Medicine Lake Fishing Reports

[hardwaterguy08]

how much ice is on the west side?

[coryusmc]

Solid 12 out here. But where are the crappies?

[clayton08]

Crappies are either deep water (small fish) or I personally found a spot right off a bar thats got nicer sized ones I've yet to have one person close to were I fish it's a long walk but worth it!! I'm not going to give a gps coordinates cuz I worked my [PoorWordUsage] off to find em but out in front of hardys bait is the general area

[jrr]

Sounds like you found the spot.. How thick was the ice out there?

[mrklean]

10-12" where I have been

[Gekhang]

on harty's lake cam, i see a suv on the lake. hows the thickness there right now?

[dafetz]

Saw a full size truck driving to and from his permanent shack on the north side by the beach Monday. I measured 11-12" around where he was driving, so my truck stayed in the parking lot.

[Gekhang]

just got back from medicine and i dont know why ppls are driving all over the place. theres only 12 or so inches of ice! one green truck came by pretty fast and was cracking everything around us!

[coryusmc]

On the lake with a solid 14 inches of ice. Did anyone get anything worth bragging about this weekend? Anyone else catching big bullheads in deep water?

[coryusmc]

On the lake with a solid 14 inches of ice. Did anyone get anything worth bragging about this weekend? Anyone else catching big bullheads in deep water?

[Matt S.]

I was out on the west side, hardly marked a fish.

was in 15 fow.

[DuckBlind]

Went out yesterday, West side... 11 inches of ice. Trucks everywhere, pulling houses. Every truck/BMW (yes, someone was crusing around in a BMW) that went by caused the ice to crack like crazy!

Fish out of a 2 man portable, Clam 2000. Not sure if it was from the trucks but when I left the entire area where my house was had about an inch of water on it as if I were sinking...????? Used the house 100 times, never seen that before.

Also, someone cut a large spearing hole on the west side, about 200 yards east of the access and about 50 yards out from shore. It is marked with a branch, looked like water was coming up from it. I wouldn't drive on the West side, but if you are crazy enough to do it go nuts.

1 crappie

[Matt S.]

Went out yesterday, West side... 11 inches of ice. Trucks everywhere, pulling houses. Every truck/BMW (yes, someone was crusing around in a BMW) that went by caused the ice to crack like crazy!

Fish out of a 2 man portable, Clam 2000. Not sure if it was from the trucks but when I left the entire area where my house was had about an inch of water on it as if I were sinking...????? Used the house 100 times, never seen that before.

Also, someone cut a large spearing hole on the west side, about 200 yards east of the access and about 50 yards out from shore. It is marked with a branch, looked like water was coming up from it. I wouldn't drive on the West side, but if you are crazy enough to do it go nuts.

1 crappie

Yeah, some guys were flying around on the lake too. I could feel/hear that pressure wave as they go by.

On another note, that ice was crystal clear last night, especially where my heater melted the surface.

[tj417]

Drove out to the middle where there are 4 or 5 houses together this morning. Looked like 15" of ice or so. Caught a bunch of 7 to 9 inch crappies in 30 FOW.

Does anybody ever get decent gills or perch out there? If so, are they in the deeper water just like the crappies?

I was not too impressed with the size of the crappies, but there does seem to be a lot of them. Next year those fish will be pretty decent.

[coryusmc]

14.5 in the west bay.

[nmetrofisherguy]

Was out on Medicine today measuring 12 inches everywhere but on approach to get off the lake I noticed water coming up in some areas through the ice. Went back to look and its bad, if you drove over it you ARE going through in a few spots. Its shallow less than a 2 feet but could still mess up your day! Be careful out there and SLOW DOWN the ice cant handle that! Speed will brake the ice when its thin dont be dumb!

[muskE]

The North access?

[Matt S.]

The North access?

There's access through French Park on the north, Harty's on the east, and there's a park on the west side that has access too.

[nmetrofisherguy]

Hartys on the east

[lazyhounedaleth]

where did the truck fall in at on monday? does anyone know?

[coryusmc]

Still 14.5 on the west side bay. Now I'm a criminal for rescuing my house of safe ice

[Joe Harty]

The suv got hung up in the northeast corner on a pressure ridge about 100' from shore. It did not go through, he tried to jump it and after getting the front end up and over with body damage his rear wheels did not make it. He did spend the night in jail...now what has recently developed is an open water area in the middle of the lake just off the south end of the banana bar straight out from Harty's North. This suddenly opened area is approx. 10'by 20' with waves. Springs or Carp, not sure but it is not good. After watching and waiting for several perms to come off this weekend I am convinced that the Sheriff made the right decision as guy after guy was quite relieved to get in safely. The ice was making noises that are not normal plus there are mini cave holes scattered. Interesting how anger turned to a heart pounding ordeal just going to get a fish house. Use an ATV, have a buddy with, put your ice pics around your neck, and ice cleats under your boots, maybe even a life jacket.

Joe Harty

[EBass]

Thanks for the report Joe!

[Joe Harty]

Also, now a new hole has opened, this one is in front of south shore drive 200 yards from shore in probably 6' of water. Looks like 5'by 30' and irregular shaped....has to be carp. Halfway between the Baitshop and the Bassett Creek outlet....what the heck is goin on ?

Joe Harty

[Steelhead]

I'm supposed to be guideing my sons cub scout troop ice fishing (6-10 scouts)on Medicine this Sunday from 1pm-3pm. I am not fimilar with Medicine but was planning on setting up in front of the access or the beach. Knowing that moms worry are there any problems with the ice in either of those two areas and in which spot would we have the best chance to run into a stupid panfish?

[AJS1980]

That is pretty crazy Joe, thanks for the updates never heard of that before... The water level must have been down quiet a bit from the lack of rain this past year? Healthy weeds nearly to the surface in those areas I am guessing? And ya throw a bunch of holes close together and the carp in there. Well that makes the most sense to me as well. I'll be down today either way... Stay safe out there folks! Good luck

[Joe Harty]

There seems to be ok conditions if you park at East Beach and walk out to the Sunfish area in front of the baitshop. Better info if I can point out stuff in person. Obviously our best ice is now behind us as we get back into warmer days and nights. Thinkin the last hurrah's of this wimpy winter are upon us now.

Joe Harty

[AJS1980]

That's basically what I ended up doing yesterday afternoon, walked out left the house at home.

Punched about 20 holes spread out over 20 sq yards. Hole hopped all afternoon for panfish. Must have caught about 50 sunfish, ended up keeping 12 decent metro fish. Mixed in were a few crappies, got a handful of them, kept 2. Plus a bonus largemouth.

The fishing is good, if you just put in some time and effort... you should have a good day on the ice! Best of luck everyone, stay safe.

[Steelhead]

The scouts did not catch any sunnies but we did manage 3 largemouth on tips ups that got everyone exicited.

[AJS1980]

Joe, I was wondering if you have an opinion on the saftey of the ice today after last nights heavy, wet snow? Was thinkin of heading that way today... please let me know when ya have a moment. TY