2020 Detroit Lakes-Pelican Rapids Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions

[Chill62]

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…but what does it mean for our local lakes and the yearly tradition of fishing out of our hard sided fish houses during Christmas?  In our area we received a fair amount of snow from 3-8 inches this past weekend and after the storm passed it brought us lots of arctic air that we needed prior sadly.  Snow on the ground is a good thing, it helps reflect the suns energy and stops the ground from heating up especially along shorelines and keeps our ambient temperatures colder but on the other hand, it has put a blanket on top of the ice preventing the cold temps from forming as thick of ice as possible.  With that extra weight on top of the ice it is and will potentially cause flooding and slush pockets on top of our ice.

I was on a lake Friday after the warmup and there were lots of sketchy spots from the warmup especially near any standing weeds.  Those weeds absorbed the suns heat and started making the ice melt and it looked a lot like late ice but in December.  Saturday, the temps dropped allowing our ice to freeze and heal itself but sadly it didn’t have enough time to heal itself completely and that may hurt us in the long run of the season.

Ice on the lake is not a ridged structure that many people think it is but, it’s a lot like a trampoline.  As you add weight on top of the ice it sinks down a little bit and as the ice sinks down it cracks slightly on the bottom side as it stretches.  As more and more weight push down from above any crack or hole that is drilled starts flooding the area.  This causes anyone using the lakes either for fishing or snowmobiling headaches all year long.  Hopefully we had enough wind during the storm Sunday night and Monday to blow the snow off the ice so it can keep forming.

Now that we have snow covered ice it is harder to see the color of the ice and make sure we always have safe ice underneath us.  As people start exploring more and more lakes it becomes more important to check the ice as frequent as possible because we can no longer see that the ice looks different as we are walking.  Another concern of mine with snow covering the ice are kids and snowmobiles.  I know when I was young, I couldn’t wait to get our snowmobiles onto the lake to drive them.  Snowmobiles will need approximately 6 inches of ice and I have only seen one lake that had that prior to this storm. 

I have gotten multiple messages asking about when I think people can get their permanent shacks out onto the ice and my response is not this weekend.  Will you see someone driving a lightweight spear shack out with a four-wheeler this weekend, probably.  Do I think it’s a safe task, no.  I respect ice and if you are jumping at the bit to get out, I strongly suggest walking your whole route on the ice drilling holes every hundred feet and measuring the thickness.  I have an ice scoop that has the inches on the side so I can measure the ice easily and I measure ice at EVERY hole along my route.  If I have enough ice I go back and get my rig to bring it out and I drive next to each hole I drilled as I proceed.  Watch your water level in your hole as you drive extremely slowly and see if the ice is sinking or floating with your extra weight on the ice.  If along your route you see the ice is now flooding, I strongly suggest turning around and waiting to do it another day.  If you have “head space” between the ice and water level in your hole you are good to keep proceeding.

When you get near your destination and you disconnect your fish house drive a distance away and park your four-wheeler or snowmobile.  Remember the more things you have in a smaller area the more that trampoline sinks in the water and by parking a reasonable distance away helps spread your weight out better preventing the area from flooding.

I was able to get out Friday afternoon and Saturday before the storm hit.  Fishing pressure both days were a lot higher than the weekend before and I only expect it to get tougher, so it made fishing tougher to narrow down the bite.  The fish were out on the flats roaming last weekend and this weekend a guy next to me had forward facing sonar unit and we were watching the fish holding tight to weeds and only coming out in certain areas kind of like deer trails leading to a field.  When we found those “trails” we would drill our holes in a tight area, and we had great results.  If it slowed down, we would hold tight, and another batch of fish would cycle through our area making it very fun to set up and stay comfortable while fishing.

Tungsten jigs were the ticket this weekend but some people next to us were having luck with small spoons.  Spoons were getting less numbers, but the fish were better quality where tungsten’s were getting more fish, but the average tended to be on the lower side.  I had to force myself to experiment with other color plastics this weekend because I ran out of white and I was having luck with Red, Orange, and Black but also heard blue was working great also. 

Sadly, I will not be on the ice again till the 18th of December.  This upcoming weekend the Fargo Ice Fishing Show is going on and I will be in the Ice Fishing Minnesota booth the whole weekend.

 

Stay safe on the ice!

Cody J. Hill

Ice Fishing Minnesota

CHill Guide Service
www.chillguideservice.com

 

[Chill62]

Happy New Years!  We have received a lot of snow throughout the area and the extra snow cover has changed up fishing and travel on the lakes.  As a result of our heavy snow, it has slowed down the formation of ice on our lakes and even though some areas were thirty below zero we didn’t form that much new ice, sadly.  This has been a leading factor to some Rangers and pickups going through the ice on local lakes.  I have been hearing mixed reports of some lakes having some slush, I have not seen it personally yet.  I’m also hearing reports that some lakes will have 12-14 inches of ice and a few hundred yards away they have 8-9 inches.

Fishing reports have been also hit and miss due to people getting out due to the snow.  A few bigger lakes have some nice roads plowed because a few guides are running rental shacks on them.  On Sunday when I was fishing a group came through and started drilling holes on the road, fished for 10-15 minutes then moved further down the road and did the same.  People are kind enough to plow roads please respect the road by not drilling holes on it or setting your house up on the road.  Last year I kept up a few roads and when people did this it caused nothing but headaches for plowing and running the risk of breaking equipment due to laziness.

