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Lake Minnewaska Fishing Reports - Ice Conditions


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Crappieboy...we have some sleeper houses on the lake. Give me a call or email if you have any questions or need details.

Kurt...just an inch or so of fluffy stuff. We actually need it so there is some snow for banking the houses. Accesses are in good shape and several roads out on the lake to go just about anywhere. Not much snow on the lake except for the occasional snow bank where there was a house prior. Really allows the opportunity to go to new spots to try out.

Bite is still tough...A LOT of fish down there, just a lot of lookers. We are hoping with this warmer weather that they will get REALLY hungry...I know I am! But even a tough day on Waska you still catch fish.

A few tips to try...jig to get them in but then it seems you are better off just leaving it sit still to get the bite. If you start jigging, it seems they usually swim away. Also try sliding the split shot down to the top of the jig...they seem to really like that split shot. Maybe try scratching off the paint on a small jig head to see if that works better. They sure like that split shot!

Looks to be a great weekend with the temps coming up! Also WINTERAMA going on with lots of events. Sign up for the Polar Plunge...jump into some 36 degree water with all of the other crazies!

Fish On!

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Thanks for the update. Sounds like it will be a good weekend. I will be up with the "guide" Saturday morning. Are the fish still shallow or have they started the push to deeper water? That big northern might explain why the fishing got really slow Sunday morning in that area.

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Are they going to have the fireworks with Winterrama again this year?? the wife and I will be staying over on the lake Sat night, was up last year in sleeper on the lake and caught the fireworks, was a nice little bonus.

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Yes...they will have the fireworks. Always great to watch on the ice.

They will have the polar plunge, kids events, chili cook-off, band at Lakeside, etc., etc. Lots of stuff going on.

Thanks CrappieBoy...see you the following weekend...or this weekend if you make it over.

Fish On!

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See ya up there ill bring the kid out and maybe bring the wheelhouse by lakeside or wherever there having it.

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Went out for a couple hrs. I was on my way to NoDak and have never fished the lake so figured i'd stop by and give it a whirl. My power auger is down so I wasn't able to hole hop like I normally do. With over 2' of ice, drilling holes is a workout!! Thankfully after 7 holes I was able to find some fish. Ended up catching 6 very finicky sunnies about 6-8", 1 10" crappie and a 15" bass. They wanted a tiny presentation dead sticked. A little jig to draw them in then just let em look til they decided to bite. Also, I couldn't believe the number of houses on the lake!!! There has to be 400 out there right now! Hard to believe a lake this size can sustain that kinda pressure. I was on the west end, about halfway down the lake away from the crowds. Found the fish in 9'.

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... Ended up catching 6 very finicky sunnies about 6-8", 1 10" crappie and a 15" bass....Also, I couldn't believe the number of houses on the lake!!! There has to be 400 out there right now! Hard to believe a lake this size can sustain that kinda pressure.

fishuhalik, you must of been in the nursery area of waska catching fish that size wink ...kiddin...pretty typical....it's been hypothesized that it's critical to maintain the harvest of panfish in this lake or they will overpopulate. Not my theory, but eases the concern a bit I guess.....as does the "it's a HUGE lake" message...I see you don't buy that one either.

Seriously, too bad you didn't get into some of the nicer fish.. they are their. but IMO, the size you caught are perfect harvest fish on waska right now. PROPS on the hand drilling!! Hope you get the power going soon.

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It is hard to believe Minnewaska can handle the pressure. Time will tell. There would not be any walleye in the lake if they were not stocked. But this forum is for fishing reports, so i wont go any further.

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I took a little drive around on the lake this morning and it looked pretty good. About 6 inches or so of snow...I am sure you can find some drifts out somewhere but it looked pretty level on the Glenwood end. I don't think I would take a car out there quite yet until the roads get all re-established...but 4wd shouldn't have any issues. I don't think we should have any weight issues with the snow either since we had a good amount of ice established.

Bite still seems to be tight...better just to leave it sit and go small with bait and hook as mentioned prior. A lot of fish down there on the camera!

Usually there are 600 to 800 houses on the lake so I think they are down a little...but...a lot of people take their houses with them these days. Back in the "old days" there were even more houses. I would have to believe Minnewaska was fish harder back then than now...more houses, more people fishing, higher limits, etc., etc. In reality, maybe 10% of Waska is being fished...the rest is a sanctuary. There is also a tremendous amount of reproduction and food in Waska. I believe we need a healthy harvest each year, otherwise the population gets out of wack. And with that harvest some good decisions on what to keep and what to throw back of course. I would like to see some slots on Waska but I will leave it up to the smarter people to decide on that. smile

I think I might go fishing today.

Fish On!

