Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Recommended Posts

It looks like the monster waves ate up most of the ice on the beach by the Tot Lot from what I could see yesterday. The ice on the one pier has a ways to go before it will be gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 351
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Northlander

    42

  • dougger222

    29

  • Lhmoobvaj

    28

  • lispeej

    26

I'm going to give it a try off of Park Point tonight. From the looks of things it should be a wild night!!!

I'm sorry I had to find a little joy in this crazy weather....

Anyone want to grab the other side of the net? grin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was making fun of the fresh coating of snow. I'm hoping to start testing the waters in about two weeks unless someone else gets it done before I do.

Butch I also put your new or different cell number in my phone and removed it from your post. You should still have my number. Give me a call when you have time or e-mail is below.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got the Christenson net all put together and going to try it out tonight.

My buddy picked up a 50x4 with purse yesterday but he gets to pull on the WI side. He also ordered a 75x6 with purse for next season. Gotta see what it's like pulling that one in!

To be honest when I pulled out the 25 footer it's plently of net.

Not sure what all of you guys run for poles but tried something different for this one. Got two 6ft steel pipes for hanging clothes on. Wrapped both with pipe foam insulation and zip tied it on. The poles are a lot lighter than wood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote:
Got two 6ft steel pipes for hanging clothes on. Wrapped both with pipe foam insulation and zip tied it on. The poles are a lot lighter than wood.

Great idea! Thanks. I pulled 25' last year and thought it was enough - helps with a few guys to switch it up over the night though!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gotta say the insulated poles worked very well, very pleased. You could toss them down and they floated very well. Soft to the touch and didn't seem to take in water.

Pulling a 25ft with purse is sure a work out.

3 guys took turns pulling the sein and ended up with about 8 gallons. Did a little better than we thought we would being the only ones out. In the water from dark to 3.

When the clouds covered the full moon would average 20-30, best pull 68. When the moon was shining bright averaged 1-3. Luckily the clouds were out most of the night!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good news, considering the cold front and high winds that we are experiencing. Maybe this coming up Thursday or Friday I will be giving it a shot. It should be warmer on those days...but you never know. It is Minnesota after all. Well, any updates, please let us know! Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I pulled a 50' seign once and they can have them. What a back breaker! The 25'ers can get to be work when they have a lot of smelt or back wash catching them.

We will be lucky if we are smelting Park Point by May.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree! Even if it's legal to have something over 50 feet, I'll pass. 25 feet is plenty good. I can't even imagine trying to pull a 75' x 6' seine on the Wisconsin side....it's too much!

Anyhow, please keep us updated the rest of this week. I have a feeling sometime this week we will be getting in some good news/report....

-AL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dougger,

Were you guys at parkpoint or on the wisonsin side?

The smelt were not netted on the North Shore/MN side of Superior. Planning to go up to Ashland Monday night... Most reports there are still 1/2 bucket per person and with a wind change finaly that should improve.

The other 3 smelters in the group were pretty cold but with a little captain tucked into my waders managed to stay fairly warm all night!

One thing I may try next time with the Christenson sein is to run a length of swing set chain on the bottom. Last night with the wind and waves it was a tad tough to keep the bottom down. We saw a few getting out under the net.

Got a friend to go and at 57 it was his first time out and he liked it a lot. He's alread asking "when we going again?"!!! And yes for you wondering his bucket did have one with no head!

Still found it odd that when the moon was shining bright the run basicly stopped. Then thick clouds then game on again.

Water temp 35.5, shocked to do ok with water that cold. Measured a couple feet in the water never took a reading on top though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree! Even if it's legal to have something over 50 feet, I'll pass. 25 feet is plenty good. I can't even imagine trying to pull a 75' x 6' seine on the Wisconsin side....it's too much!

Anyhow, please keep us updated the rest of this week. I have a feeling sometime this week we will be getting in some good news/report....

-AL

With a 75x6 with purse you would be best off with two jon boats!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow, has anything like that ever happened in park point in the last few years. those photos are an eye-opener. I wished I could of witnessed this myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not nearly as nice of pulls as the one shown by SrBrit but we did great over the 2 nights we went in Ashland last year. Also, pulling over sand would help keep those fish in the nets, they would get into the rocks and let the net slide over... Really fun. Unfortuanley, I wanted to use them for northern bait, VHS came into the picture before I really got to use them for that... Invasive species blow.

full-33703-7896-screenshot2011_04_18at10

full-33703-7897-screenshot2011_04_18at10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ya we have had a few nights in the past few years where we filled a couple 5 gallon pails in 1 pull. Not many but a few.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Getting excited to go out again tonight. Hope they are running!!! Over to Ashland...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those who's keeping a tight lips, it's not like they can keep all the smelts to themselves. There are literally millions of these little suckers that it wouldn't make any difference.

Last year, we had a couple pulls that were similar to the ones in those pictures too. Boy, was it fun!!

Please do keep us informed. I have a cousin who is willing to come from Winona so we definitely need trustworthy info. Thanks and good luck everyone. Hopefully this year will be a good year!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

do any of you guys think that smelt will be seen in duluth this weekend. after telling my friends and family about ashland, everyone is thinking about trying this weekend on the lester, and park point, but i'm telling them its too early. but i'm no local, so what do you local guys think, will there be smelt this weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have seen people out - but they are keeping tight lips.

When people start talking about getting smelt millions of other little buggers show up! I hate having to fight for a spot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Water is still a bit cold but a "very few" smelt are being caught off park point. Not many people testing it yet and those that have tried havent caught enough to make it worth my time yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

can anybody say smeltfry! man that's a good load. good luck.

I organized a smelt/fishfry last week at work with some co-workers, and it was a blast!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm curious,, is the netting used by "SrBrits" a christiansen?

no it is not,

it is a home made net with a purse, pocket, or what ever you want to call it, but they work. a few years back i called a bud and asked him about the smeldt run and he called me back later and said, it's happening now, drop what ever your doing and get here now, they are running big time, if you want to see it first hand come RIGHT now, so we showed, and they where on. those pics were 15 gallon pulls, 5 gallons plus in the sock and the balance in the net. i still owe him for that one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.