Ice reports

[mmp98]

was out on a lake south of town yesterday. got out at 1 only a handful of people on the lake. found 4-5". tried to find crappie drilled all around 16-18 fow. no luck finally about 3:30 the bottom started lifting fig it was perch ended up being a nice walleye! landed 4 nice crappie and 1 more walleye after that.  all really tight lipped and hanging on the bottom. had to jig em hard with a red impulse everything else seemed to scare them and every time I caught one had to switch holes for a bit.  when I left at dark the lake was filling up and the fish were starting to come up a few feet. gonna try and get out sat and chase some of those eyes! 

[eyeguy 54]

welcome to FM mmp98!  nice report. 

[JeremyCampbell]

Welcome to Fishing Minnesota MnCountryboy

Also mmp98 welcome to the site! Nice sinkfull of fish.Goodwork bro

[IceHawk]

Nice fish mmp98 way to get on a few. Looks like a tasty meal ahead   Sounds to me like you have a nice group of eyes cruising the area definitely worth investigateing! Will be looking for a report from Saturday Gd luck!

[Horseshoe_Don]

Put out the snap shack today.   Doing my first fishing tonight.   Only 4" where I set up on shoe!

 

Don

[Mncountryboy]

Thanks Jeremy campbell had to make a new account since I forgot the password  to my old account.good  to be back on the site and good to be back living in minnesota since I was living in kansas. Look forward  to seeing you guys on the ice good luck everyone. 

[IceHawk]

Was on Rice today fishing bunch of people out there actually a zoo but not surprised everyone has a itch to get out,  and the time has come to do it.  Measured  5 1/2 inches  ice  in 3 areas with a tape.  A few wheelers and side by sides starting to venture out there. Was a little surprised to see them wandering around so freely but to each his own I guess. Couple perms and wheel houses also out things are slowly starting to get going out there. Water is a little cloudy so not sure how the spearfishing is going to be. 

Don saw the snap shack out there  on my way to Rice. Hopefully you got into some fish. Have to stop over at your shack sometime and do a little bs ing

[Rick G]

Northwest wind and clear skies made for a bit tougher bite today. Checked couple lakes. First one, walked out 100yds, drilled a hole and had 7inches. Walked 50ft, felt like something wasn't right, drilled another hole....auger fell through after 3-4 turns  I bout pooped myself...lol,  backed off....very slow. Decided not to test my luck again. Headed to where I knew there was better ice. 

 

[eyeguy 54]

dandy hat!

 

[Tom Sawyer]

It's usually tough under those conditions Ricky. I know who is doing laundry tonight......... 

[Horseshoe_Don]

tough bite this morning but iced 2 wallys.  early bite 6am

 

Dom

[Horseshoe_Don]

went out scouting the ice to see if I could get a wheeler to some of my favorite spots.   Found ice from 3 to 6 on shoe and as little as 2 on cedar island and it was near shore!!!!.   '

 

Don

[Rick G]

Andrea and I joined up with Royce this afternoon for some bluegill action. We hit a small lake South of town. Found good numbers but size wasn't all to impressive. Still, we had plenty of fun

[eyeguy 54]

always fun setting the hook   

[eyeguy 54]

forgot to add the pic of my trophy shiner from today

[Stick in Mud]

I'm just impressed someone caught a fish on a waxworm!!!

[Stick in Mud]

Shoulda thrown that thing in a bucket.  If conditions are right this spring, it'd be worth about $4.

[mmp98]

went out yesterday afternoon looking for eyes but all I could find was these guys! the crappies were nuts from 4 to bout 4:30 iced about 20 and lost a big one on the transducer, lesson learned. then the bite slowed but they got a little bigger switched from red impulse to minnow head on a #10 glow tung as soon as it got dark. that's when the eye hit. the crappies liked it too but u really had to work them. all caught in 18fow. crappies were up about 2 feet up. pretty sure I was marking eyes on the bottom but just didn't seem that interested. Didn't get pics of some of the bigger crappies but I didnt want them to freeze, plus wanted to get back down there quick.

2016 fish.htm

[jensens]

Went out to Two Rivers last night.  Worked hard trying to find fish but only marked a couple all afternoon/evening. Ended up fishing about in about 25'.  Very little activity but still good to get out.  Drilled quite a few holes and a solid 7" - 8" of ice everywhere we were.  Better luck next time.