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I believe we need a healthy harvest each year, otherwise the population gets out of wack. And with that harvest some good decisions on what to keep and what to throw back of course. I would like to see some slots on Waska but I will leave it up to the smarter people to decide on that. smile

Thanks for the update, Landdr,

I don't claim to be one of the smarter people you mention and am not interested in getting into a pi zz in match. Just would like to understand where you're coming from. I mean that nicely.

Could you define a "healthy harvest"...How would we keep track of that if we had a clue what "healthy harvest" is?

90% of Minneswaska is a "sancuary"??...3/4 of the lake doesn't have any game fish in it during winter...It's not like they go to the refuge to escape the pressure. They live where there's food and oxygen. Are there spots un-fished? For sure, but they wouldn't make it long in "the sanctuary".

Less houses, maybe, but vastly superior tactics / equipment / electronics / gps/ cameras / ability to get around ect, ect Less people icefishing today?? I'd challenge that...I new 2 people that had flip over (home made) houses growing up....The Frabills / Vexilars/ Marcums/ Clam Outdoors and several other companies wouldn't be flourishing if there were less people icefishing today than "the old days".....I'd bet money that more fish are harvested in average year over last 5 than in the "old days". The changes in the last 15 years are staggering. I have 95% of these "changes" and enjoy them...but with them, I believe there comes a certain amount of responsibility to change my harvest practices as well.

I'm glad you sorta hinted at Selective Harvest (some good decisions on what to keep...), but all the "there's less pressure now", "sanctuary", "we need a healthy harvest" diminishes any concern we might have.

I had several conversations a while back with a DNR official up there regarding possibility of someday having a slot / size limit / some kind of regulations on JUST PIKE. Without doing into detail, he said the it would never fly.....regs on waska of any kind are not popular with the majority in the area. Pike, big ones, are natures "healthy harvest" agents...keep stunted panfish populations in check...there's a few big pike for sure, but not like there could be...Imagine the pike fishery waska could have with some protection....and it wouldn't hurt any of the other gamefish...more than likely would improve them.

The "it's a huge lake" / "90% sancyuary" / ambiguous "need a healthy harvest" talk isn't gonna help make any regs / slot limits of ANY kind more popular if there's no concern. I'm not out to scare, just countering what I perceive (maybe I'm off) as "no worries, it's all good" messages.

I'm not sure what kind of slots you'd like on 'waska, but you'd probably have more clout with the DNR folks there than a "citiod". Possibly start simple with only a PIKE slot / size limit...I believe we'd see positive effects in a short time, and the unpopularity of thought out regulations would diminish a bit.

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90% of Minneswaska is a "sancuary"??...3/4 of the lake doesn't have any game fish in it during winter...It's not like they go to the refuge to escape the pressure. They live where there's food and oxygen. Are there spots un-fished? For sure, but they wouldn't make it long in "the sanctuary".

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Healthy harvest...I don't have an analytically answer for that, but biologically I would guess that you don't want your predator fish to have such a high population that they prey populations get whipped out. Meaning...if the sunfish population gets so high, all of those mouths are going to consume more and more of the bugs until the bug population can't feed the gill population. Then we have an issue. By harvesting the gills down to maintain a "healthy" population, then the bugs will have a "healthy" population...and we will have the nice sized gills in the numbers we have. Due to the size of the lake and the vast acres of vegetation (Waska is a shallow lake compared to most), it supports an excellent population of bugs and gills.

That leads into the sanctuary...most of lake doesn't get fished. Not that there aren't fish there...but people tend to go where the crowds are or maybe where there are sufficient fish to catch to satisfy them. But there are plenty posts on here of people that venture out and away and they find fish all over the place...even where people aren't fishing. I think there are three or four houses were one of my houses is at...and there are fish all over. There are so many places to fish on this lake that are not being fished and usually aren't fished. Those are pretty much sanctuaries where large populations of survive, breed and produce thousands of more little fish...that grow really fast because there is a lot of refuge and a lot of food for them.

I don't believe there is anywhere on Waska that is void of oxygen or void of food. You can catch plenty of fish out in even the deepest part of the lake...some 28 or 29 fow. If you watch gills out in the deep water...they appear to be picking chironomids off the bottom...one of their favorite foods...along with Daphnia, Copepods, Corixids, Notonectids and maybe a Gammarus here and there along with the vegetation they pick at, etc.

I do believe the harvest from the old days was more than now. They didn't have the equipment we have...but Grandpa still filled the bucket! Their limits were much higher and they REALLY caught fish...and they kept everything because back then it was family food. We have equipment now, but I don't know too many people that keep a limit anymore (today's smaller limits) or if they do it is just an occasional one. More people just fish for a meal or two and often throw back more than they keep. Of course there are exceptions to that...but those exceptions seem to be getting caught on Waska by the COs who seem to be more on top of things these days. When they see the same person or vehicle showing up over and over...

