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Posted

My buddy and I had a blast this past weekend up in Bemidji. We went up for a 3 day weekend and rented one of Matt's fish houses. The fishing weekend started slow with a lot of marked walleyes, just really hard to get them to bite. We'd pick up a fish here and there but many more fish marked than caught early in the trip. Friday evening around that prime 4:30pm to 6:00pm range we iced a couple keeper eyes and two hard fighting burbot! What a blast. My buddy also caught a healthy pike on a bobber set up at 5:45pm. We were hoping it was a nice eye but fun either way.

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Saturday was a highlight of the trip. We had a guide trip booked with Matt and spent a few hours on a backcountry lake going for crappies. Fish were super aggressive at first but by around early afternoon you really had to do some hole hopping to mark and locate the more active fish. Great afternoon on the ice and we managed to get out limits of 11" and 12" crappies with a couple nice gills mixed in.

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Saturday evening the walleye fishing picked up a little more as we managed 7 fish in the couple hours at sundown. A few eaters with a couple small ones mixed in as well, along with a couple nicer fish that I missed...

The overnight hours last evening were slow but we were both snoozing pretty hard til about 6am this morning. Not much early but picked up 3 hungry eyes around 8am before packing up and making the trip home.

Pic of about the size of eaters we were keeping in that 14" to 16" range.

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Great to get home and see the family, and my 3 year old son got in on his first fish cleaning session tonight! He insisted that his plastic Home Depot saw was the tool for the job...

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Thanks again Matt! Already looking forward to planning another trip!

Ryan

Posted

very nice!! myslef and three friends are headed up the end of jan. got a rental fro a day and a half of hopefully slamming eyes. may be the weekend of more jigging than drinking!!!! lol. thanks for the report. looks like a blast. any perch mixed in there?????

Posted

Excellent hanging with you guys, Ryan! Despite being exhausted and sore going into our trip, it was fun! Glad you guys caught some good eats and made some memories! Cole should come clean fish for me I think!

Posted

Looks like a lot of fun, Glad to see you got into some fish!

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
Posted

So, what does one them there Guided backcountry lake crappy outings go fir? confused

Posted

So, what does one them there Guided backcountry lake crappy outings go fir? confused

+1

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      When it said. "The foolish man, builds his house upon the sand"? 🫣   Just got back from 10days on the golf of America.  By Panama city Florida.   
    • smurfy
      Venny backstrap and the fixins!
    • SkunkedAgain
      Running on empty at dark on a sled is definitely stress-inducing. Been there, done that. Glad that you made it out.
    • SkunkedAgain
      Eagle swoops are always a hoot to watch.   The snow is mostly gone on the lake. Ice melt made things pretty wet but the ice is obviously still very thick. 
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  The big question:  "How is the ice up at Lake of the Woods?"  That is for each individual resort or outfitter who operates an ice road or trail to answer, but overall, ice conditions are still very good and ice fishing is going strong!  As always, stay on the marked ice  roads and trails for safety.     Being up on the Canadian border, the colder temps Lake of the Woods enjoys vs much of the region combined with three feet of ice makes a big difference.  Fish houses are allowed unattended overnight through March 31st and it sounds like a good number of resorts will be fishing through the month, but ultimately, Mother Nature will determine that.     Regarding the fishing, overall, very good reports for walleyes, saugers and perch.  There is a strong population of smaller walleyes and saugers in the lake which bodes well for the future, but in the meantime, anglers are sorting through them to catch their keepers.   The one-two punch of jigging and deadsticking remains the most effective technique. Jigging spoons with rattles tipped with a minnow head or a lipless crankbait on the jigging line is the ticket.  On the deadstick, a live minnow a foot off the bottom on a plain red hook or medium sized ice fishing jig is catching a lot of fish.   Using electronics is super helpful.  Many nice walleyes are swimming through suspended, keep an eye out.   Anglers tip-up fishing for pike have had a great week and it should continue to get even better.  Suckers, frozen alewife and smelt are working well. Putting baits 1 foot under the ice or right off bottom seems to be effective this week.  Most common depths, 9 - 15 feet. On the Rainy River...  The Rain River is still frozen with no signs of open water yet.  Every year can be different, but on average, the Rainy River will start opening up around the third week of March.  The first boat ramp suitable for larger boats is Nelson Park in Birchdale.  We will keep you posted.    As of March 1st, walleyes and saugers are catch and release only on Four Mile Bay and the Rainy River.     Make plans now for sturgeon season.  Once the open water appears, the fish are super active.  Here are the seasons...   -Catch and Release Season: May 8th – May 15th and October 1 – April 23rd. -Harvest Season: April 24th – May 7th and July 1 – September 30. -Closed Season: May 16th – June 30th.  Up at the Northwest Angle...  Fishing remains very good up at the Angle and the ice is in good shape as well.  As on the south end, resorts monitor ice roads and trails daily and there are still some great ice fishing opportunities available.     Walleyes, saugers, perch, and pike are showing up in good numbers.  Those targeting crappies are reporting good numbers of fish.  Work through a NW Angle resort for ice fishing opportunities on this part of the lake. The walleye and sauger season is open through April 14th. Pike fishing never closes, and perch and crappie remain open year-round as well. Whether booking a day house rental, sleeper fish house, or resort stay, there is still plenty of time to plan a late-season ice fishing adventure. 
    • Wanderer
      Looks like a shallow lake with some potential.  Keepable crappies, decent bluegills and some nice perch according to the last survey (2015). Susan Lake   With a max depth of 10 feet, I’d want to know a little more about it before I’d start drilling holes.  Could be a nice little adventure though.  
    • Brianf.
      Jeff and I fished Saturday and half day Sunday, targeting whitefish, ciscos, crappies, and perch.  The bite was tough for us.  We ecked out a few, but nothing special.  Highlight of the weekend was the sled ride into Wolf Lake and having an eagle swoop in and eat a rock bass we had on the ice.  All in all, not a bad way to waste time.    
    • monstermoose78
    • smurfy
      Smoked polish sausage with some beans!
    • smurfy
      just below the ice???? i was pulling crappies from 30 ft over 43 ft and 23 inches of ice this past weekend.   nice going!!!!!! 👍
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