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Arnesens's Report Feb 10 - 12


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Got back last night and the trip was so so, but thanks to the hard work of the guys at Arnesens - wingnut & dino we ended up with a pretty good day yesterday.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon - the word coming off the lake was that fishing was pretty good on Saturday once they got out. It sounds like they didn't start running until 10:00 due to the blowing snow, and they had guys back into shore by 4:30 or so.

Sunday morning we were out on 16 mile and fishing was pretty slow. We still picked up a decent number of fish, mostly sauger, but the fish were definitely not active - you had to do a lot of convincing to get them to bite. Deadsticks were just that - dead.. not too much activity there. It certainly wasn't the worst day of fishing up there, but it wasn't average either.

Monday found us on 12 mile reef as Arnesens didn't take anyone out to 16 since it was so slow - sounds like they won't be back there until Thursday. Fishing was even slower with the weather changes on Monday - we ended up with 5 fish that we kept, but fishing was extremely, extremely slow.

No color pattern / jigging / deadstick pattern ever emerged... it was pretty hit and miss. Arnesens did their best to get us on fish - we moved 3 times on Sunday and 2 times on Monday - fishing was just plain slow and that was that.

On Tuesday we were out on near Twin Island and almost immediately had 3 fish over 14" caught. That was followed up with a 22" walleye caught and released, and in the end we ended up with a great day - the majority of the fish were caught in the morning.

It seemed the fish favored a glow red jb's rattling varmit on Tuesday... if there was a favorite.

Thanks to Arnesens for the excellent customer service!

marine_man

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Hey that sounds just like my report. Oh wait a minute I was with you wasn't I.

I just can't ever say enough good things about the guys on the ice at Arnesen's what a great group of guys. It is truly a treat to go and have them take such good care a you. I guess that is why they are the only resort I ever go with up there anymore. Wingnut was feeling bad about the luck we had but hey that is fishing. As usual you never know what is going to happen and where Dino fixed us up yesterday and that made all the difference between a really bad trip and a trip that was pretty good given the conditions. The wind and cold front that rolled through was brutal. Needless to say our reservations for next year have already been book and are good to go.

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While you guys were fishing I had my Otter setup in the garage

working on some of the little things that have gone undone.

I never even got a bite!!!!!!!!!!!!So.......you see.

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marine_man, i was up there sunday thru tuesday. Fishing monday and tuesday, we ended up with 13 keepers the first day and i think 14 on tuesday.

(I was the one wearing the blue ice armor coat with a orange camo hat.)

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 Originally Posted By: Bothun
marine_man, i was up there sunday thru tuesday. Fishing monday and tuesday, we ended up with 13 keepers the first day and i think 14 on tuesday.

Ok.. nice to put a face with a handle...

It must have been where you were at then, because the fish we were marking weren't a biting mood... I don't think I've ever tried that much tackle ice fishing before in my life on one trip.

marine_man

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I'm heading up the first thursday in march. I've never been up there and am wondering what to expect. We are staying at the resort and are using thier houses and such. Do they check in on you frequently and move you around if your not catching fish, or was that a special guide package you had?

I've always heard gold color worked good up there, guess I'll have to get one of those red varmits!

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They will move you if you aren't catching much. Which will be next to nothing as this year has been pretty slow. The guides check in usually every hour or two. They give you fatheads but we opted to buy shiners in Warroad. We felt there was no difference in using the shiners over the fatheads.

Bring a seat cushion or your own chair. You will be sitting on metal fold up chairs. They drill your holes for you but don't scoop them out so you will need to bring a slush scoop along. Also a radio for some noise.

We had the drivers bring us out pizza each day from the lodge and tipped them 5 bucks or so. (I reccomend chicken alfredo)

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wouldn't the radio noise spook the fish? I've seen my marcum go from 3 fish to zero in an instant when someone outside my portable mearly tries to start an auger, not running it, just pulling it.

We have 7 guys going up so it should be fun!

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Even with the bombardier's driving around we caught fish. I don't know why you would have the radio louder than normal talking anyways.

Towards the end of the first day we were getting pretty loud in our house and it made no difference. Remember theres close to 4' of ice to deaden most sound.

I reccomended the radio to give you something to listen to. I have a hard time finding something new to talk about with the same people ive been with for 3 days.

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They're pretty good about moving you around if you're not catching fish. It wasn't any special package we had. I think the tip here though is to be agreeable with the guides though too - don't chew them out if you're not catching fish - they typically do their best to keep you catching fish. If other people aren't catching much either and you're picking a couple up here and there they might not move you.

I really don't think a radio is going to make any difference as far as the number of fish you catch. Often, for whatever reason, the fish will bite when the bomber pulls up.. I have no idea why, but from time to time that's the way it works - not much for fish, then when they pull up you pickup a couple more.

Good Luck!

amarine_man

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