Fish Lake Crowding

[lancer]

I need to vent,

last night while fishing peacefully in my permanent, I had the pleasure of a black suv driving and parking 10' from my fish house. Then, this gentleman decided that it would be a good spot to start drilling holes around me at 4:30PM. PRIME FISHING TIME...

I fish an area that is not crowded for simple reason that this garbage bothers me. I have never/would never hord in on someone like this. I just don't get that people are unwilling to put the time and effort into finding a fishing spot on their own.

I just needed to get this out

[Steve Foss]

Been there, had that happen to me! Feels better once you get it off your chest, doesn't it?

[only ice]

Boy do I know that feeling. Its sad when I live where I live and dont fish around here to much because of that BULL!!! I will Drive for HRS to get away from the people around here. The best time around here is first ice, about 3 to 4 inches. That way most of the people wont even step out there.

[Smoke20]

Thats why the paintball gun was invented! Its to keep those so called "fisherman" off your rear

[ditchpickle6996]

You think that is bad,,,, 3 of us had a CO check us a couple weeks ago and after he asked we showed him some 13-14" crappies we just caught. There was no one within a quarter mile of us. After checking us we watched him zoom over to another house and chat and point towards us. Yep you guessed it,,, the next morning that some house was 20 feet away from us. I called and sure enough,,, that CO had told some buddies that were on the same lake. I was told there was nothing illegal about what he did. I responded that it may not be illegal but it sure was immoral.

[Down Deep]

I hate when that happens as well, but I try to take it in Stride. Just for the sake of discussion -----If those guys were set up when you arrived, would you have yielded the spot to them?

[ditchpickle6996]

Down Deep,

If you were asking me,,, yes I would have. I prefer to fish away from the crowds. Plenty of places to fish on that lake.

[Northlander]

Ya Fish Lake on the weekend is a ZOO. People setting up perms 10' from where your fishing and other fools just follow you around the lake all day. Some people just have no pride or class but what can you do?

Im with you guys. I will hit a local honey hole real early and get my fish then head off and explore some new areas when most weekend warriors are coming out. Then at prime time set up on some out of the way spot and enjoy the rest of the day.

It peaves me to when others crowd you but there are just some people who either dont give a [PoorWordUsage] or just have no clue. At times both. We take the good with the bad and try to enjoy the day. Dont let these folks drag ya down.

[fishinfey8]

I think the best fishing anytime is when you explore away from the crowds. I guess I always have thought the more people in a certain area, the more spooked/smart the fish in that area are. I don't know about you but i like the dumb ones...

[FishnUMD]

speaking of island lake, does it get fished much during the winter months? i took a drive a few days ago and discovered they don't plow the access near the dam, where i usually launch the boat from... took a walk to the dam and looked out over the lake and didnt see a single house! i'm not just blind, am i?

[Surface Tension]

As a spot gets popular crowding is going to happen.

We can choose to fish in the crowd or move off and explore new water. I like fishing in solitude myself and know that if I setup on Birch Island I'll have company. Thats fine as long as the noise level stays low enough. Theres a lot more water out there that isn't touched and out of site.

You won't see crowds on Island lake. No resorts and no roads. Accesses have plow banks to cross over. A sled can get anywhere though.

The fishing is just as good as Fish lake. With no crowds you'll have to find your own fish.

[ripstick]

I have seen it happen more times than I care to think of. Only thing you can do is ignore it or move. A few times I have seen one that is worse or maybe funny. Someone gets out of there house and starts screaming at the others. We dont own it but we do share it.

[loadmaster]

Frank do you remember when we were on URL and by ourself in the middle of lake and drifting the markers. With in a matter of minutes, We could no longer make our drift with boats in our way. Frank was right, do not put the markers out, and do not let anybody see ya catch a fish. To bad it has to be this way. Oh well I would not go to Fish or Boulder on a weekend. All you have to do is look at this forum. I have not fished a single lake mentioned on this forum for ice fishing, I have fished lakes with no crowds and plenty of fish just, have to explore. That is why ice fishing is so much fun, go looking and try to figure out the fish and not just look for a group of houses because that it is the hot-spot why else would they be at that location.Oh well>>>>>later the load

[Northlander]

Load how did that crappie spot on the river treat ya? E-mail me. I took the sled over there the other day but didnt fish.

[Down Deep]

 Originally Posted By: ditchpickle6996

Down Deep,

If you were asking me,,, yes I would have. I prefer to fish away from the crowds. Plenty of places to fish on that lake.

Not directed at anyone in particular -- My question was just for the sake of discussion for perm owners about moving on if someone is set up near their house when they arrive.

