Cattin the Chain 2013

[LundProAngler]

The chain has 2-3 inches of ice with 12-14 inches of wet, heavy snow.

With that said, ask yourself if your life is worth a few catfish?

[mncountryboy92]

i like that idea lol o trust me when i go on lakes early ice im jumping up and down alot making sure since im so light lol

[DTro]

With that said, ask yourself if your life is worth a few catfish?

I guess you don't know me very well.

[Rick G]

The chain has 2-3 inches of ice with 12-14 inches of wet, heavy snow.

With that said, ask yourself if your life is worth a few catfish?

There isn't 12-14in of snow everywhere on the lakes. 2-3in of ice, yeah there are spots where it's only 2in thick or even thinner, there are also a few places that have 4-5in of ice.

And yes , you do have to ask yourself if risking your life is worth a few fish. There are those of us who go out early every year, and there are those who wait till there is a foot of ice. Gota sak yourself, what group you belong to. I say to each their own

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

Hey Rick have you checked Long yet? Was looking to check it tomorrow and maybe fish, but would like to hear a first hand report to maybe save the drive.

[Rick G]

Sorry I havent been over there or heard of any news from there. Maybe Icehawk will chime in on this one.

[DTro]

How bout some good news?????

[IceHawk]

Lp crow fisherman sorry for the late response just got back from fishing Nw where there is good ice. Long lake has about 2- 3 inches average right now but it varies alot, most of the lakes locally are marginal at best. Browns seems like the most consistent of allI have checked hopefully by next week I will start playing hopefully not swimming on some of the local lakes. Or better yet I'll just let Rick G blaze a trailand i'll follow!

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

I was on Long tonight and found about 2.5" good ice 1.5" white ice, and some very negative mood catfish. Maybe tomorrow night with a bit of a storm coming in they will start biting. Only got one, but hey at least that's one down for the year.

[Rick G]

Lp, you find much for slush pockets on Long?

I know there is quite a bit along the shorline areas out to where we had good ice last week, it's messy and tough to get through. Out where there was open water or real thin ice was seems to have the best ice right now.

I would advise not to take any real long walks out there just yet, check the ice often and wear hip boots the warm weather the last cople days hasn't helped any either.

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

Where I got on there was about 2.5-3" of clear ice, then I got out about 20 yards and that was when the good and white ice mix started but I never found any slush pockets and ice was very consistant where I was at all the way out to 30 feet of water. I didn't get on at the public access so I cannot speak for what the ice is like out from there.

[Horseshoe_Don]

Was out on my wheeler on horseshoe this morning. Only on the edge though. Drove around a good part of the lake then walked out and checked ice thickness. Found between 3-6" in all areas. Walked within 150 yards from the meth hole area and was over 100 yards from shore and it was a good 3". The only slush spots I found were near shore and wheeler broke through the fist layer of those.

I did not come in from the river side though. My cabin is south of the meth hole. Nobody has used winter access but the ice is good there. one spear house near there with a 5-6" block outside.

Heading out this afternoon for some eyes.

Hope this helps.

Don

[gixxer01]

Thanks for the update Don! You can delete your posting now!

[Rick G]

Good to hear things are starting to firm up a bit. Just yesterday I was finding quite a bit of water between the white ice and the clear ice.

Now lets hope we don't get the rain and snow they are calling for.

[DTro]

Appreciate the updates guys. I want to be up there as much as possible, but not when I need to wear waders. Really thinking about trying to get up there yet this weekend, but would like to hear a decent ice report from any lake on the chain, especially if i'm hiking out alone.

[gixxer01]

Still raining as of now. I was going to try this morning, but I imagine this rain put even more weight on top of the ice. I'll probably wait for the next cold snap. I sense a pattern emerging here.

[IceHawk]

yah this weather bites yesterday I was out scouting and found walkable ice on the chain was anticipateing walleye fishing tonight but now weho knows.

