Lake Minnewaska Fishing Reports - Ice Conditions

[LandDr]

How 'bout them Vikings!

Beautiful day out! Accesses on Waska look really good and no problems that I can see. Many plowed roads out from there a long with many well traveled roads. Midsized trucks and 4wds along with 16' plus long houses getting around. Had many families going out which was great to see all the kids getting out to fish.

Sunfish and crappies thru the day but the bite really picks up around 3pm or so...like the dinner bell goes off.

I personally did not see any slush but I had a few peoplpe say there were a few spots. Otherwise it looks really good out there.

Fish On!

[Genofish]

Fished a few hours this morning until noon, wished I could of stayed longer but other commitments. Stopped in to see Landr and he pointed me in the right direction with his map and picked up some shrimp. Bite was on right away but they be became tight lipped towards late morning. lots of people out there moving around, tried to stay away from the crowds.

Thanks again Landr

[glojig]

wondering about the landing by the A frame house, is it public are private in your previous post landr gave reports about the kind of shape it is in. just want to make sure it is alright to use or if there is a fee or someone i should be asking

[LandDr]

Geno...glad you had a good time. I think the bite was a little tougher yesterday from what I heard but still nice fish caught. Seemed like everyone was having a good time and the weather was great. Great day to be on the ice where ever you are.

Landing by A-frame house is called "Sheriff's Landing". It is privately owned by Rick Ronnie who lives in the A-frame...Rick leaves it open to public use free of charge so you are welcome to use it as long as the landing stays in good shape and everyone picks up any trash they see. Yesterday I had several people say it was in good shape and plowed roads going out from it.

Light sprinkle on Waska this morning with a temp of 36F. I went out and checked on renters and to see how the lake looks...everything looks good from what I could see. There are some small puddles of water here and there but for the most part it is good. This light precip might actually flatten out some of the snow...and the cold temps in a couple days will freeze it back up hard. Feel free to check in on reports.

Fish On!

[LandDr]

I think the rain yesterday might have help reduce the snow on the lake and with the cold temps (10F currently), everything hardened right up. Little rough but all in all it looks really good. We only got around 1/4 to 1 inch of new snow. Looks like good ice fishing for the New Year with the lake in good shape!

Happy New Year everyone!

Fish On!

[Chad Peterson]

Thanks for the report Kyle. Is the main road from the DNR in good shape?

Sniffer

[LandDr]

I have heard all the roads are in good shape...maybe a little rough but frozen up. Dang it got cold! But that is what we needed.

Fish On!

[DarthBaiter]

Cold is here now and another 12" of new snow coming later today!!! Add in the 40mph wind gusts and that should make it interesting out there. Can we ever catch a break from the snow? Hunker down in the sleeper house and stay on the lake a couple days I guess.

[LandDr]

Let the wind blow and blow and blow! If we are getting that much snow...let the wind blow it off the lake.

Waska was saved with the first big snow fall we had in December by the 40 to 50 mph winds clearing it right off the lake.

One thing we have going for us is the accuracy of the forecasts...predict 9 inches and we get 4 or 5, predict 6 inches and we get 2 or 3, predict 5 or 6 inches and we get one or two. Hopefully we only get 3 or 4 inches out of the 12 inches.

I'm with ya...BAIT UP!, get your favorite refreshment and snacks...and ride it out. Weather like this keeps the riff-raff out of the state and why we love it here!

Fish On! and Happy New Year

[Chad Peterson]

Cold is here now and another 12" of new snow coming later today!!! Add in the 40mph wind gusts and that should make it interesting out there. Can we ever catch a break from the snow? Hunker down in the sleeper house and stay on the lake a couple days I guess.

Amen brother. This snow is like a Alabama tick! Just keep on coming back.

Sniffer

[basssmasher*]

Landr, just thought I'd let ANYONE know whos going onto waska on sacks landing, about 3/4 of the way out to the houses there is a slush hole about 40 ft long and the width of the road. Stay to the right of the hole as its about a foot deep if not deeper. a van got hung up in it as we left today and a 4wd couldnt yank him loose. Hope he made it out ok as we left, there was nothing we could do to help. The fish are there though!!!

[Chad Peterson]

That sounds bad teejay. I stayed at home today fighting bad cold. From the looks of the weather, I did not miss much.