Walleye bite was going right before the new years and the bite also went through the day with guys picking up a limit or two of walleyes during the day in their permeant shacks.  Breaks on the edges of flats with rock bottoms seemed to be the ticket and you didn’t need to be extremely deep with some being in that 12-15 feet range.  After New Years I’m hearing some people struggling but I have a feeling they slid out into deeper water and holes because I’m seeing them getting caught in basins while crappie fishing.  Spoons tipped with fat heads jigging on or near bottom produced well with dead stick rods with minnows about a foot from bottom helped with a curious but hesitant fish.

Panfish bite has been steady to slowly picking up depending on if you are fishing shallow/weeds or basins.  With the snowfall weeds are going to start die and that will cause a drop in the oxygen level in the shallows.  As a result, the fish will slide into deeper water chasing food and more stable oxygen.  I had a great trip over the weekend fishing a deeper basin and all our fish were surprisingly the bottom five feet.  I went back to the same spot a few days later and our first five fish were five different species.  I had luck with jigging baits like the Kender T-Rip or Eurotackle Z-Viber Micro in Wonder Bread colors and when the fish seemed not as aggressive, I switched to a 4 mm tungsten jig tipped with a Panfish Pirate plastic in a Ripper or Zoid in pink or white tipped with one wax worm.  Crappies were aggressive but you had to keep jigging/twitching your jig the whole time and when they would bite, they would hold onto your jig and not swim away so you needed to focus on your rod tip to watch for the bite and before you would jig slightly lift your rod to see if you had extra weight from a fish.  When the bite got extremely tough, we had best luck with a 4 mm or downgrading to a 3 mm tungsten with a plain Ripper plastic no bait.  The second trip I set up a plain minnow down where the fish were coming through hoping for action but only picked up small pike instead.

I had customers that used their own rods on a trip, and I want to bring up a topic that most might not think makes a difference but with the invasion of zebra muscles on a lot of our lakes I think it is making a difference.  The type of line you use, and the thickness makes a difference.  I had 3 people in one house, and we got 18 very nice crappies.  Two of the three people were using 3-pound test fluorocarbon line and they caught 15 fish and the person using 6-pound mono caught three.  The person who caught three was using the same exact lure as the rest of us and in the same portable fish house so the only thing we can think is that the line thickness was the ultimate deciding factor.  I run 100% fluorocarbon line because of the visibility factor and in my opinion its worth the added price to put quality line on a rod.  The other thing I have noticed with fluorocarbon is that it seems to be stronger than monofilament and this allows me to downsize my line thickness by one to two and sometimes three pounds and it helps with a panfish bite allowing me to feel those light bites. 

I think we are in the heart of our traditional winter patterns and fishing will only be picking up in the next few weeks and this will benefit a lot of us since they will be in our normal winter spots going forward.  Get away from the crowds and don’t be afraid to change things up with colors/plastics/types of lures being used especially in a group in a house.

Take care,

Cody Hill

Ice Fishing Minnesota
CHill Guide Service
www.chillguideservice.com

[Chill62]

Winter has shown us this past weekend that Mother Nature is not to be taken lightly.  Ice fishing is my favorite time of the year to fish but this past weekend it was downright deadly at times and I had to help rescue people on the lake that had gotten themselves into a bad situation.  A lot of the lakes in the area have some roads plowed but there is a lot of slush forming from the extra weight of the snowbanks which can make it treacherous trying to get off the road and away from the crowds.

 

Fishing this past weekend was mixed results.  You either did amazing or it was poor depending on if the fish were under you or not.  Due to the weather the fish were very lethargic so if you could get on top of a school they didn’t move far.  The weather this upcoming week looks promising, and I have a feeling the bite will be amazing.

 

Walleye bite was surprisingly better in some deeper basins or holes then some fishing sharp breaks near shorelines.  The typical One-Two punch of a spoon tipped with a minnow head jigging near bottom teamed with a bobber rod with a small sucker or shiner near bottom was working great.  Due to the snow cover anything with glow and a rattle will not hurt you for attracting fish to your lures. If you are venturing out focus on your February spots and I would start searching those areas first.  Night bite was good for those willing to stay out past dark and hunker down for the late night.

 

Crappie bite this weekend was either amazing or you did poor.  Crappies were in the beginning of the week were weed edges and flats, but some are hitting the basins on the lakes I heard from, but they didn’t want to move.  We watched a school for almost 5 hours sitting in a spot we couldn’t fish and would not leave the spot.  If you got on top of those schools, you had an amazing day because they didn’t want to swim too far off from their original location.  In one situation nothing was on the graph but drilled a new hole 10 feet away and the hole was loaded when the transducer was dropped down.  Glow tungsten’s tipped with a soft plastic and a wax worm for scent seemed to do well for neutral to aggressive fish.  A small jigging Rap style lure worked great for calling fish into your area and would get the aggressive fish to commit.  Having a bobber rod with a vertical jig or a small glow hook tipped with a fathead minnow hooked behind the dorsal fin set 4-7 feet above bottom is a great second line option.

 

Good luck and stay safe out there.  For those venturing out and concerned about lake travel don’t be afraid to talk to stop in and talk to our amazing bait shops in our area and they will have a great feel for what travel is like on most lakes.

 

Cody Hill
CHill Guide Service
www.chillguideservice.com

[Chill62]

This year has been a head scratcher and has me using the ION searching for fish but here’s what I have found so far.  We are finding perch in normal walleye spots.  We are finding walleyes in our normal crappie holes.  Oh, and we cannot forget we are finding bluegills roaming in thirty feet of water suspended from 5 feet below the ice to bottom.  Crappies…when I pattern them, I’ll give an update.