[LucasMN]

I moved a city today. All I had to do was drill 15 holes away from the herd, just going by what I thought would be good on the map (I can't tell between a good and bad area). Setup shop and within an hour I had houses all around me. Pushing the legal limit for distance.  I was on virgin ice, nary a hole drilled within 100 yards. I didn't even hoot and holler when I pulled up my 8" crappie and let it go, apparently I was being watched. 

Around the Albany area. That crappie was the only one I got. Lol. People are funny. Hopefully someone had better luck than me. 

Edited January 4, 2016 by LucasMN

[PiNkSiNkO]

Looks like a great outing mmp98, you had much better success than I did yesterday.

Here's my report from the last few days.

Thursday: Tried a new lake around home (Hutchinson) and got skunked, but marked a lot of what I suspect were descent sized eyes.....I'll be back!!

Friday: Fished two west metro lakes.  3-4" of ice and lots of slush.  Found fish at both lakes but nothing to great.  Did bring home 5 nice crappies, a few bluegill, and one 14" eye.

Saturday:  I've always had very spotty success fishing the chain but decided to drag the GF up to Cedar Island to cover some ice and drill lots of holes in search of mid-day gills and slabs.  After drilling 75+ holes in four different spots I could tell my GF was getting cold and tired of dragging the sled so I set her up in a spot I've had success in the past even though we weren't marking anything (she did end up catching 2 smallies).  Once I got her set up I proceeded to strategically cover ground and drill holes in search of those panfish.  I never did find any mid-day panfish but stumbled upon the classic school of cats over a deep hole so we set up over the school around 4:30 and caught a handful of cats before they disappeared and some crappies showed up.  Caught a dozen or so crappies before the bite died and we called it a day.  One of these days I'll find the gills up there......

Today: I fished a lake in-between Hutch and St. Cloud and only had to walk a few hundred yards before all my holes were filled with marks.  What a difference from the day before :).  The crappie and bluegill were very finicky and biting very light.  Not only was the bite lite, I probably only hooked one crappie for every four bites....very frustrating.  I downsized to a very small tungsten jig and cut my plastic short so they didn't have much to nip at without getting the hook.  Ended up catching quite a few fish and took home a half dozen 9-10.5" crappies and a half dozen 7.5-8.5" bluegills.  I didn't measure the ice today but it was the thickest ice I've been on all year, probably 5-7"+.

I'll probably take tomorrow off, but will be back on the ice Tuesday night.

 

 

[Rick G]

Some great reports guys  Keep them coming in!    

[StripEsox]

Went out to the Chain on Friday and found exactly 4" everywhere we checked.  Couple of snowmobiles buzzed my house, which I did not appreciate.....

Visited a small spot that produced very well for me last year, and it stunk.  Some of the worst fishing I've ever had on the chain.

First bite was a 24" walleye that saved the trip, after that, one small crappie and one more tiny walleye was all we had to show for our 4 hours of fishing.  Marked quite a few fish, but they wouldn't go.  Tried minnow heads on small spoons as well as larva tipped tungsten.  

Edited January 4, 2016 by StripEsox

[IceHawk]

Have to agree nice to see some new members with some great reports. Looking at meeting a few of you guys on the ice in the future. Keep up the info and good luck fishing 

[Borch]

Great reports everyone!  Even when fishing is tough it's good to hear honest reports.  Ice conditions are great info as well.

Thanks!

[kunzi26]

Just got out on Pearl about 200yds from shore. 8" clear ice here with multiple atv and snowmobiles zipping past. First time out this year with all my new toys. 

[IceHawk]

Welcome Kunzi26 to FM.  Thanks for the report from pearl. Hope you had some gd fishing.

[kunzi26]

Thanks IceHawk! Had a nice little walleye on a jiggle rod so I can't complain. 

[IceHawk]

That lake defianately has some eyes in it just a tough nut to crack for them Apparently you solved a piece of the puzzle nice job on a nice eye

[Tom Sawyer]

Shared the ice with Icehawk and Eyeguy today. Jumbo gills was the plan, and although a pretty tough bite. We still managed to put together a decent fry.

Meat out fished plastics, for both numbers and size today, without a doubt. Eyeguy had the hot stick, but Chris ended up with big gill at just over 9". I did loose a nice eye, that bit plastic, at the hole with my 2lb test line. Darker jigs with contrasting light colored plastics worked well. If I told you everything I threw at the SOB's, the post might get to long.  

Fish were both, hugging bottom and suspended in a 20' hole surrounded by emergent vegetation. As the sun went down they seemed to gravitate to the edge of the hole in shallower water. Although the fish became more active, and more willing to chase, aside from a small flurry around 4, the bite stayed about the same as during the day.