How's the late ice bite???

[Stick in Mud]

I'm getting pretty excited about the bite this spring, so I'm wondering how we are all doing on area lakes. As always, specifics need not be divulged; I'll keep my advice to general spots and leave all the specifics to those who work hard enough to figure them out by themselves!

My own luck has been pretty spotty recently. Little Rock is kicking out tons of little crappies, so if you like watching the bobber go down, head out there. I can't say I've caught a keeper in three trips, but it's so much fun I keep going out there just to catch them and let em go. The culvert down by Cathedral opened up a while ago, so I haven't been down there, and I didn't do well out on Pearl the last time I was out there.

I'm sure it'll pick up with the better weather this week. Heck, the fish probably still think it's late January. Maybe they'll get the idea after daylight savings!

Carl

[whitetailfreak]

I was out on Grand early this week. caught 7 nice crappies. smallest was like 11 inches. surprised the heck outta me. I have fished that lake early this year and did farelly well. but this is the best as of lately.

[murfdog13]

I hear ya on those little rock crappies, they have been fun to catch latey. i was out on goodners today with little action, but the ones we caught were nice(8-9+in)sunnies that is, marked em like crazy but few takers.

[Sartell Angler]

was out on Thur and Fri and scratched enough for a two-man meal each day (there were 3 of us)...overall we had no problems marking fish but getting them to bite was another story.

Anticipating the action to improve this week with the expected warmer temps. It has been a good ol fashioned MN winter but I'm ready for spring!

That said I'm still pumped for late ice and spring snows.

[Stick in Mud]

Does anyone know if the rumor about crappies holding out by the wood above the Sartell Dam is true? I've heard from lots of people that there are tons of fish up there, but I've never been there myself...

[whitetailfreak]

my buddies and i hammer the crappies in there in the open water. never tried ice fishing. some big alot of 7-9 inchers

[50inchpig]

I've caught crappies above the Sartell dam, there is an old boathouse across the river from the wood and that is where I caught mine. Was throwing a grub for smallies and did not stop to fish for the crappies.

Every Sunday this winter there's someone who puts up his ice house right behind the water intake too. Seems to be there week after week.

Grand Lake has kicked my butt up and down this winter, as of the other day we've tried everything. Marking very few, catching none - what's been working? We've been catching fish on Beaver and a few on Pearl, but Grand really has me stumped and we really like that lake, hurts the ego a little to be honest.

Is it ok to drive around on Little Rock?

[Stick in Mud]

I wouldn't feel so bad, 50inch...I've heard very mixed reports from guys all winter, some of whom have said they have caught next to nothing out of both Pearl and Grand. I think lakes like these that get fished so heavily are due for bad years once in a while...

[fisheagle69]

GM-- sun looks good now--would Grand be a good idea this am?? or a different suggestion.... Have been on Sauk River chain all year-looking for different.... Thanks

[Borch]

This time of year I've had my best bite on Grand in the afternoon and evening for crappies. Sunfish go pretty good all day on the weedline. Lots of sorting though.

[whitetailfreak]

I was out on grand today from 7-10 and caught 3 big sunnies, no crappies and one walleye of all things. waste of time. goin up to north long to catch some crappies and sunnies next weekend should be a good trip

[palisade1kid]

We are not to late ice yet.

With this warmer weather hitting the snow will melt and then drain back into the lake.

Then you can expect better quality fish bitting.Right now you are seeing the effects of low oxygen.Mostly small fish feeding.

[Wallyeyes]

Absolutely right. When the snow-melt filters back into the lake water, expect a feeding frenzy with the renewed O2 in the water. I believe the fishing will pick up in about a week or so. But, that said, I will be out tommorow. Don't want to be late to the dance, if you know what I mean.

[Stick in Mud]

I'm glad that we aren't to "late ice" yet. Sorry for the misnomer in the post's title.

I went out to Julia yesterday and caught a few perch and small sunfish. I had fish all over the place on the depth finder but all I caught were dinks. Hopefully those big ones pick up soon!