As far as Island Lake goes....It does provide some good fishing, but most winters a person needs a sled to fish most of it. I do most of my local winter fishing on Island and never find a crowd. I'm pretty sure that the cabin owners are watching. If I sit on spot for a couple of hours because of a bite or it is way to cold to move, I always get some company

I usually find early walleye action on the reefs that I catch fish on in the late fall. As winter wears on the W's can be hard to track down. They are around the reefs, but where is often the million dollar question. I drill lots of holes. I usually find some crappies when I'm looking for the W's, but I've only caught 2 crappies this year. Crappie fishing was off this past fall as well.

I'm done with Island for the rest of the ice season, so there will be one less sled and tent crowding the good spots.

Be careful if you venture out on the Island Ice especially in the dark. When they start draining the lake some big holes are created and sometimes there is some open water in the bottom of those holes.

I headed up to LOW and Red for the rest of the week. Now that is some crowded ice.

[fishinfey8]

Island lakes winter pressure is quite a bit less in the winter than in summer. With the lake being around 7000 acres there is always a place away from the crowds....thats why I like it.

[Northlander]

The thing about Island Lake is that its big enough that you cant fish all the good spots in 10 years and like was said earlier if you dont have a sled you are basically fishing early ice spots. Unless we dont get a lot of snow and you like a workout.

Also people that get consistant fish on Island are smart and keep their mouths shut about it. I have never had 1 person come up to me braiging about how many fish they catch on Island Lake.

The people I know that live on the lake seem to be pretty tight lipped and I dont blame them at all.

One thing is the smallies are all over the place on Island Lake now. Wallies of size can be another story.

[gritsnham]

Fish lake is an awesome lake to be on during the week and you can always find a nice quiet spot to yourself...the weekends are another story and all the noise almost ruins my experience. Thats when its time to drive and find a nice peaceful lake!

[Northlander]

Ya I spent all Monday on Fish and didnt have 1 person come near me all day. Only saw about 6 other guys out. Still a lot of junk on the ice. Some people just dont belong outdoors I tel ya.

Fishing was real good in some spots and terrible in others.

I stayed on a spot 1/2 hour. If I didnt get anything I moved on. Great way to learn the lake better. My GPS and Lakemaster Chip have made finding good spots so much easier its almost like cheating.

[fisherslanding]

Steve what GPS do you have? Does the Lakemaster chip have a lot of lakes in this area? I'm thinking about getting a graph that has the lakemaster option and wondering if it will work in a hand held GPS. I'm pretty sure it will just not up to speed on it yet. Got some research to do. Sure seems like the way to go these days. If they make it why not have it, if you can afford it....Right???

[hayseed]

Northlander, I have a question. I have a lakemaster 2007 chip and it doesn't show contours on Fish or Boulder. Do you have one that does or could I possibly have a bad chip? Thanks, tj

[loadmaster]

I think that is the problem with lakemaster program. That is why I went with Navionics. Check with MG to make sure I am correct.>>>later the load

[Northlander]

My hand held is a Lowrance H2Oc and I like it a lot. I have several chips and the best for our area is the Navionics Premium North Chip. Lakemaster only does Island Lake well. Everything else is poor. Navionics has more of our northern area lakes I fish. Plus Lakemaster has poor St. Louis River and Lake Superior coverage.

The Premium North does a nice job on Fish Lake.

[hayseed]

Thanks NL, I kinda thought that was the case. I have an H2O also, but wrong chip. Gotta save for Navionics and beg the S. O's approval.

[SKIPPERS KID]

I just bought the Lowrance ifinder EXPEDITION c hand held from russ at MG, I also got the the Navionics premium north chip with it and the detail is great it will take time out of drilling all those extra holes. What a great deal it is to have one now. I should have had one sooner. I must say it is the way to go it tells you what you are at before you drill? Well I am happy with mine and can not wait to get out with it again. Well I would see russ and for the money you spend it will pay off sooner than you think. Just my 2- cents worth.

[Northlander]

One thing is this year the depths will be off. With the low water before freeze up and lots of ice most spots are off by as much as 4'. Some spots that say 16' on the chip are only 13' or at times less. Thats not the chips fault its the res water going up and down with the dam opening and closing.

It does however save you a lot of guess work and finding breaks/holes is a lot easier now.

[gritsnham]

Went out on fish this morning to a spot I have been catching some good fish and within 10 mins had someone come 10 feet away(literally) and start drilling holes...when the lake is that wide open on a thusday morning I really just dont understand...so much good structure out there why would you want to be so close to others????

[lancer]

The only thing I can figure is that these people just don't have a clue or are just plain lazy. Maybe the thing to do would be to just quit fishing, fire up the auger, and just drill holes around them every few minutes. See how they like it.

As fun as that would be, I just move to a new spot and avoid the stress

[Northlander]

Ya its gotten to the point I dont even set my house up unless its so cold I cant efectively fish. One thing is if your in a pretty common place and people have been there before and got fish they always look for their old holes and fish there. I know I do. Its really too bad that someone would fish 10' from you when there are dozens of spots on fish lake putting out crappies now. Its only going to get better too.