 

This past weekend I went searching for crappies and hit multiple holes that I normally find them at and what I’m finding is 10-20 ice castles on top of each hole and in years past most holes I fished didn’t have a fish house.  When I searched, we only found crappies in one hole, but the slush was six to eight inches deep and the crappies we did find were less than 8 inches long with a few bigger ones mixed in roaming around which didn’t make it worthwhile to stay.

Adversity has been a common phrase in the last few years, so we decided to switch lakes to a lake I haven’t fished in over a month but figured we aren’t getting them where we currently are so what do we have to lose?  Drilled one hole to check depth and we had over 12 feet of fish swimming below us.  Last year when I fished this little lake 80-90% of your catch was crappies with a nice array of age classes so we got excited.  After fishing for nearly 5 hours, we had caught two crappies out of a hundred plus fish.  The blue gill bite was amazing and kept us active till we decided to call it a day.

 

With that many fish down there, we were able to play with plastics and colors to answer that magical question ‘Does color make a difference?’ and I can honestly say some colors it didn’t matter and some it did.  I have 24 colors to pick from in my Panfish Pirate Treasure Chest and my typical colors are white, green, and pink but we tried black, red, yellow, blue, and purple.  The surprise for us was purple and we were really impressed with the performance of that color.

What worked.  Jigs 4 mm or 5 mm tungsten jigs depending on plastic being used in any glow color and FYI glow mattered.  Soft plastic Zoid was our go to style with Ripper a close second and Bivy Bug taking up third but we didn’t fish it till the end of the day and we had better luck with the Bivy Bug with crappies.  We started with bait either wax worms or Euro Larva to build confidence in the fishermen but after the confidence in using plastics the majority were caught strictly on soft plastics alone.  We were in basins/flats off of mid lake shallow sunken islands and large shallow flats in 22-32 feet of water.  Bluegills were in huge schools but if you came to a hole that had solo high marks, they were usually crappies but because the bluegills were so aggressive if you didn’t get the high mark your graph was now full of bluegills and they would push the crappies away so we would leave a hole full of fish trying to find solo marks knowing they were crappies.  When fishing that deep a very sensitive, light tipped action, rod makes the difference.  We were using the Tuned Up Custom Rods Precision Noodle and that rod tip allowed us to see the bite and see the negative bite (bit coming from beneath lifting the jig up) where a heavier action rod we would have missed most of the bites.

 

Ice conditions were always changing on the bigger lakes with lots of vehicle traffic.  People are driving 20-30 mph going across the ice and the wave action is causing stress fractures and causing roads to flood.  Slush pockets are still forming even away from the crowds.  So be careful if you are busting your own trail.  Community holes are getting slushy because people are cramming in so tight to another fish house flooding the area.  I arrived to ours on Friday night and a new house was so close to my tongue I couldn’t have hooked up to my fish house if I had wanted to move.

 

Stay safe and enjoy the sport!

 

Cody Hill
CHill Guide Service
www.chillguideservice.com

Ice Fishing Minnesota

[Chill62]

This past weekend the Red River Boat Show took place and that is a sign that the short-lived ice fishing season will not be lasting forever and in Minnesota seasons are starting to near the end.  Some important dates to think about in Minnesota are coming up and they are February 27th which will close out our “Game Fish” season and the two fish house removal dates of March 7th (southern inland waters) and March 21st (northern inland waters).  We are down to just a few weekends left so if you have been saying I’ll go next weekend you are starting to run out of time without making the trips to a border water. 

 

We tried a few lakes this weekend and marked a ton of fish on one, but they would get within feet of our house and turn around and leave us.  After dark bigger and more aggressive fish came into our area but they would chase our lures but wouldn’t bite.  We tried almost everything in our tacklebox but just couldn’t get them to bite.  When we left that night the spot, we were fishing had maybe 4-5 houses on it to begin with but at the end of the night an easy dozen was set up with almost that many portables spread throughout the area.  We did pick a few random crappies and some big bluegills on 4 mm tungsten jigs with a Glow Blue Zoid plastic from Panfish Pirate.  Wax worms and larvae were needed for the bites, or you didn’t have a chance at a bite.

 

Sunday, I had the privilege of taking 5 people out from Brazil.  The group had never really been on the ice before and had never fished before in their lives.  They thought it was cool how our hubs popped up so quickly and once I started drilling holes how the ION cut through the ice to make the hole.  It was awesome watching their faces light up on something we take for granted every time we fish.  I gave a crash course on fishing, and it didn’t take long for everyone to cycle through and catch their first fish for a photo.  I took the group of three women, and it was a learning experience for me because I do not speak Portuguese, but it was a blast.  The fish were aggressive immediately when we got onto the ice with a lot of our big fish biting instantly.  As the day went on the fishing activity slowly died down but the first 3 hours was nothing but baiting hooks and taking fish off for the three ladies.  We had a nice mixture of species and year classes which I love to see, and it was awesome our big fish of the day was caught by grandma and grandma even held the fish for her picture.  Afterwards I hear “I can’t believe you got grandma to hold a fish!”

I’ve talked about before hand to stay actively changing baits when it gets slow, and fish are down there, and this was the same case.  A Zoid in Bubble Gum Pink was the HOT color right away then it switched to Glow Blue and stayed there the whole day for us.  The other house had no luck on Zoids and had great luck on Ripper Greens.  I think in my house we tried 8 different colors and 2 different styles of plastics throughout the day.  Something that was given with both of us was the use of wax worms.  If you didn’t have wax worms, you were not getting bites.