[ndsufootball]

The big ones have started biting out on Julia. I know 2 of my buddies and I limited out 2 nights in a row. Smallest that we kept was 10" biggest was 12". Had to pick through them but managed just fine.

[Stick in Mud]

That's good news. The little ones are still prevalent at Pearl--we ended up with five, but we probably caught 50.

[fishguyd]

2 limits in a row for each of you? Hmmm, thats spells DNR trouble if your not careful, Im assuming you ate them the first night?

[ndsufootball]

actually i have 4 people in my family and i did eat one limit already, so i actually could go and get 3 more if i wanted to right?? The funny part is, one of the people i went fishing with, works for the dnr. I hate people that judge make assumptions right way.

[Stick in Mud]

I was out on Pearl today...lots of sunnies and a few crappies. Most of them were small, but I stretched four of them out so that they were big enough for supper.

[The Donk]

Went out to Birch last night, it was a great night to be out... Only fished 2.5 hours due to having to come to work today, but kept 4 crappies, 3 over 11". Nobody else on the lake except for a local kid that drug a flipover out for an hour and then went back in. Seems like the snow on the lake needs to melt to get some hard hitting going on, they were kinda timid yet.

[Stick in Mud]

I was up north this weekend--I fished Bay Lake and Borden Lake, both by Garrison. WE did OK last night at Borden--kept five after fishing for an hour--and we got into a few on Bay Lake as well, but in neither place could we find any real concentrations of fish. We did catch just about everything we saw on the vex, but we just couldn't find that many.

In local news, I was out at Beaver a few times last week and I caught tons of fish, though I only kept four. Lots of little ones (both sunnies and crappies)! The same for me at Pearl--lots of little fish. I guess I haven't been able to find the big ones yet.

The fish around here were deeper than I was expecting...at Beaver, the fish were in about 16'. Two feet shallower and I couldn't get anything...two feet deeper and I couldn't get anythin. Up north this weekend we found 'em in about 10 feet.

[gopher_nation]

There is still a lot of ice on the lakes. Still snow on most. Low light, thick ice, means deep fish. This coming week is when I think everything will pick up and the fish will move shallower, should be able to get some biggun's too.

[Stick in Mud]

I hope so. The shorelines are still amazingly intact, too, especially up north, though it was getting down into the single digits at night, so maybe it isn't that much of a surprise.

[Stick in Mud]

Hi guys...I went out to Pearl yesterday and caught a bunch of sunfish, some of which were surprisingly large. A few crappies were also caught, but I think we were a little early in the day to really hammer 'em.

In a more interesting note, some guy was still driving his new Silverado pickup on the ice!

[Bassmaster_236]

How was the Ice out there? I wouldn't take my pickup out there. Also anyone know how the Ice is holding up on area lakes after the rain and warm weather this weekend? Would like to get out a few more times before the ICE is gone.

[Stick in Mud]

The ice was good enough to support a full-sized pickup, though it was a little shaky by the access. No honeycombing was evident, either, though I imagine the ice will start to deteriorate quite quickly with the rain and wind we've been getting. Still, I think we've got two or three left (especially up north), especially if you are willing to bring the planks and/or waders, though that of course may change with the weather.

[Bassmaster_236]

Yeah I'm gonna try to get on the lake tomorrow night. Im thinking I better bring planks to be safe.

[IceHawk]

The bite has been good as of late but now comes the safety factor. I would start useing caution when ventureing out. I advise foot travel only right now. These warmer temps rain and wind are good factors in crating pockets of soft ice. I personally know of 2 4 wheelers going through over the weekend in our area.

[Stick in Mud]

Two 4-wheelers, huh? It's a miracle that guy didn't go swimming in his Silverado. The ice is beginning to look dark, and a little sun will warm it up quick.

[Dean Schellinger]

The rain did a number on the ice on the lake I was on. Saturday the ice was good, but after the rain overnight and during the day Sunday, the ice was considerably worse on Sunday night. The combo of wind, sun, and rain we have had will take its toll on the ice in a hurry. The shoreline was also going pretty fast and around the catails the ice was poor at best.