First Ice Report

[Bryan P]

Winter is here and lakes are starting to lock up. I did some searching yesterday and found a smaller lake in my area with 4-5" of ice on it. Dragged out the gear and caught few bluegills to scratch the first ice itch. Looking forward to the cold weather ahead. Who else been out? Any good reports yet. Hoping Mille Lacs will freeze over soon. 

 

Video: https://youtu.be/UenWgzKcjok

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by Bryan P

[mrpike1973]

Was out on a lake in Meeker county 5 inches of ice then it rained went out the next day. Top 1-2 inches very soft ice. The cracks were starting to open not good. Got a couple nice pike and a few sunnies very slow for 5 hours of hole hopping. Hopefully this cold will get the ice going before our possible 8 inches of snow this coming weekend. Nice report Bryan P., been on Pearl lake some to but very slow fishing.

[AlwaysFishing23]

Very nice Bryan! Been waiting for your first ice video lol. I’ve been out 3 times my self already and have done very well. Ice is looking good last time I was out had a solid 5.50”. Going out today actually to try and find gills and crappies. Good luck!

[monstermoose78]

Congrats Bryan! That is a fun little lake 

[Bryan P]

10 hours ago, mrpike1973 said:

Was out on a lake in Meeker county 5 inches of ice then it rained went out the next day. Top 1-2 inches very soft ice. The cracks were starting to open not good. Got a couple nice pike and a few sunnies very slow for 5 hours of hole hopping. Hopefully this cold will get the ice going before our possible 8 inches of snow this coming weekend. Nice report Bryan P., been on Pearl lake some to but very slow fishing.

 

Ya that rain did not help any. Glad were past that and looks like cold weather ahead for good ice making weather. 8" of snow this weekend? That wouldn't be good. Hope they are wrong on that forecast. Awesome you have been out and caught some fish already. I fished Pearl a few times when I lived in St. Cloud. I found some nice crappie and pike action out there. Thanks for your report. Goodluck this season. 

[Bryan P]

9 hours ago, AlwaysFishing23 said:

Very nice Bryan! Been waiting for your first ice video lol. I’ve been out 3 times my self already and have done very well. Ice is looking good last time I was out had a solid 5.50”. Going out today actually to try and find gills and crappies. Good luck!

 

Thanks! I have been waiting for my first ice video too lol. Glad your off too a good start yourself. Let me know how you did today. Can't wait for some of my Go-To lakes to freeze over to get on some crappie action.  Goodluck this year and looking forward to reports!

[Bryan P]

8 hours ago, monstermoose78 said:

Congrats Bryan! That is a fun little lake 

 

Thanks Moose , Ya it definitely works for some early ice action. Can't wait for some of the other area lakes to get some good ice. Have you been out yourself, anyluck?

[monstermoose78]

1 minute ago, Bryan P said:

 

Thanks Moose , Ya it definitely works for some early ice action. Can't wait for some of the other area lakes to get some good ice. Have you been out yourself, anyluck?

Naw I have been waiting for a few more inches. You know the lake I am waiting for, but I have a few others that I need to fish this winter.

[AlwaysFishing23]

12 hours ago, Bryan P said:

 

Thanks! I have been waiting for my first ice video too lol. Glad your off too a good start yourself. Let me know how you did today. Can't wait for some of my Go-To lakes to freeze over to get on some crappie action.  Goodluck this year and looking forward to reports!

 

Fished from 12pm to 4:05pm. Kept 3 crappies and 4 gills for the pan. I bet I caught a few hundred gills. Only 2 other fishermen out and they only stayed a few hours. It was breezy and cold out so I drilled a few holes and set up the flip over and instantly I was on fish. Was in abou 14.5 FOW. For about 3 hours straight I had about 7ft of solid fish. It was one after another. Noticed that everything disappeared on the fl18 and my bobber with minnow was about 4 ft down slowly bobbing set the hook and about 10 min later I had about a 34-38” pike. Grabbed my phone and videoed it and it got its head in the hole and pop the jig went. I got It back to. He slowly swam away. That was so cool it would have been cool to land it but it would have been a disaster. Texted a buddy and after I said 7 ft of fish and a 9” gill he says we’re going next weekend. Haha. Had about 5.75” of good ice no snow. Every thing was great. If you can get out the fishing has been great. After this week of cold whether we’ll be sitting pretty good.

[Bryan P]

On 11/26/2018 at 7:54 AM, AlwaysFishing23 said:

 

Fished from 12pm to 4:05pm. Kept 3 crappies and 4 gills for the pan. I bet I caught a few hundred gills. Only 2 other fishermen out and they only stayed a few hours. It was breezy and cold out so I drilled a few holes and set up the flip over and instantly I was on fish. Was in abou 14.5 FOW. For about 3 hours straight I had about 7ft of solid fish. It was one after another. Noticed that everything disappeared on the fl18 and my bobber with minnow was about 4 ft down slowly bobbing set the hook and about 10 min later I had about a 34-38” pike. Grabbed my phone and videoed it and it got its head in the hole and pop the jig went. I got It back to. He slowly swam away. That was so cool it would have been cool to land it but it would have been a disaster. Texted a buddy and after I said 7 ft of fish and a 9” gill he says we’re going next weekend. Haha. Had about 5.75” of good ice no snow. Every thing was great. If you can get out the fishing has been great. After this week of cold whether we’ll be sitting pretty good.

 

Awesome report! I love it when you luck out and setup on the fish instantly. Cant bet that! Sounds like you had lot of fun plus a nice kicker pike. Never fails when the graph goes blank and then Bam.... Mr pike comes through. Good luck this season and cant wait to get back out!