 

Recap, what worked best was 4 mm tungsten jigs and yellow with white was the best color.  Plastics Zoids or Rippers depending on the bite but Glow Blue, Green and Bubble Gum were the top three colors.  With how well our group did on Sunday morning I think the better bite time for that lake was in the morning and not evening.

I have been hearing reports that Tullibee and Burbot are starting to pick up some in our area and it will only be a matter of time before those bites pick up in our local lakes.  My reports from the people targeting walleyes are that they were really tough to pick up this weekend and the bite was inconsistent.

 

Cody Hill

CHill Guide Service

www.chillguideservice.com

[smurfy]

thats awesome!!!!!!!!!!

[Chill62]

Thank You!  It was a blast of a trip.  They couldn't believe that I got Grandma to hold a fish!

[Chill62]

Are the mid-winter blues getting you down or are your favorite fish being a lot more difficult to catch this year than in the past?  Have you ever tried to target tullibee?  The Otter Tail County is home to some of the best tullibee lakes in the state and for a decent amount of time even held the state record.  What is a tullibee?  It is a member of the whitefish family also known as a Cisco and tastes amazing smoked but some people bake, grill and even pickle them.  In most lakes they stay 8-12 inches long but in our area of Otter Tail County you can find them breaking 20 inches from time to time.  Not all lakes have them but some lakes in the region have huge populations and since they school together it’s not uncommon to have multiple fish on in your group at the same time. 

This past weekend we decided to go test our favorite tullibee holes and it didn’t take long to find them and once we narrowed down what they wanted we were quickly catching fish and having a fun time.  Tullibee love deep cold water so if you have Navionics search areas 35-85 feet of water, and yes that 85 was NOT a typo.  Usually, they are suspended and this weekend they were coming through 25-45 feet average, but some were flying up from 65-70 feet up to our lures in 50 chasing our lures.  We ended up catching around 18 of them between the two of us but when we shut down at 11:30 to go eat there were still four on the Marcum when I shut it down.

We were sitting in some deep holes just off shoreline that got down near 80 feet of water with most of our fish coming through 35-55 feet but if we had marks 20-30 feet down, they tended to be a lot more aggressive and more willing to bite.  Watch your graph and if you have a fishing partner near call out the depth of your marks so the other person can adjust accordingly to try and improve the odds of catching.  In the winter we can use two rods but during tullibee season I find it better to have one rod and focus on that one lure and having a reel with a high speed retrieval is ideal.

Targeting a fish that lives that deep is unique because they can be in 5 feet of water, and they can be sitting feet off bottom in 90 so where do you start?  I focus on holes with structure near them like islands, narrows or deep holes adjacent to shoreline breaks.  I’ve used the terms “Funnel Areas” before and I’ll use it again.  They are always suspended and are constantly swimming and that’s why I look for funnel areas in deeper water.  Using your graph once you start seeing marks, they usually come through in the same depth areas.  Tullibee fishing is a lot of fun and can be a fun family activity for all ages.  The more people you have in an area fishing seems to help attract more fish to your area.

Tullibee lures are unique and can vary from lake to lake and you probably already have them sitting in your tacklebox.  The typical tullibee setup has a flasher (daredevil, kastmaster, Swedish pimple, Leech Flutter Spoon with the hooks removed) with 12-18 inches of line to a typical 4-5 mm tungsten jig tipped with soft plastics (Panfish Pirate Ripper or Sailor) tipped with wax worms.  This past weekend we had best luck on a 4.5 Panfish Pirate Raptor jig with a white or pink Ripper and Sailor plastic with a few wax worms added for scent.  I like this style jig because of the angle of the hook and it helps with better hook sets.  Tullibee do not have teeth so thick line is not needed but you will need plenty of line on your reel to get down deep.  I like 4-6 pound test on my main line and some people use braid for less stretch but for the line between the spoon and the jig I do like 6-8 pound test.  Reason why is like the line a little stiffer because as it drops too thin of line and I tend to tangle my jig up in my spoon but when I have stiffer line I have better luck of that not happening.  Another reason for the thicker line is when they get to your hole they will do the typical northern pike barrel roll and if I have thick enough line I grab my spoon and pull the fish up onto the ice instead of trying to scoop the fish up and out of the hole.   A secret tip that I do is add a slip bobber stopper about 50 feet up my line and the reason why is if I find the fish are coming through a certain depth, I set that slip bobber stopper on my line and have it as a set point to stop letting line out.  As you drop your spoon your lure will probably leave the cone of your graph and the stopper gives you a starting point to know you have let out enough line.

If you are thinking this sounds like a fun time but you do not have a smoker a few of our local butcher shops brine and smoke tullibee for a fee cheaper than I can doing it at home.  I have had good luck with Ketter’s in Frazee, and I’ve had friends take them to Perham and Detroit Lakes in years past.

We have some amazing bait shops in the area that can help point you to the community holes on lakes and if you go into the Dent bait shop the Pirate Corner has a section dedicated to tullibee spoons and lures to make it easier for shopping.  If you are looking for a guided trip, I offer trips dedicated to chasing them and a few other local guides offer trips also if you ask for them.  It can be an absolute blast and since tullibee do not have a season or limit in our area so it can be a fun activity when the walleye season closes, and we can catch them right up to ice out on our local lakes.

Tight Lines and good luck!

Cody Hill
CHill Guide Service

[Chill62]

I enjoy guiding all species of fish through the ice and open water and this weekend we decided to chase a species a lot of people haven’t caught before or caught by accident while walleye fishing and that is a burbot.  Burbot has a lot of nicknames that float around like Pout, Eel Pout, Poor Man’s Lobster, or Ling but it’s a freshwater cod and its in a select few lakes in our area with some lakes having a decent amount of a population it makes it worth it to target them through the winter. 