Well, enough of this...I gotta get to work. smile

Fish On!

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Well that's pretty interesting reading.One thing is for sure most of the lake isn't getting fished after driving the south shore from Glenwood to highway 29 today. A group of 12-15 of us fished the lake from last Friday noon until 1:00 p.m. Monday. Don't even think of driving a car out there until some roads are established. Four wheel drive and you could go anywhere. We caught the most fish the day before the storm (Saturday) but it certainly isn't as easy as it has been the previous two years. We were out in that 17 foot range of no man's land and didn't fish until we found them with the cameras and it was still tough to get them to bite. Lots of lookers and then swim away. I had a number of times where I would be dead sticking and see a fish come in on the Marcum and touch my rod and they would instantly take off. Especially on Monday after the storm. I had a 9.5" and a 9.625" gill on Saturday and the crappies we caught were real nice with a 10-11" average. Did have one of my friend's work buddy stop by and he had been fishing and had a picture of a measured 10.5" gill. What a beast! So they are in there. This is the only time we fish the lake all year so I really envy you guys who get to hit it regularly. Saw a pile of turkeys too and now that will be the next thing to get fired up about.

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I don't believe there is anywhere on Waska that is void of oxygen or void of food. You can catch plenty of fish out in even the deepest part of the lake...some 28 or 29 fow.

My bad....I didn't mean in any way that 75% of the lake was void of oxygen, anoxic, or even oxygen deprived. My "don't make it long" comment was regarding food, more than oxygen. That said, there's more oxygen, which they prefer, in the weed laden depths. They can live out in the basin, but in general, they prefer shallower areas (higher oxygen levels / more food).

I also agree that there are plenty of areas not fished (often) that consistently hold fish....I do argue the thought / belief that there's a consistent population of fish (in winter) roaming the floor of the basin looking for bugs...In summer, different matter.

Like I said, I'm NOT an expert...Landrr, you have vastly greater knowledge of bugs and whatnot, for sure. But to sell the idea that the vast majority (basin) of the lake holds fishable numbers of fish?? I don't buy it, esp. in winter. I'll agree to a small percentage of the lake has fishable numbers of fish, but not the overblown numbers you state.

Sunfish are not "predator" fish in my mind. They eat bugs, yup, but that's not my point regarding predator fish keeping the fisheries in check. A healthy population of protected apex predatory (big pike/ musky) are the most effective management tool for sunfish populations, assuming there's not an overabundance of suckers, perch, other prey for them. For us fisherman to manage them by "healthy harvest" methods, whatever that is, is confusing to me. Selective Harvest is a bit more objective- Keep the most abundant, middle of the road sized fish, release the smallest and the biggest (don't forget pics of the biggest).....pretty much what the large pike do (minus the pics).

We'll have to agree to disagree on the "old day's" harvest vs. today's. There are fewer of the "freezer fillers" today, I agree. But, the sheer numbers of people that icefish today vs. 20 years ago...I wish I had the numbers....my eyes / common sense tells me the harvest is more today than 20 years ago. That's not a bad thing, either. I'm glad the fishing / icefishing industry seems to be growing. But, as we grow and get better at what we do (catch fish), we need to be responsible / send responsible messages out there to the masses. We ain't in Kansas anymore...

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I would guess that you don't want your predator fish to have such a high population that they prey populations get whipped out. Meaning...if the sunfish population gets so high, all of those mouths are going to consume more and more of the bugs until the bug population can't feed the gill population. Then we have an issue. By harvesting the gills down to maintain a "healthy" population, then the bugs will have a "healthy" population...and we will have the nice sized gills in the numbers we have. Due to the size of the lake and the vast acres of vegetation (Waska is a shallow lake compared to most), it supports an excellent population of bugs and gills.

He's not serious is he??? You missed the point by about 2 inches on your ruler.

Goose voiced this perfectly. I'm quite impressed coming from him grin The pike class is a major problem. In the Koeps challenge in June, well over half of the field didn't land a pike of over 24" in a full day fishing. What Landdr doesn't understand is that Pike are the backbone of a healthy bluegill population. The lake needs less a larger class of trophy pike and lower 30s.

In my opinion the pike and bluegill population classes are very unhealthy, while walleyes and crappies remain healthy. The best thing the DNR could do is stock Minnewaska with musky.

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Goose voiced this perfectly. I'm quite impressed coming from him. grin The best thing the DNR could do is stock Minnewaska with musky.

lol...no offense taken at original choice of words to describe me...I resemble it! I assume wetaline read an earlier post where I called myself an "intellectually challenge urban dweller"......sensitive word I guess.