Sniffer

[basssmasher*]

I hear ya with the cold Snuffer, I'm fighting the same thing and fishing in this doesn't help, but a man's gota fish when he can! lol Hopefully we can hook up in the near future and chase the lil buggers!

[goose89]

Weather like this keeps the riff-raff out of the state

Hasn't kept me out

[walleyestealer]

if a walleye is under 15", throw it backm, throw those little sunfish back too

[Crappie25]

Where is sacks landing?

[BigRock]

How much snowfall did you folks end up with on or around the lake?

[basssmasher*]

Not sure how much snow they got up there, I'm 25 miles south and we got maybe 3 inches max. its the wind blowing the snow around on the lake that makes it tough. sacks landing is the landing after sherrifs landing ( the one by the big A frame on 29

[Crappie25]

Teejay thanks for the info. I put my house out in front of Glenwood public beach and have not been up now for 2 weeks because of the holidays. I plan on running up tomorrow to check things out. Hopefully some good samaritans have some roads plowed out on the lake.

[Chad Peterson]

I do not that will be problem. Always have good plowed roads.

Sniffer

[wetaline1]

if a walleye is under 15", throw it backm, throw those little sunfish back too

FALSE

Keeper walleyes on Minnewaska are 13-17" because they taste the best. And there isn't enough natural reproduction in the lake so every thing over that is just a picture fish.

Bluegills over 9" should be thrown back because waska is a strong panfish reproduction lake, but you shouldnt have that problem out there. Eat the little ones.

[basssmasher*]

Not a problem Crappie 25! I hope to get out tomorrow too, but nothing is for certain yet.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

if a walleye is under 15", throw it backm, throw those little sunfish back too

opinions are like...well...yeah.

my opinion...keep walleyes under 16" and throw everything else back. Less females harvested that way.

[whitetail_freak]

Agree with carp shooter 100%. As for panfish it is tough to determine, maybe it would be better off taking 5 or 10 bigger sunfish instead of taking 20 smaller ones? but then again if you take out many of the little ones there is less competition for the bigger fish to eat! it's tough to say on that one, I usually keep the 7-9 inchers and throw those real big ones back.

[LandDr]

Back from New Year's out of town with friends. I spoke with a few people that were out on the lake and they said it is not too bad getting around...it was mostly blowing snow rather than snow accumulation. I would agree with Teejay that it only looks like a few inches of new snow. Roads on the lake will get plowed out and traffic on them and the trails. I hope to get out later today with the family to pick up some panfish. Friday I fished with my boys for a little while before we headed out of town. Picked up some nice gills and the crappies were just starting to show up on the camera...but we had to leave.

Just to clarify on "Sac's Landing"...Sac's is the landing "thru the cattails" on the frontage road west of Torgy's. Sheriff's Landing is the one on State Hwy 28/29 by the A-frame house heading west towards Starbuck. Teejay...was "Sac's" or "Sheriff's" that had the bad road area?

Walleyes...I like the 14 to 18 inchers but will keep a 19 if I have one or two smaller ones. Everything bigger goes back until I get to 30 which will go on the wall. I agree with Carpshooter that eyes 17 and bigger are more often females. More often than not they are female and I always check when cleaning my fish to make a mental note.

Fish On!

[walleyestealer]

maybe everybody should be on the same page with slot litmits, too many different opinions, all i know is that every year walleye numbers are going down in over fished lakes, toooo many people keeping every walleye they catch

[goose89]

I usually keep the 7-9 inchers and throw those real big ones back.

+1 . That's more in line with Selective Harvest, IMO. Taking the "middle of the road" fish is the only way to have any chance at having a trophy fishery. Pictures with kids and 10-11 inch sunnies or 12-14" crappies are trophies, not a pail full of them or a bunch hanging on a wall.

[Wayne Ek]

If no one has already said it... Welcome to the site Walleyestealer.

[Chad Peterson]

+2 goose89. I agree and that is how I fish. There should be more concern on the selective harvest on all fish. 95% of what I catch goes back unless I am taking home a meal, and the crappies are 10-11.5 and sunfish are 7-8.5. The rest goes back. The one thing that needs to be addressed here is teaching people the importance of catch-n-release.IMO. But people are catching on!

Sniffer

[Chad Peterson]

If no one has already said it... Welcome to the site Walleyestealer.

I will second that Wayne, welcome to the site.

Sniffer