 

Burbot can be found from shallow water to extremely deep water, but most people target them at night on sharp breaks where most people walleye fish.  Burbot have very bad eyesight and are more active at night than during the day, but they spawn late ice and during the spawn can be active all day.  Since they have extremely bad eyesight big glowing jigs and spoons work best pounding bottom with the hooks loaded up with dead minnows. 

 

Fishing for pout is unique because we can chase them all night and this works great for those that are wanting to do ice camping or for those with families that want to get out after work or when the kids go to bed.  We started our day around 3 pm and it took us a while to find the exact location, but our first fish was on the ice a little after 4 pm.   Because pout school up its not uncommon to hook multiple or after rebaiting you catch a second one right away.

 

There are a few companies that make pout specific lures like Pout Candy or Big-Nasty Lures.  We had better luck with spoons over jigs and plain hooks on bobbers.  We even had luck while eating supper with just putting the rod with the spoon on a bucket a foot off bottom.  Since we can use two lines in Minnesota, I would suggest a spoon on a tip down or a bobber and the other line jig to call them into your location.  If you get pout lures, you’ll see they have big hooks and load them up with halves of dead minnows and pound the bottom all night.  Since you usually are on sharp breaks and the fish tend to hug bottom there is a good chance that you will not see the fish till you lift your rod off bottom and the fish is there and then HOLD ON!  I only marked one fish all night and it was when I had my lure sitting off bottom while eating.

 

Pout taste amazing and our group was blessed with enough fish to have family fish fry’s this week.  Fileting a pout though is different and I strongly recommend looking at YouTube on how to filet them before attempting, I had to.  The meat is often referred to as Poor Man’s Lobster and growing up we used to eat cod a lot boiling the filets then dip the bites into melted butter and I do the same with my Pout.  We did an experiment last year and tried boiling in water and in 7-Up and we preferred boiling in 7-Up.  Friends on the other hand prefer breading them and frying them up that way and I plan on trying it this week to get a firsthand experience.

 

What worked for us best was Green Glow spoons with dead shiner minnows cut in half either pounding bottom or setting as a dead stick.  We tried other colors with no noticeable luck.  Tip for keeping your minnows on is using Bait Buttons which are little rubber pieces that you clip onto your treble hook to help hold your minnows onto your hook.  I do put a half of a minnow on each hook of a treble and I change bait almost every hour to make sure it has enough smell in the water.  We caught them from 23-30 feet of water.

 

Good luck and stay safe

 

Picture was from last year because we had the big camera out taking pictures for the photo shoot.

[Chill62]

Another weekend of storms and a week of more storms has come and gone and for once the ten-day forecast looks like we might warm up some and stay there (NOT HOLDING MY BREATH).  This past weekend we were scouting for a tournament instead of a traditional customer trip.  The mindset must be a little different when scouting for tournaments and a pro said it best “you are looking for 10 big fish not a live well full of eaters.”  We tried a few spots to find big crappies and I don’t know if crappies are starting to leave the basins or if I just picked the wrong ones to check but we covered a lot of water and found a lot of two-inch perch.  After two drained batteries and lots of miles put on the Rangers, we finally found fish and when we did, we caught three or four huge crappies then the blue gills pushed the crappies away.  It’s a good feeling when you pull 3-4 crappies up in less than 5 minutes and they are all over 12.5 inches with only three holes drilled for four people.  We stopped fishing and went onto scout more spots.

 

We did find out a lot of things this weekend.  The snowpack on the lakes has for the most part become packed down and prior to this last blizzard we were able to get around with a wheeled Ranger without issues.  Crappies wanted smaller presentations but wanted some scent from wax worms to commit.  Blue gills are starting to migrate to their normal spots but seem to be a week or two behind their normal schedules and the way this year has been going it isn’t a big shock.  We covered a lot of ice then the wind picked up and we decided a hot meal at Zorbaz and a nap felt better than getting beat up by the wind all afternoon.

 

What worked for us was 4 mm tungsten jigs with smaller Ripper plastics over the larger Syren seemed to be better.  The fish were really interested in the bigger presentation, but they didn’t seem to commit and bite.  We used the same presentation for the blue gills and that seemed to be working on catching a few nice blue gills and if you can hunker down, you’ll pick through to catch some nicer sized fish.  If you are one of those that use the drill for an auger you may want your extension installed on your drill.  I barely got through the ice this weekend and I’ll be mounting my extension on Thursday night.

 

This upcoming weekend I’ll be busy with the Women Angler’s of Minnesota tournament being hosted at Thumper Pond which is exciting for a tournament to be held in our area.  I believe they have 70 plus people signed up for the team tournament which will be targeting panfish only using a catch and release format using Fish Donkey to score their fish.  Sunday, I have a trip planned to chase some tullibee and I’ve been hearing positive reports that they are starting to pick up in our area. 

We have some very important dates coming due in the next few weeks.  First is our fishing license expiring February 28th and you will need to purchase a new license.  With the new license purchase please be aware some lakes the limit change so please take some time and freshen up on your local lakes to verify nothing has changed for the upcoming season.  Second, the date of March 7th is coming quickly that is the shelter removal deadline.  A lot of people have been removing their houses and with the weather we’ve been having it wasn’t a bad idea to get them off early.

