Fishing Report Feb.19th 2008

[beef]

This past weekend we spent ALOT of hours out on the ice.. 8 hours Friday, 10 hours Saturday, and 6 hours on sunday...

We hit four different lakes and noticed the same on all four lakes, a difficult bite... We did manage to catch a ton of perch along with a bunch of Tullibee's.. On Friday we managed to find some nice crappies with the biggest just a tad over 13 inches. Then Saturday we targeted Bluegills, Perch, and Crappies. We managed to catch a few gills but nothing really big, the perch were aggressive, but the size was small... I think between 5 of us we managed to catch 300-500 perch, but only kept 25... When perch fishing we also managed to catch 3 Bass, with the biggest around 2 pounds... Later in the day the Tullibees moved in and we hammmered them, with the biggest being around 18-19 inches... Northland Tackles new motto: If Northland Tackle makes it, a Tullibee is going to take it ...

On Sunday, the bite picked up on the perch and we managed to find some nice ones between 10-12 inches.. We also missed a few eye's...

The bait of choice was a buckshot rattlespoon or a fire eye minnow.. Both lures were tipped with waxies or a minnow head... On Sunday we had to go with the smallest lure tipped with Euro Larva... We fished multiple depths but on Saturday the magic depth was 34 feet while on Sunday 15 feet was the ticket...

Ice conditions were Excellent(24-30 inches), but the snow drifts were a little tricky to navigate around.. If we get 3-5 inches more of snow. some areas could become a real mess to travel on...

Good Luck and let's start wishing for some warmer weather(-29 below this morning)

Beef

[WallyGader]

Nice report, I fished leech for the pout fest, we mandaged 5 eyes in the slot and about 5 around 20", with about 10 perch. Then we tryed out cass manged another 4 eyes a tulibee a pike on a tip up 40 yrds away and manged to tangle with 2 of our lines that we had down in the house, (made for a little excitement) and a couple perch.

[Allensbaynewguy]

I am going to be on Allen's Bay this weekend... Any word of anything there? And if so, where? We have only been there once or twice and always fished Potatoes and The Egg. Lots of perch, a couple snakes and some small eyes, but not sure how it would be in the winter.

[beef]

I was in Allen's Bay for a bit this weekend and didn't notice any dangers or any extreme problems.. Just keep an eye open for the snow drifts... The spots you mentioned are good classic areas... Don't be afraid to run and gun and drill holes in areas that have an extreme drop offs...

Beef

[Allensbaynewguy]

Thanks for the heads up. Are there any roads out there that we can drive out or should we use the 4wheeler?

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Hey New Guy,

I see you were just covering all your bases with the post on the Bemidji thread!

Windy

[Allensbaynewguy]

Windy,

I am working the system. Not sure if there would be some guys in the Bemidji thread that could be helpful as well. My dad just built a cabin on the old resort on the north end of Allen's, so we have never fished on the ice there. Looking for any help from any source.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

New Guy,

Stick with Brian Jones and Beef, they are the Cass Lake Ninja's! They will give you the right stuff when it comes to Cass.

Windy

[PikeBayCommanche]

Hey Allens Guy,

Yeah there are a few plowed roads out there. Depending on the winds though. The winds have been drifting bad as of late making some of it a little tough going.

Good Luck!

[Allensbaynewguy]

Thanks for the help guys.

I will let you all know how it goes and if I find any worth taken a pic of, I will send the link for them.

[beef]

good luck....

beef

[Allensbaynewguy]

Thanks Beef...

If you hear anything new by this weekend, I will be on here checking daily.

[musky_tail05]

Well, there were some plowed roads in Allen's. The wind and snow we got took care of them very quickly. Right now, I can see the remnants of where the snow banks were. If you are going out of where you mentioned, you don't need to go very far.

[Allensbaynewguy]

Rob,

We don't have far to go to get out there. That is nice. Hopefully the fish will be around once we are out there. I hope the Envoy will get through the snow and drifts.

[beef]

It should get through but don't take it to slow and bring a shovel..

Beef

[Allensbaynewguy]

Thanks for the warning Beef:) Any chance you'll be out and about?

[beef]

I have a training seminar at Northland Tackle on Saturday until 2 then I should be out there somewhere with my 4 year old..

Beef

[Allensbaynewguy]

Well good luck to you as well... Maybe we will be in town for the seminar?!?!?! That all depends on the fish:)

[Turk]

Hi Beef,

Say, On Cass, Do you find the same good summer spots to also be good ice fishing spots? Over the years, have you noticed any differences between the two good summer and winter locations? My family vacations every June at Sah Ka Tay Resort, but have never ice fished Cass Lake.

Thanks!

Turk

[beef]

The seminar at Northland Tackle is to learn the new product, so it is not open to the public ..

As for the winter-summer spots.. The fish can and do hold to some of the same spots on the lake... One of the things you need to keep in mind is what do the fish want to eat? Like open water we have different hatches throughout the season. During hardwater season we have a hatch of what I call red worms early in the year, then we have a crawdad hatch, and then we also have the tullibee egg laying time. So if you know what structure holds or supports the hatch, then you know where to look for the fish.

The other thing you need to be aware of is the Pre-Spawn stage. Right now the fish are starting to get into that stage, so what that means is look for steep breaks with the flats or structure on the top that the fish will look to use for spawning or stagging.. For example on the lake I was on Saturday we were fishing 30-40 feet of water and the perch were stacked out there--20 yards away it was 10 feet of water and classic structure the perch would use to drop eggs...

As always it is about being lucky and having fun while being out on the water.. The best time for the hardwater season is just about to begin... Walleye season is closing soon, and it will be time to really target perch and panfish...

Hope this helps,

Beef

[Allensbaynewguy]

Where is the best place to drive on to the lake from the north side of Allen's?

[LABS4ME]

Try to talk to Steve at Break on the Lake resort. Offer him $5 bucks or something and it shouldn't be an issue. Haven't been up there in a while, but if it's like Red, you'd better keep a head of steam up if you're driving... lot's of snow out there.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Turk]

Thanks.

[Allensbaynewguy]

We went in at Break and the road was good. The snow is so frozen and packed that we had no problem driving around. We only found a couple hundred small perch though. Still had a lot of fun and the weather was perfect.