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Hi Everyone,

Will be up this weekend and wondering if I will see open water or ice on the small lakes (under 200 acres and only 30 feet deep). Would be nice to get a dock and lift in if possible.

I know it's been cold too...so...

Anyone know?

Thanks

Steve

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I was up a few weeks ago fishing the small lakes and it took my whole auger to get thru the ice, i think its going to be a very late ice out this year

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I was also up a week and a half ago on a small lake and there was around 20" of ice, but the latest report on that same lake is that the ice is now about 20+ feet from shore so it won't be long now until it's out.

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Thats great news, thanks for the info, sounds like we will be able to get out on opener, I was worried.

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Ice took some beating with the 1/4 inch of rain we had here so far today. what ice we have on the lake now you can't see for the fog riseing from it. Where I live the ice is out about 75 feet from shore. \:\) Come on water. If things work out tonight I will be putting in the dock tomorrow.

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Nutty Fisherman is Insane! I am here right now at Hand Lake and the Lake is froze solid with very, very little open water at the shoreline. I am saying there is 8-10 inches of ice once you get out 20 yards. It is currently snowing with 6-10 inches expected. With the weather supposed to be in the 40's for the next weeek, I am wondering about the opener. I think we are looking for ice out on the larger lakes of the Longville area to be around May 3rd or 4th.... WOW !

One piece of good news is that we were at the DNR Stripping site between Woman and Child this morning. This was only Day #3 for them and we were looking at at least a couple of dozen 8-12 pound females in the pen from today only. The male Walleyes were thick enough that you could not see that bottom. It is amazing that when the river in 5 days is solid with fish like that, it is less than 10% of the lake population.

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W&W, where is your place on Hand? We've the last place on the southwest corner of the bay with the island and access. Just curious - hoping to come over and open up on May 17.

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Heartman, are you the brown place with the boathouse, or the last place before you come to the access? We are over down Shadywood Shores drive next the Lars. Do you know who Duane Larson "Lars" is? We have the 50 acres on the other side of the road from the lake.

You should be good to go on the 17th and the Crappie fishing will be very good then.

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On the west shore, last one before you go through the channel in the weeds around the island. We own part of the island as well -it's been in the family for almost 60 years now. We've had our place on the mainland since '68.

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W&W I might be INSANE, but if it kept raining like it was the ice would have been gone on Ox Yoke where I am right NOW, I'm just telling it like I see it. Some lakes open up faster then others. The ice is away all around the lake except on the south end where the sun isn't getting to it that good yet.

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Waylon&Willy..... Are you still up at Hand Lake? I have a place on Hay Lake and am heading up on Friday...Wondering what the ice situation is if you've driven over there by chance.....

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Nutty Fisherman, you are correct. All lakes' ice differ greatly. I was just posting in the heat of the amazement as I watched the snow fly harder than it had all Winter thus far. Morneau, I would like to hear how that trip Friday night went! HA That had to be an ugly one. We took off Saturday late morning, deciding we would come back the weekend after opener. I can be sure there will be open water then, and I will be able to avoid the choas of Ametuer Weekend on the opener.

Good Luck

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • SkunkedAgain
      It doesn't look like the lake level has gone up at all. I was up a week ago and struggled to get my boat in and out of the public landing on the west end of Head O Lakes. I used my paddle to push the boat further out to deeper water. I could hear the hull moving over the sandy/muddy bottom near the launch.
    • JerkinLips
      Pretty tough.  Was catching about 2 walleyes per hour and the biggest was only 13".  Back up Thursday so I hope I have better success.
    • smurfy
      the kid and I always check our stands prior.......i'll go back to check the conditions of said stands before he gets there to see what we need. while i'm at it if i can i shoot at grouse with shells that appear to not have bb,s in them!!!!🙄
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  With unseasonably warm weather, there are still some anglers hitting the water and most have been rewarded.  Limits of walleyes and saugers being caught, and the forecast looking ahead is favorable. The best bite on the south end of LOW has been in 22-28 feet of water. Water temperatures are dropping and as the temps cool further, the bite has been excellent.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners has been the program for most anglers.  Bring plenty of bait, as you’ll need to sort through some smaller fish and short biters.  Plenty of eater fish to be had, just have to do a bit of sorting.  Anglers are also reporting very good numbers of jumbo perch and occasional pike mixed in with the walleyes.     For those fishing structure, if you slide up on top of a rock pile, don't be surprised to catch a big smallmouth bass, there are plenty around.   This week’s hot colors have been gold, gold/glow white, gold/chartreuse, gold/orange, and gold/glow white/pink.     One tip, a stinger hook on your jig will catch you more fish if you start missing too many fish. On the Rainy River...  Bait dealers are reporting good numbers of shiners in the river this past week.  Interesting, each night is different.  Some areas have the small shiners called pinheads.  Other areas have the larger minnows.     The river is producing some nice walleyes in various spots from Four Mile Bay to Wheeler's Point, to Baudette all the way to Birchdale.  There are 42 miles of navigable Rainy River from the mouth to Birchdale with plenty of public boat ramps along the way.     Walleyes are being caught in various depths, but 15-25 feet of water has been good.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners has been highly effective. Some anglers are also trolling crankbaits to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing has been strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  Fall fishing continues to be excellent. Points, neck-down areas with current, shoreline breaks, and transition zones from rock to mud are all productive locations for walleye right now.   It is traditionally a mixed bag up around the many islands in this part of the lake and this fall is no different.  In addition to walleyes, pike, jumbo perch, and crappies are in the mix.  A jig and minnow has been the most effective presentation. Good muskie fishing is the norm during the fall of the year and area reports have been good.  In addition to casting, trolling shorelines, points and neckdown areas has been effective.  Muskies are often targeting schooling tullibees this time of year. The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is conducive for fall fishing.  If you don't deer hunt, or if you have harvested your deer, consider some bonus walleye action before the ice forms.  The bite continues to be excellent.    
    • leech~~
    • gimruis
      I'm not one to leave that to chance the day I need it.  I always check on my stands prior to the season.  Just like I always shoot my rifle before the season and I always run my outboard motor before fishing opener.  Too many things to go wrong without confirming it ahead of time.   I guess it could have been beavers but the house itself didn't appear nearly big enough along one ditch.  It was about the size of chair.  I've seen beavers houses many times before and they appear much bigger than that.
    • leech~~
      Good thing you made a check run.  That would have really suked walking into opening day.  Why do you think muskrats and not beavers?  
    • gimruis
      Well I checked on stands over the weekend.  Kind of a disaster.   All the ditches are plum full and twice as wide becauase muskrats have clogged an area.  I spent an hour unclogging it and the water is slowly moving again, but our bridges and planks were underwater.  The back portion of the land where the best stand is was inaccessible.  Hopefully that changes by Saturday.  I have a feeling the muskrats are just going to clog it back up again.   Tons of standing corn still too.  They've started on it, but being so wet now with more rain coming, whatever's there will remain there for the foreseeable future.   All the grassland is completely flattened like a pancake due to 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow.  That eliminates about 75% of the pheasant habitat in this spot.  Total buzz kill.  And this specific spot was one of my better producers last season because the grass was intact and lush through December last year.
    • BWpineisland
      Jerkin, how was the fishing?
    • JerkinLips
      45.6°F Saturday afternoon.  Lake Vermilion was quite empty.
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