 

Weather this time of the year can change quickly and if you are wanting to get out, I strongly suggest doing it before it gets too late.  I’m really hoping March brings us some nice warm temperatures so we can enjoy some of the late ice fishing for giant crappies, bull blue gills, and my favorite silver bullets (Tullibee).

[Chill62]

March has arrived for the Otter Tail County region, and it is bringing us some of the best panfish fishing in the state of Minnesota.  Game fish season closed a week ago and fish houses are in the process of being removed from the lakes, but March also means a few things have changed and we need to make sure we are all aware of them.  One, we all need new fishing licenses.  Second, the 2022/2023 rules and regulations are now in affect and that affects us directly because a lot of our lakes in our area have reduced limits starting this year to help protect our panfish. 

 

The panfish this time of the year are starting to head for shallow water to start feeding on insects hatching in the mud.  I try to focus on fishing no deeper than 15 feet of water with 8-11 seems to be the “sweet spot” that I look for.  If you have a camera this is a great time to use it to search for standing green weeds.  The green weeds are producing oxygen and with how much snow we have gotten this year a lot of weeds have died off and our dissolved oxygen levels are not as high as it normally should be.  If you can find nice green weeds you can usually set your house up and the schools will continue to come to you throughout the day making fishing a lot of fun especially with kids.

 

Since the primary forage of blue gills are insects and you are fishing in relatively shallow water this is a great time to put your expensive tungsten jigs away and replace them with lead jigs.  Lead in shallow water is a good thing because you can have a bigger profile but since lead is lighter than tungsten it will drop slower acting more realistic in the water column.  Plus, this time of the year the pike will be coming up shallow and feeding so expect to have some jigs sacrificed to a few pike. 

 

Panfish Pirate has a bait shop in Dent called Pirate’s Corner Tackle (located at the 4-way stop sign) has some of the best soft plastics for panfish I have ever seen and used.  This past weekend we were using the Bivy Bug on a 5 mm jig without bait catching very nice blue gills all day long.  The design of the Bivy Bug is unique and to fish it raise your rod up 1 to 1.5 feet up and drop it quickly.  This action will make the jig “swim” away from the center of your hole causing the fish to think the insect they are staring at is getting away and it will cause an instinct to attack.  If we didn’t instantly get bitten, I would twitch 2–3-inch lifts with a quick drop about 3-4 times before doing another big lift and drop.  The twitching action gives the bait a more life like look trying to entice a less aggressive fish to bite.  By switching to the larger presentation, we didn’t catch as many fish, but we caught more bigger fish using this technique.

 

Tullibee fishing is turning on and only going to be picking up in the next few weeks.  I run two lines when I tullibee fish with 3 holes drilled in a line with a foot between holes.   The graph goes in the middle hole, and I run two rods with different set ups to see how fish react.  On one rod I run a larger spoon 3-4 inches like a Peg Spoon or Daredevil type spoon usually in a rainbow trout color with a second rod running a Kastmaster or Swedish Pimple with both having a 4.5 mm Raptor Jig tied 12-18 inches below the spoon.  An advantage of running two rods especially fishing solo is that you get more flash in water column as you are jigging.  Each day varies on which presentation will be best but the large spoon I feel sends light and vibration off and helps bring in the fish, but they might bite more often the smaller presentation because it was attracted to the larger presentation. The 4.5 mm jig has a different angle hook helping with hook sets and as a result I tip it with a Ripper Plastic (pink or white) and put 2-3 wax worms on the jig.  Reason for both is if you have an active fish and they steal your wax worms they have the taste of wax worms in their mouth.  When the fish turns around, they see the jig with the soft plastic, and they are more likely to bite compared to a bare hook sitting down there. 

 

Late ice can produce some of the best fishing of the year and it can produce some absolute monster gills topside but it’s very important to do Catch, Photo, and Release to ensure our big sunfish can spawn this spring.

 

Cody Hill

www.chillguideservice.com

[Chill62]

What a weekend!  Saturday morning when I started the vehicle to go tullibee fishing it was reading eighteen below and Sunday afternoon leaving the lake it was twenty-eight above.  Saturday morning, we started off by chasing tullibee and we marked a bunch of fish, but they just were not active and every single fish I marked was hugging tight to the bottom ten feet of water.  After a few hours of striking out I grabbed one of the guys in our group and took off to a hole to see if crappies were there by chance.  Drilled a hole and the Livescope was light up like a Christmas tree.  Instantly missed a great bite, minute later caught a northern, and two minutes later we had a 12.5-inch crappie.  I ran back and got the rest of the crew and we switched to crappies. 

 

We were targeting deeper holes near mainline shoreline flats/breaks.  I wouldn’t call them basins in this situation, but they were deeper holes with shallow water surrounding them.  We fished this area the rest of the day Saturday picking up some nice crappies, gills and a few random tullibee mixed in the batch.  We ended up with more tullibee while crappie fishing than we did tullibee fishing, who would have thought that?  Our big fish Saturday was Tony’s 14.3-inch crappie which he said is going on the wall.

 

Sunday, we had fresh snow on the ground, and it was warm, and I thought this is going to be a good day.  We started where we ended the day before and fish were instantly down there so hopes were good.  We had a lot smaller crew for Sunday, so I started jumping around trying to find fish and pattern a technique and my first drop I ended up with a very nice 12 inch plus crappie.  After that the gills became so aggressive, they were pushing the crappies out of the area.  The crappies on Sunday were very lethargic and would swim quickly up to your lure and just sit there until it would bite.  They would bite so lightly we could barely feel or see the bites and when we did it was usually too late, and the fish was spitting the lure out. 

