. What are you guys going to want to target for fish when we go? I will start doing some scouting so we can get on what we want to catch.

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Powerstroke Grand Master

Powerstroke

Posted
Posted

Personally I like to catch crappies, but I've never gotten a walter through the ice so that would be cool. I doubt any of the EP lakes are good for that, but maybe we can try some time on Tonka too.

I will be out on Riley or maybe Red Rock saturday with my wife and daughters. I'm gonna try and do some scouting on saturday. As far as I know we're gonna be fishing on sunday afternoon. I might try deer sun. morning.

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Vallejo Contributor

Vallejo

Posted
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Posted

Squirtis, I will be up on Mille Lacs on Thursday the 27th but would be willing to hit a local lake on Friday. Post which lake and I will be there.

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Squirtis Contributor

Squirtis

Posted
Posted

Sounds good Vallejo,

Who was out on RR yesterday? I was out in the main part of the lake in about 9FOW. Picked up about a 4lb Northern on a jigging spoon tipped with a medium shiner. Also a 1.5lb Bass. Good time, my wife joined me for part of the day.

Powerstroke, was that you with the family on the north end of the lake? Did you have any luck?

Regards,

Curtis

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Powerstroke Grand Master

Powerstroke

Posted
Posted

Hey Squirtis, yeah that was me and the family over on the east side of the north bay. We were also in 9FOW.

We got one flag right away. I pulled him all the way in and then he just let go. I must not have gotten a hookset.

Anyway, we caught at least 60 sunnies and 2 crappies. I kept 10 fish for us to fry up this week.

Were you in the Trap closer to the point or the newer X2 chasing the tipups?

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Squirtis Contributor

Squirtis

Posted
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There were two guides out there, (I think). Mine was the one near the hole. closest to the X2. I might be heading out there again next Sat with a friend.

Glad you guys had some luck in the house and I am sure it kept the kids interested.

Merry Christmas,

Curtis

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Powerstroke Grand Master

Powerstroke

Posted
Posted

You must have been the one that showed up later in the day. We had been out there since 1pm. I wanted to go to a different lake, but once the family wanted to come I knew RR was the answer. We caught tons of little sunnies. The kids have a great time and they learn the values of C&R.

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Squirtis Contributor

Squirtis

Posted
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Actually I was the first one out in the main part of the lake. I'm glad things went well. After I snowblow the driveway and go to GM to exchange some gifts, I plan on being out from the launch on Mitchell later this morning/early afternoon.

take care and Merry Christmas,

Curtis

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Carp-fisher Mentor

Carp-fisher

Posted
Posted

Any general thoughts on Mitchell? I used to ice fish the lake with pretty average success. I talked to the DNR guy about the fish kill from last winter and he said it was fairly substantial. He said that they had to restock the lake this last spring...

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Powerstroke Grand Master

Powerstroke

Posted
Posted

I work with a guy who lives on the lake and he said the fish kill was quite substantial. I haven't seen nearly as much activity out there as in past years. Could be for many reasons, the long drag in the snow being one of them. I've never tried it in the winter so I can't say.

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HossFisher Proficient

HossFisher

Posted
Posted

Hey squirtis did you make it out today? Me and a buddy got out there about 11:00 and we fished until about 2:00. We had some good luck and managed to catch some nice fish. all c&r

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Squirtis Contributor

Squirtis

Posted
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Yeah, I got out there about 1 or 1:30. I was in the guide set up west of everyone. It was pretty slow out there. I caught 3 sunnies (2 were nice size though). I stayed until about 5, and caught a 24" northern at 4:55. That was all of the excitement for the day.

You guys have any luck?

I'm headed out to Riley tomorrow. Anyone care to join me?

Curtis

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HossFisher Proficient

HossFisher

Posted
Posted

O ya i think i saw you out there. We were the two kids that were set up between the perm and the frabill that were in shallow. We were in the blue clam. we got out there at about 1100. We had started out deeper and were having a lot of trouble even graphing fish. After fishing a lot of holes we decided to head in shallow and get on the green weeds. We set up in 7ft of water which was surprising because we were pretty close to shore. Right away we pulled a nice crappie and had a few more after that. We caught lots of sunnies and actually had some really nice ones. The fish were still biting as we left to head to a different lake to catch the night bite. We left right after you got all set up.

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