Back to the conversation (apologies to those looking for fishing reports)...wetaline, I'm not against a second go round with muskies in 'waska, but I think that'll go over like a lead balloon...too much misconception....and, I'm not totally convinced 'waska (the lake itself) would support a healthy population of muskies. I could be wrong, and would love to be wrong on this one...afraid we won't know any time soon...heck, they / we can't even get them in Green (Spicer)...a no-brainer musky lake. Lets hope we can get some support for pike regs on 'waska, and witness the benefits....maybe the fear of big pike / muskies will turn to desire for them.

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Goose what is really bad is the Muskie are already in green and nest and possibly Calhoun. They are not a f ishable population but one is caught every year or two but nothing big. I have wondered why they won't stock it they are already present and would be a good lake for them.

On waska I don't know the answer but I think there is lots of people fishing out there. I get up and fish wadis a few times a winter it's fun usually leave with fish. Would be a shame to see a lake that size get over harvested, the people that fish the lake more would be first to see a drop in size or numbers, so hopefully they speak up if that starts to happen. But I would never argue stricter limits not even if they went state wide. I don't know many lakes where people go just to fish pannies ,so why not manage waska for it to be better. Waska has potential is a good crappie lake. If you look at the red lake forum that is what they still talk about crappie boom. There is a need for a great panfish lake but it would need to have restrictions to not get fished out.

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Wetline...did you sleep thru your biology class?

Trophy gills in small ponds and lakes...but not a pike in there. Hmmmm.

Crappies...they are cyclic. Three years or so there was a HUGE population of 6 to 9 inch crappies in Waska...that year class is now 10 to 12 inches. I have yet to catch a 6 to 8 inch crappie this year...not that there aren't a few out there...but the crappies are cycling. They are currently either at their peak or possibly just starting to go down. We probably will have a couple descent years of crappies until we are at the bottom and there is another massive year class. Anyone recall all of the small crappies two or three years ago? I was catching 40 to 50 a night in the 6 to 9 inch range...along with a few keepers. Great year class and we are enjoying the results of that year class right now.

Fish On...and on...and on!

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Wetline...did you sleep thru your biology class?

Trophy gills in small ponds and lakes...but not a pike in there. Hmmmm.

So, pike don't figure into the equation?? I think we were still discussing Minnewaska?

Is 'waska a small pond or lake?? (I'm assuming you meant both were small).

Crappies are cyclical..well known fact. So, Are you suggesting it doesn't really matter how we harvet them?? They're just gonna do what they do?? And if that "massive year class" doesn't come through as planned? No reason they have to be nearly non-existent before they flucuate up again...Lot's of lakes in Alex area have consistent nice crappie opportunities....albeit they are as advertised and pressured.

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"while walleyes and crappies remain healthy"..."So, Are you suggesting it doesn't really matter how we harvest them?? They're just gonna do what they do??"

If you two have an ax to grind...please find a different thread to do it on. If you have an opinion...fine...but insulting someone else is not needed on this thread. I started to lower myself to that and I apologize to the readers for that. For future, please don't criticize someone's opinion or report.

Fish On!

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"while walleyes and crappies remain healthy"..."So, Are you suggesting it doesn't really matter how we harvest them?? They're just gonna do what they do??"

If you two have an ax to grind...

I'm missing the "ax grinding" in both those quotes...I'm simply trying to understand your angle......If the questions seem pointed, I too, apologize. Simple questions. Looking for a simple answer so I can understand. I've read your treatise on bugs. Would like to understand your thoughts, if any, on more than that.

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Just wondering if a rookie to waska can come up there with a portable for a day and be somewhat successful? Am thinking the wife and I might make a trip that way for a day. Don't really care what we catch just enough to keep us entertained for the day and maybe take home a meal! Thanks!

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If you two have an ax to grind...please find a different thread to do it on. If you have an opinion...fine...but insulting someone else is not needed on this thread. I started to lower myself to that and I apologize to the readers for that. For future, please don't criticize someone's opinion or report.
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Roads were plowed off of Lakeside yesterday and going out in different directions. Got a little snow last night but shouldn't change much. 4wd is recommended, especially if you want to head off the plowed road. I had my 4wd Escape out there yesterday and went anywhere I wanted to...just had to watch out for any drifts where there used to be a fish house...but I had no issues.

Drilled several holes and put the camera down. In some places the fish have moved and you have to wander off to look for them...but they can be found. Other places the fish are still there.

Hogwild...you can start out by working in and around the areas with fish houses and see how you do. I would expect that you will catch some fish. Bring a camera to help locate them. If you don't find fish in those areas, work the outside to located fish.

See a lot of pike on the camera yesterday and some pretty nice sized ones. Lots of gills, a few crappies and a few bass. Didn't need an auger extension yet but getting close. If your house sits on the ice, then you should be fine, but if it sits high off the ice, then it will be close.

Accesses were in good shape.

Fish On!

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