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was out on mazaska today from 12-6. the ice was better than i expected. no water came up the hole and the slush was froze where i was at. The fishing on the other hand was slow..... marked fish but nothing wanted anything i was giving them. all i cought was a little 20" pike on a deadstick with a minnow.

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JosMN: i was in 25 fow, i had really good luck with crappies 9-11" last week but nothing today. i walked out on the packed trail and set up just south of everyone else on the west side of the trail. last week i was using a small orange/white glow jigging spoon with a small and active minnow...... jigged hard to get fish in and then had to hold it still for the fish to bite.

but again, today i didnt have any luck outside the one pike.

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Was out on Washington this morning into late afternoon... Caught some keeper size sunnies and a few small perch... ice was 8 inches thick with about 5-6 inch of slush... We were out by Mud Bay... Had something take a fat head down but didnt get it to the hole. Also... you can see to the bottom in about 10ft of water... saw a nice northern swim through... Vexilar showed all the fish off the bottom or a foot off of the bottom

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Made it out to mazaska with a buddy this morning. Was only able to stay out for 2 hrs, but it was great to get out there. Set up in 25 FOW, had a lot of waves of fish come on the showdown, but couldn't get them to hit. All we had were plastics and waxies....I think some crappie minnows would have been the ticket. There were a few slushy spots, but we had 9 solid inches of ice under us.I counted 12 porties out there, many of the guys out there were having the same luck. Hope to get out there again tomorrow.

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Went out yesterday for a cruise just to check out a few lakes i would like to try, but the only thing that bothers me is the landings are full of snow and you cant get in there. now is there someone responible to clean those out???

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My wife and I and another couple have been planning a 3-day 2-night trip for some time now to the Faribault area to do some ice fishing. We were wondering about the ice conditions and how the fishing might be with all the snow and slush we've heard about. Is it still worth the 3 hour trip? Any reports on lakes to start would be great? Thanks for the help.

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creekchaser, welcome to HSO!

I'd say it would be worth it as there are so many lakes you can choose from. If the bite is slow on one lake, there's another lake within a few miles...

Ice is pretty much foot traffic only. With all the snow, its pretty hard to get a wheeler on a lake.

Good luck!

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Thanks! Had heard good things about the area and had been given French and Roberds as places to start. Any good baitshops in the area?

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Any good baitshops in the area?

Check out John's Bait and Tackle... He is located on your way to the lakes ur planning on fishing.

19826 Roberds Lake Boulevard

Faribault, MN 55021

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got out for the first time of the year last night. fished a lake close to home from about 4 to 630. popped about 20 holes and found fish in about half a dozen of them. Most showed in 8 to 11 ft of water. threw a tip up in 8' with a small sucker but no hits for the night. set up the shack in 11' and iced 12 or so smaller range crappies. All fish were caught on plastics only. chartreuse seemed to be the flavor of choice for the night. emphasis on presentation was the key to triggering bites. they wouldn't take anything else otherwise. found about 7 inches of clear ice with about 3 inches of slush between that and the top inch or so of crust that was holding me up with no problems. have the next 10 days with no jobs scheduled so i'll be looking to make it happen!

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I as well hit the ice today, for my second time this year.

Was pretty impromptu, but heck, it was fishin! ...Got a text from Mouneau132 around 3pm, asking where I was...as I was pulling in down my road, there was his truck at the boat landing. So of course I had to go!

He had a few tip-ups out, and said he missed one. Popped a hole for me so I could at least wet a line....well, after cleaning Kelly Lake of the 14" crappie...it was time to head in after 20 minutes out there. :P

On a good note! 10" of Solid black ice, 2 inches of [PoorWordUsage] ice on top of that, and hardly any slush!

I did hear that French was VERY sloppy today, and Roberds was a desert.

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Just got done cleaning a nice limit of crappies, deep weed line about 14-15' Diamond jigs tipped with a waxie or Northland Bloodworms took most of the fish.

Ice conditions were less than ideal, about 10" of ice, with 4-5" of water/slush and a few inches of snow.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

What lake is giving the hot bite and what time? thanks guys

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fished from 3-6:30 tonight and landed about 10 perch that were just under keeper size. also caught 3 eyes with two being under 14" and one being almost 20". all the eyes hit in the last 20 minutes of daylight. fished 10' of water in a narrow flat off a breakline about 20' away. buckshot spoons were the ticket.

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Hey Nate, did you happen to walk past a little black portable on your way out to that flat? Looked like a guy and a girl carrying his GPS with a one man flip over. If it was you, how was the ice out there? I wanted to get out to that flat but wasn't sure about the ice. Looked like you had that spot all to yourself besides the blue porty that left soon after you got there. If it was you smile

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Hey Nate, did you happen to walk past a little black portable on your way out to that flat? Looked like a guy and a girl carrying his GPS with a one man flip over. If it was you, how was the ice out there? I wanted to get out to that flat but wasn't sure about the ice. Looked like you had that spot all to yourself besides the blue porty that left soon after you got there. If it was you smile

I don't believe so. Must have been a different lake. I am heading to another lake soon here to see how the panfish will go in this sunshine today!

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Fished Zaska today with no bait nate, mouneau132, and some weird guy from Maple Grove.....

Started out in 30 FOW out from the main landing. Fish stacked! Wouldn't bite anything, not even a chase.

Moved away from the crowds...and when I say away...we are talking 1/2 a mile +.

25 to 35 FOW, marked em, missed a few, caught a few. Finicky! for-sure! Crappie minnows took the bucket. Waxies got a couple.

Ice was 7 to 10+ of Good ice! Slush? huh? none.

...I'll be back out tomorrow!

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not sure yet, depends on the weather and some other priorities. May be running down some jobs for February tomorrow so that my conflict. Wondering how the ice will be after today's rain also, it was suspect on the north end last night when I was out there. But my vex did look like a Christmas tree over there wink

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The ice was a mess last night.Every other step i'd drop thru what was hard pack

into slush 6- 12" deep.Rocky's did not keep the feet dry either.I wouldnt think

a kid would enjoy it mutch.Bring on the deep freeze!

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on shields yesterday eve and the ice couldn't of been better the rain did it a lot of good easy to drag shack out and never broke through so all has re froze looks like I could get the wheel house out yet this year around here.

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was out on mazaska today from 11-4.... brother was using my camera and we saw a nice pike come by, two walleye, and a bunch of perch/crappie/sunnies. we counldnt get anything to bite. first time out this winter where i didnt catch anything but it was bound to happen.

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fished the same body of water from about 4-730 this evening. caught about 25 crappies and one gill. quite a few were nice enough to keep, with only 4 taken for my frying pan. fished 32' of water and caught most on plastics. most active fish were at least 10' off of the bottom. ice was much better after the rain but i wouldn't say nearly good enough to drive the trucks yet. lots of white ice out there. be safe!

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