 

We tried multiple spots covering lots of water trying to find active fish and when we would the sound of the auger would spook them.  On Saturday you could drill on top of the fish, and they wouldn’t move but Sunday if you drilled on top of them, they were 50 plus feet away in seconds.  At the end of the day Sunday, we were targeting 9-13 feet of water finding random fish but after we left friends went shallower and did better than we did out in the deeper basins chasing blue gills.

 

Catching fish is very important but safety is the most important.  This weekend I pulled out numerous vehicles because they were following old roads that were plowed out the weekend before.  Permeant houses are off the ice, so most roads are being abandoned and those abandoned roads are filling in with snow quickly and unless you are 100% sure I’d be hesitant trying to drive down old roads unprepared.  Saturday alone I saw 4 vehicles stuck not counting the 5 I helped get free.  The lakes have hard drifts which people are thinking is ice but the new snow we’ve received is having soft drifts also and people are getting hung up.  We are forecasting warm weather soon and I’m afraid the snow is only going to get softer along with slush pockets and if people think they can go wherever they want it’s not going to end nicely for them. 

 

Recap of what worked.  Tungsten jigs in size 4 mm, I think 3 mm would have worked better if wind wasn’t so strong.  White with pink dots worked the best for color not saying other colors worked well but it was most dominate color.  Plastics Rippers or Wedges worked good with Bubble Gum, White and Purple worked best for colors.  Tipping with Waxies or Spikes helped your chances to get finicky fish to bite.  Depth…we caught fish in 5 feet to 28 and we caught crappies in all depths.  For the shallow bite find weeds and the fish will come to you in schools.  Out deep staying mobile and jumping around worked the best.  Don’t be afraid to move and jump holes.

 

Good Luck and Stay Safe!

Tight Lines,
Cody

Edited March 14, 2022 by Chill62

[Chill62]

What a difference 7 days makes.  Saturday 3/12 was -18 when I started and this week above melting when we started.  Lakes have gone from perfect to watch yourself in a matter of days.  Any spot that had deep snow is anywhere from 6-12 inches deep in slush right now.  If a hole gets drilled it drains slowly helping the area but problem is getting across the lakes.  I know of two pickups and a side by side that had to be recovered this weekend.  Please use extreme caution around any current or near shores oh and keep your pickups off the ice!

 

Fishing report time.

Saturday morning tried a new lake...FAILED

Saturday mid morning switched lakes and started off with 6-8 huge crappies just stacked up and feeding.  Very aggressive and were willing to take even a Pinhead Minnow (Spoon).  At one time we did a release video of a 13.75 and a 14.25 caught at the same time and in the process of filming that release a third huge crappie was caught and released over 13.5 inches. 

Saturday night I took a small group out tullibee fishing on a whim and we got into them and they were nice sized.  Preferred small spoons and were shallow in the water column

Sunday morning same spot for tullibee very slow and wanted big spoons only and they were deeper in the water column.  Mixed sizes but no where near the size of the fish the night before.
Sunday mid day we tried chasing crappies on a second lake and the lake was just a disaster for getting around and trying to walk.  Hit a few favorite spots and nothing was in the spots except for a few roaming fish.  In process of switching holes I got a phone call that another guide dropped his pickup into the lake and when the fish were not present I left the lake for safety reasons.  

 

Crappies.  Pretty much anything you put in front of them they wanted but brighter colored jigs with more natural color plastics worked better over the white and pinks I normally use.  

Sunfish.  As the day got warmer they turned more and more aggressive and to get the big ones to bite I downsized my jig and it helped talk the big ones into biting but you had to have a sensitive rod to see those extremely light bites.

Tullibee.  Using a One-Two punch of a smaller spoon on one rod and a big spoon on the second worked great and jigging in different parts of the water column helped bring them in to your area and even if attracted to one it maybe bit the other spoon.  Blue/Silver Kastmaster with a Panfish Pirate Raptor jig with a Panfish Pirate Ripper Plastic (white or pink) with 2 waxies was the ticket.  Other Rod was a Clam Peg Spoon with the Raptor and Ripper set up was the go to.  Saturday easily 90% bit the smaller profile but Sunday on the other hand 95% bit the larger spoon but as day went on the smaller spoon was gaining moment.

 

This trip wrapped up my ice guiding season with a get together planned next weekend that might be a wrap for my ice fishing season.  I need to get the new Lund ready for the open water and start figuring out the new technologies in the boat.

 

Take care,

CHill Guide Service

Cody

[Chill62]

It has been a long, cold, windy, snowy season and I’m glad it is ending which is unlike me.  I know some people are still going to get out but with prior arrangements the season is over for me.  I want to thank everyone that has been supporting me this season, people liking and commenting on my articles, new customers for joining me out on the ice and the people I have met out on the ice.

 

I ended the season by planning an Ice Fishing Minnesota get together which I am a team member, and it was fun to fish next to others that share the drive and obsession of fishing like I do.  It is also a good time to learn other practices and get tips on how to improve yourself while on the ice.  Never stop learning!  No one person on this earth knows everything and you can learn something new from almost every single person, but you must be willing to learn first.

We started fishing in an area that had a nice break with some structure and the graphs lit up like a Christmas tree when we found the spot and it produced some very big fish but if you have a large group and you pick apart a school those fish will move out of the area.   We stayed on top of the fish for about an hour till the school got smart and moved.  A few of us braved the elements and stayed mobile and we were rewarded by picking up a few fish here and there, but the fish were extremely spooky and were moving quickly.  The use of a Livescope makes finding fish easier but at times very frustrating.  Since the big schools of crappies were moving around so quickly, we hit multiple spots on the lake and once we would drop down the Livescope the fish were 60-80 feet away.  Drill another hole and they were 50-70 feet in a different area.  Some days you cannot win.

