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How are the ice conditions up there? Im headed up on friday to fish for the weekend. How many inches of ice on average lake would you all say is up there? Is there alot of slush still? Down here it got pretty cold this past week and alot of the slush froze.

Thanks

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the lakes I've been fishing are SPOTTY. To dangerous to drive anywhere really. Some spots are good until you fish them for a day than they start flooding and get pretty slushy. The layer of ice underneath the mess can be from 8 inches to 12 inches. It's varied that much on the same lake so just be careful.

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Bait is right -- i would be very careful. Some goofs are driving out, but that is just natural selection at its best.

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I think you'd be fine with a wheeler or a sled, I know I'd be comfortable on the lakes that I fish with either. The vehicle (Car, truck, SUV) should definatly wait.

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A sled will be perfect, about a foot of snow with a slight crust on it but the sleds weight will go right through it. Slush under slow is minimal now, and will freeze through any day now. I would take a sled out over a wheeler if you have both.

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One of my brothers offered to take me out yesterday. He borrowed my cousins 4-wheeler and did all the heavy work. There was about 10 inches of ice on Lida. A few four wheelers and one goofball came out in an SUV. I wouldn't trust the ice to be consistent. All in all fishing was very good. Between the two of us we caught something like 13 or 14 norhterns up to 8lbs. One walleye, 24". About two dozen crappies, not all legal. And more than 40 bluegills, some pretty nice. We were in 21 feet of water and I can't get too specific because my cousin will have a hissy fit. Bait: northerns- shiners and suckers, bluegills- wax worms, crappie- wax worms and crappie minnows, and walleye- crappie minnow (must have been suicidal or just down on her luck) Great to get out and I owe Sumo (the brother) big time for this one.

One last note. He bought one of those fake weeds to put down the hole. One trip is not much of a test but once he put it down the fish seemed to stay in the area better. The schools would drift in and out before and stuck around after.

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I had 10" of clear ice on Sallie. There is a crust of ice beneath the snow. Slush is anywhere from minimal to getting out Noah's ark. Still flloding. My portable was acting like a barge a few times while I was pulling with my sled. I hate fishing in slush, I think I'll stick to the sled for a while.

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I had two decent slimers and a perch. There was way too much slush for me to fish the spot I wanted to. One of the slimers just about had the same girth as my 8" hole, but it was a shorty at around 28"

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I was on Pelican last nite and it isn't getting any better. The fishing is slow and the slush is still there. It seems like the last shot of weather we got made for more snow and it is harder than previous. If you go out to move a house you will want help along.

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There's still slush out there, but in pockets. I'm not sure how long it will take to freeze it through, but the ice underneath it is still pretty good. We're driving out to where my permanent is, a good 13 inches of ice with isolated slush.

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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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