fishing reports 2020 Ottertail-Battle Lake-Perham-Fergus Falls area Fishing Reports

[nroff]

Went out last night but it was slow. Having a hard time finding leeches but pulled cranks. Got two keepers.

[tacklebox7FF]

been doing alright on the eyes with fatheads and 1/4 jigs on OT in 20-24 feet during the afternoon...

[skee0025]

Have the frogs started heading for the water yet? Best walleye fishing of the year when they start to go from land to the water!!

[nroff]

I don't know if they are done, but they were moving big time two weeks ago.

[tacklebox7FF]

haven't seen as many frogs this year as in years past. they were moving pretty good when the weather was hot..

[fisherdog19]

Got out to OT today, fishing started slow but we ended up getting about 20. Found fish in 40-84 fow, most came in the 78-82 range. Jigging produced some fish, but most were caught on a lindy rig with a 3/4 oz wieght, pink hook, and a fathead. There were three of us and most of the fish were keepers, ended up with 15 in the well. Brought all of them up slowly, all released fish swam down and we only had 1 with a blown bladder which we kept. The key was reeling up half way and letting it swim for about 30 seconds about 35 ft down. It was nice to get out one last day before the boat goes away, waiting for ice now.

[MIke A]

Just because they swim down after you reel them up doesn't mean they don't die. It's been seen on cameras when fish brought up from that deep swim down the bottom, die and sink to the bottom. Just dangerous to fish that deep for eyes, mortality rate is too high for most people. But you got some for the box, congrats on what you kept.

[Catfish_Nuggets]

Well, I will answer my own question...I took the afternoon off but didn't get out and fishing until almost 4. There was about 3" of ice on Pelican and about 10 portables out there. My buddy had his drag set too tight and had something that straightened his hook clevis. I ended up with a 20" as you can see in the poor quality picture. They came running just as the sun dipped below the horizon. Anyway, it was fun to get out and walk on the ice for the first time.

[jjohnson5150]

Did it look like the entire lake was capped over? I might be heading up on Sat for some early ice action assuming I have 6" of ice in the 6'-7' spot I want to fish. 3" of ice freaks me out.

[nroff]

The ice will be fine by Saturday. They are already fishing all over and i would be surprised if it is not 6".

[nroff]

The lows are well below zero till Saturday(at night) also which will make lots of ice.

[jjohnson5150]

I went out yesterday from 4 - 7:30 PM. I found 9" of ice over 8" of water. There were at least 4 vehicles on the ice. 1 truck even. I ended up catching 1 fish right at dark. It went 22". Perm houses are starting to be put out.

[fisherking01]

Haha. Johnson, If you would have fished in more than 8" of water you may have caught more! LOL Small ice heave going south off of vodka point, one west from Arvid's point west to bird island, nothing obstructive yet, but places to watch carefully. Don't want anyone going down. Pelican is usually very safe, but as with any lake, watch carefully. As of last night there was 10.5 inches of ice measured. 3 inches of snow overnight covering up everything. Fishing was slow, I caught a total of 4 walleyes for 26 hours of fishing. Other reports are mixed with no reports of panfish??? 10 days of full ice cover, and 10 inches of ice is nearly unheard of here!

Were you the wheelers on the rock pile north of the rushes?? Was gonna check that out, but it's a bit early for that spot.

[jjohnson5150]

I was a chicken & only walked out to the weedline in our bay. I might have read too much into an outdoors article recently that said to fish weeds early ice. I wanted to try that & be safe at the same time. Next time I'll fish deeper.

[fisherking01]

Better to be cautious and feel safe. (Just a joke about fishing in eight inches of water )

The bay in front or your cabin is as good an early spot as any. with the irregular bottom, the bay holds a lot of baitfish and predator fish until after new year. that's the reason a lot of folks fish there. with the closure of the private access off of big island road many found other close spots to fish rather than fight for access. Traditionally there were 50 plus houses in the bay in years gone by. I would ride a school bus from Evansville, get dropped off at the lake and fish many evenings in the bay. After Christmas the migration to Phillips point would commence, and the bay would empty out, with a handful of houses remaining in ght bay until house off date. My key to success was to find a subtle hump in the bottom and fish on top of it, 6 inches of rise in the bottom was my target, I always caught fish, whether it was for that reason or not.

[jjohnson5150]

HAHA. I didn't realize I wrote 8". Off to Lake of the Woods Thu. I'll be back on Pelican in a few weeks & report back then. Too many lakes, so little time. Good luck to all.

[fishlakeman]

Was out on Battle this evening. There was about 12 inches of ice where we were at. We drove out, but were in a small vehicle. Saw many large rigs out there, but you wouldn't catch me out in a full sized truck yet.