[Horseshoe_Don]

just went out and checked it. 1/4" of water on the ice. Ice is fine. Should freeze up later today when the temps drop. Should be fine by morning, maybe even tonight

Don

[Rick G]

This stupid rain! It messed up my plan a,b and c for the day At least it's knocking down some of that snow.

[Rick G]

Ended up going out for a few hours this evening anyway. Got to the spot only to see a house I didn't reconise, it turned out to be Roman K

Fishing was slow but consistant, had lots of fish coming in and out all evening and even a few cat 'tornados' as some call them. Between TraderLee and myself I think we got close to 40 but average size wasn't too great.

Smaller minnow heads on 1/16oz spoons in glow red or green turned all the fish.

Ice was 4-5in where we were with about half being white. There isn't much for snow left on the lake anymore, the rain knocked it down pretty good.

[Scott M]

Thanks for the report Rick. I was thinking it would still be pretty tough next weekend but the forecast looks good. Might just get out there yet!

[FlyRodAddiction]

Made it out yesterday on the main lake. Lots of traffic moving through but bites were real light. I had one good one up to the hole on a tip up and a couple nice crappies out of 19' of water but lots of small perch, walleye, and one small cat. there was good walking ice everywhere there wasn't snow build up or sagging ice with a foot of water. about 4" of good clear ice and 2-3" of white ice.

[kingfisherpat]

flyrod where on the chain of lakes

did u catch those fish jw

[Rick G]

Made it back out today. Bite was generaly slow with spurts of activity. Had a nice run from primetime till it was totaly dark. Between the three of us I think the final tally was low 30s in cats, couple dozen crappies, and a few stray walleyes. We had plenty of fish below us all evening and they did bite, just super light, had to stare at the ice buster to see it twitch ever so slightly. I would guess that our hook up ratio was like 10-12:1 lots of setting into nothing tonight, lol. Oh well the best is yet to come I would guess.

I know there were a couple pretty good fisherman over by the meth hole area tonight. If it was as slow for them as it was for us I won't feel so bad.

[DTro]

The itch has been scratched!

Thanks to Rick and everyone else here who has posted ice conditions. I knew it would still be a bit sketchy, but couldn’t stand it any longer and made the trip up. I got up there a bit late though and played the move around the lake game until I felt comfortable. By then we were stuck with what we went with as we didn’t want to move around after dark. I think we missed the spot a bit and only got a half a dozen or so. Was fun though to wet a line though and the ones we did catch were nice size.

The big one of the night was approx 25”

As far as ice conditions?

Half clear ice and half white ice at about 4 or 5 inches. Because the snow is now all gone and all that remains is ice, the open water meth hole is hard to spy. But it is there and it IS open. We also approached a few other open water areas the size of 5 gal bucket lid and nowhere near the Meth hole, so the thickness still varies quite a bit for sure. It was a bit eerie walking upon these spots after dark and not knowing quite which way around is best. You stop pretty quick in your tracks when you see water forced up onto the ice from your weight.

The cold weather this week should really firm things up and I expect a lot more activity next weekend.

[IceHawk]

While going walleye fishing last night I noticed some brave souls out there figured it was you guys glad to see you got into a few. Rick G getting any decent whitetips on your side of the lake my side has been average at best? Trying a new spot tonight hope its a little better for size. On a side note for you catters talked to a couple guys that did well on the cats on Long N end by the islands.

[FlyRodAddiction]

KingFisher, We were in the entrance to the western bay of Horseshoe. I was in a blue clam flip over and my buddies were in a blue Shappell hub. was that you in the red hub across the lake?

[Horseshoe_Don]

that was me.

Don

[Roman_K]

Yea definitely a big thanks to everyone who posted the ice conditions. We did have an OH ****! moment where the ice spider webbed while walking, thinking we just broke through the new layer of ice that formed after the rain.. Definitely got the blood flowing though.

Fishing was slow, but a good time regardless.

[FlyRodAddiction]

Hey Don, any luck over there? It was a pretty slow night for us, I was the only one to land fish as I was the only one with spring bobber rods. The bites on dead sticks were real light and ended up with mostly misses.