report 3/20-3/22

[bturck]

Well it was an interesting 3 days on the big pond and a memorable last trip of the year. Again lots of small eyes, released over 75 per day. We did get our limit of nice eyes and Sauger from 17" to 20". Two gators, one 26" and one 28". Also lost two nice eyes that should have gone around 27" to 28", just couldn't get them into the hole and it was over. Oh well involuntary catch and release. Buckshot rattle, gold Angel jr, pink/white glow devils, gold zip jigs and plain red hooks all produced.<P>it was an adventure going over Pine Island. the melt down is defiinitly started to take its toll on the pressure ridge. Adrians tried moving the road on two occassions. On Saturday morning things were not good with a couple of vehicles hung up and causing a traffic jam. We bactracked along the Island to the east and one of Riverrbends track vehicles ferried us to the houses. they are really working hard to maintain access from the island, there are not sure how long they can continue to fight the melt down however. On Friday they hung up there track plow and hooked a couple of trucks to it to pull it out. The tow rope broke and snapped back through the windshield and right out the back window. thank god no one was sitting in the vehicle, they certainly would have been severely injured or worse. The ice on the main lake is still good, its just the access area. Adrian road from the Island was pretty well flooded so it was easier to just drive along side of it. <P>On Saturday there were loooots of folks out on the ice enjoying a beautiful day. It was truly a fine time. Hope you all did well and continue to do well as long as the ice lasts. Good luck and hang on. Bill<BR> <BR>

[curt quesnell]

Bill<P>We stopped to see you at RiverBend Saturday<BR>Glen said you had already gone home.......<P>We ran up a bar tab..Glen said he'd<BR>send it to you<P><P>------------------<BR>Curt Quesnell<BR>NorthCountry Outdoors Radio

[bturck]

Curt: I'll take care of it no problem. I'm Gordy put one on there for himself to. We left at 100pm and were back inn St Cloud at 530pm.<P>How did you do this weekend? It was very interesting on the pond. I believe I'm going to make a trip up this summer with the boat. Going to give up umpiring 110 games a year and do more fishing. Sorry we missed you, but we will get together eventually. Bill

[curt quesnell]

The lake is even better in the open water.<BR>Only two things can screw it up<BR>1. wind<BR>2. no wind<P>I will email you<P><P>------------------<BR>Curt Quesnell<BR>NorthCountry Outdoors Radio

[bturck]

The email address I gave you is from my office. Right now I'm at home, and will check it in the AM Bill

[huntnfish]

Pine Island was very interesting to travel across. I went out with Ballards and stayed in one of their houses. Bturk, where were you fishing on Saturday? We were just out from Pine Island.

[bturck]

huntnfish: We were east once you crossed Pine Island and started onto the main lake. We traveled perhaps a 1/4 mile and then headed east (to the right) for probably 3/4 of a mile. We were within 50 yards of the pressure ridgein 20' of water. When we encoutered the problems at early Saturday morning and were caught in the traffic jam, we went east along Pine with Glenn from Riverbend and one of their track vehicles came in and picked us up. We left my Tahoe sitting at Pine. We then used the bomber tail which was also interesting, crossed the pressure ridge and fished just on the other side which was 22' of water. We picked up 13 mixed Saug and eyes from 16-18". We headed back at noon and were on the road by 100PM. It was a great weekend weather wise, just a bit of a pain to navigate and try to not get hung up. We were lucky and that didn't happen. Are you going to go back yet this ice season? Bill

[fiskyknut]

Hey Bill, glad you had a good trip, early and late ice is always somewhat of an adventure! So what kinda timeframe are you looking at for your openwater trip up this way? I remember some of your posts the past couple summers saying how you want to do the openwater but you've been so busy umping.... Got to take some time out and get up here! <P>Fisky

[bturck]

Thanks Fisky: I'll watch the forum here to see what is working, bait and tackle wise prior to coming up. Richard one of the guides at Riverbend was telling me about a place up north called Painted Rock. He wants me to head up there with him. He told me that until I see that part of the lake, I really haven't seen the real Lake of the Woods. So we'll see how that goes. Thanks again for the info. Bill

[fiskyknut]

Yes indeed that Painted rock and Splitrock islands area is really nice. The U.S. side of the lake has zero for scenery, go north and it's almost like a whole different lake!<P>Regards....Fisky

[Guest]

Fished pike over by elm point stayed out deep all day from 8:00 to evening and caught a lot of nice northerns.We had flags going up allday. Biggest was 42" alot in the 33-39" range what a blast . we were in 20 feet of water and didn't bother with the shallow water. Used big sucker minnows and some dead bait. no luck on the dead bait.

[bturck]

Hey Fisky; You have a good memory, who says that the first thing to go!!!!!!<P>I am cutting back on the umpiring and my son and I were thinking of perhaps the first week in June, heading to the big pond for 2-3 days of fishing. I used to do a tremendous amount of soft water fishing but kind of got out of it.<P>My son is a contractor so the exact time frame would depend on his schedule and how his crews are coming on their projects. Bill

[fiskyknut]

First part of June is a great time for numbers of fish for sure, really easy fishing too! They should be active all over the lake, way active and still relatively shallow. As long as the weather ain't nasty you should do very well during that time of year.<P>Fisky<P>