As for fishing, marked plenty of fish, but very very difficult bite. Was in 10-18ft of water. We caught 3 nice crappies, and then the big one hit. Took a while on 2lb test. Wrapped into the other lines, but got her up the hole safe. Measured in at a TRUE 30 inches. She had some girth too. Was shaking for about a half hour after landing her.

[jjohnson5150]

Does anyone know how the recent snow impacted the ice conditions? Is there any flooding? I'll be up for a nice long weekend & would like to use my sled without getting stuck in a bunch of slush. Not sure I want to drive my brand new truck out there either.

[Dewski]

I was out on Big Pine Lake Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 12 inches of ice where I was. There were at least a dozen trucks on the ice on the south/east end. I stuck with the snowmobile. there were a couple of slushy spots. We were not setup in the crappie locations. We ended up with 3 walleyes, 3 small perch (released) and a northern.

[tcumd]

fished ottertail last night off of pelican bay....12fow caught 3 eater walleyes, seen a few more on the camera. Seemed to be a later bite than my dad is having, caught them around 530. wish it would warm up on my few days off.. Casey

[TylerS]

I, too, fished out by Pelican Bay this weekend. Grandpa told me that he heard from a friend that the bite was early and late, but I chose to fish all day anyway. Ha! That was a mistake. Ran out of propane with 2 hours to go and wound up scrambling with frozen holes and rod tips right as the bite started. First fish hit at 4:45 and I had solid action until about 5:30. As it was, I missed more than I caught, but wound up with 2 keepers and 5 altogether. Thank you to the guy fishing next to me who was kind enough to give me a lift back to the boat ramp! Myself and all my digits owe you our deepest gratitude!

Fish were hitting both dead sticks and jigs. I was using a chartreuse rattlin' flyer spoon tipped with a pinched off fathead. I had a jem-n-eye tipped with a fathead on the dead stick. Fishing in 20 FOW right on the dropoff. Fish come in hot and heavy, but you best be ready when they do. I tried fishing deeper during the day, had the thickest red line on my Marcum I've ever seen come off the bottom around noon, but no luck. Darn!

P.S. common courtesy would dictate you drive further than 3 feet away from a shack, especially when there is ample opportunity to do so! Ottertail is a big friggin' lake! Thanks, bunghole, whoever you are!

[muskymaniac4ever]

nice walleye dude, so did ya end up keepin it and mounting it or did ya release her?

[jjdouvier]

How are the Perch hitting right now? Anyone got any hints? We only get up there once a year (and that's this weekend) so it would be nice to find some good eaters. I hear it could be cold Thursday & Friday so maybe we will be spending more time at the Otter than the lake but we'll give it a shot. How are the ice conditions and landings right now? Full-size trucks out there, or are we better off using the sleds?

[slammer]

Tyler, is it possible to get around with a 4 wheeler yet? Have not been to OT yet but was hoping to go this wknd if it doesnt snow too much.

[TylerS]

Tyler, is it possible to get around with a 4 wheeler yet? Have not been to OT yet but was hoping to go this wknd if it doesnt snow too much.

Definately yes. In fact, there were people driving around in trucks everywhere. I walked down some pretty nice plowed roads, too (I have a Toyota Corolla, otherwise you can bet your butt I would have driven out there!)

If you head out to OT, you can see where people have driving. Like I said, I was right on the dropoff, which is relatively close to shore, and there was 14 inches of ice. That hayoo that drove past my portable not three feet away took a cross-lake trip and didn't break through. He ended up fishing on the opposite side of the lake (which doesn't make a whole heap of sense since there is a landing on the west side that would have been a lot closer to his spot).

Anyhoo, you certainly won't have a problem with 4 wheelers. I saw all modes of transportation last weekend: Trucks, 4-wheelers and snowmobiles.

Good luck

[tori's dad]

Fished Ottertail Sun to Tues- had decent fishing - lots of perch during the day and walleyes started up around 4 pm- fished with shinners and creek chubbs on glow hooks- mid lake structure- nice eater fish with a couple over 25 as well. found some decent perch in over 40 ft of water otherwise perch were small - fished mostly in 18 ft near deep water.

[paceman]

Tori - Which access did you use?

[Fishpondc]

would a wheelhouse be possible, or is there too much snow? also, where is the best place to get on the lake close to the balmoral golf course area?

[JRB fishing]

Fished Ottertail on Monday and you would no problem pulling a wheelhouse around.

[tori's dad]

Re: paceman- used the west side access not sure what it was called- fished in a big wheeled fish house- just stay on the ice roads and make sure you have a spot picked out to stop - stopping and starting in deep snow does not work so well but it was smooth going even in the deep snow if you had a head of steam built up.