 

The next few weeks I try to put all my gear away and organize rods and tackleboxes.  It’s a great time of the year to start doing inventory and making a list on what I need to repair or replace for next season.  This time of year, it is also a great time to shop some local businesses for end of season deals.  Take the time now and store your rods properly.  I remove all jigs/hooks off the rods to remove any tension on the rods.  Graphite rods cannot be stored under a load, and it will affect it long term if you don’t back the tension off the tip.  I also do a last charge on all my electronics and store them inside with a few charges during the summer to maintain batteries.  Last but not least clean my ice fishing suit and store it away properly, and don’t forget to check the pockets BEFORE you wash the gear!

 

Spring will hopefully be here soon and by taking steps now it will help with organizing for the summer months and being ready for first ice in November. 

[Bloatlord]

Opener was decent on Saturday and absolutely on fire Sunday. 9 eyes, three over 25 in, one at 28.5. A bunch of largemouths, some crappie and perch and a TON of bullhead. One of those weekends where your hands start to hurt. 

 

 

 

[Chill62]

Opener may have been slow for some, but the bite right now is extremely HOT!  Everything has started to feed and with a little bit of luck you might still get your mixed bag in the same spot using the same thing.  Having the one two punch rigged up a head of time of having a trolling rod and a jigging rod set up can cover most of your bases. 

 

Walleye bite is picking up and on some local lakes are extremely hot right now and if you get on an active pod of fish, you will have no problem getting enough for a fish fry in a short period of time.  Just stay mobile and willing to change up presentations.  For example, Sunday the bite was jig and a minnow in 9-11 feet but on Monday it was strictly a lindy with a shiner bite in 13-15 feet of water with a lot of marks in 17-25 feet of water but weren’t actively feeding when we found them.  I’m starting to see them transition from early season spots to their normal end of May/June spots and a few mid-season spots are already having a few fish starting to appear.

 

Crappie bite is still active and can be found from the shallows to the edges of the weed line.  With the colder weather the weed growth has not been as fast as I would have thought this is causing most crappies staying very tight to new and old weed growth.  We found some very active fish on the deep side of the weed line but once we caught a few they took off into shallower water for protection.  Start on the deeper side and slowly work your way up into shallower water.  We pitched tungsten jigs and plastics with best luck.

 

Perch is something we don’t often talk about but on a few local lakes the perch are actively feeding, and a few are producing some very nice sized fish.  Friends got on a pod of perch and caught 60 between 10 and 12 inches long!  Reports I’m hearing are they are aggressive and hitting everything from fatheads to shiners to leeches.  People are using their electronics to find them and using spot lock to stay on top of them till they move a few feet away.  Joys of perch, they rarely move far away so staying on top of them is usually easy.

 

[Chill62]

We have finally hit some consistent weather along with warm temperatures and the fishing has started to benefit from it.  We caught some amazing fish over the weekend and it was fun because fish were hungry and very aggressively feeding and the best part was we didn’t have to be on the water at the crack of dawn. 

 

Walleyes were spread out like they do this time of the year but we found walleyes on the edges of the breaks with a bunch being very active out deeper than I would have thought.  A jig and a shiner worked for active fish, but we got a lot more northerns on the jig then we did long lining a lindy with a shiner.  At the end of the day, we were trying to limit out on walleyes our shinners kept getting smaller and smaller through selecting the bigger ones first and this resulted in us getting a lot of jumbo perch that wanted that 2-3 inch minnow versus our 3-4.5 inch shiners we were using at the beginning of the day chasing walleyes. 

 

When we were trolling, we rarely marked a school of fish on the depth finder that we didn’t get instant bites.  Stay mobile, focus on the electronics, and don’t be afraid to leave a spot to try others like we did but we also came back to our best spot and caught the remaining fish needed for our limits.  Most of our walleyes were inhaling the minnows so quickly that we had to cut a lot of lines since the hooks were not visible. 

 

Crappies have picked up are actively spawning on most lakes.  We found them actively feeding and roaming in cabbage beds 7-9 feet of water but you had to be tight to the cabbage.  Under each cabbage plant was usually one or two crappies sitting there down deep.  We found a simple jig and soft plastic worked best for us with white being our best color.  We had lots of people come in on top of us using live bait and they caught more small pike then they did crappies.  We found we rarely caught any pike and it was very nice not having to deal with minnows. 

 

After other boats caught on to our presentation, I saw lots switching over to the jig and plastic but they were reeling in too quickly.  The majority of our crappies were 5-7 feet down and when the jig hit the water we needed to let the jig sink 1-2 seconds before starting our retrieval otherwise you were only fishing 2-3 feet down and rarely would get a fish to bite.  A slow and steady retrieval worked best but key was waiting to get the jig down into the weeds before starting the retrieve. 

 

I would expect the walleye bite to be switching from a shiner to a leech and/or a red tail bite very quickly and already hearing people using crawlers with positive luck.  I have already made my request to a bait supplier for a pound of leeches because I know I will be going through a lot of leeches and I strongly suggest having a mixture of bait because in the next few weeks things will be switching up quickly.  Still focus on the edges of breaks for walleyes but keep an eye on your favorite mid lake structure spots.  Crappies are starting to spawn and should be on their spawning beds for a week or two but should hold to those summer patterns once they come off their beds.