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Ugh....


AlwaysFishing23

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So after the 8” of snow the other day the lakes are a huge mess. I was out for a snowmobile ride yesterday and went to a lake not to far from home. I like to ride out there a couple times a week. So I made a loop around the lake and the snow was about knee deep but had no issues. I was just about ready to head home and checked out an area I like to fish. Well.... I jumped a plowed road bank and sink in about 1 foot of water and slush. I pinned my sled and barley crawled along about 50 years to dry snow. So my weekend plans of fishing are done. This was a smaller lake so I’m sure all lakes are impassable. I have what I think id a good ice fishing sled. A Polaris 600 with a 136” track never had an issue before but with all the snow and slush now there’s no way I’ll be able to fish. The snowmobile trails haven’t beeen grommed after the last snow and I’m getting sick of riding the ditches. Anyone else annoyed with all this snow now? Thanks Mother Nature I now have nothing to do this weekend! ?

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Yeah, I think we’ve had enough.  The silver lining for me is I DONT plan on fishing this weekend.  But I do have to ready my sled for next weekend in ON.  I’m hoping the snow isn’t as bad up there.  Strange to think it’s a possibility but yeah, that’s how much we have in MN.

 

I kept my face plastered to the plane window going down to Denver on Monday.  The snow line peters out around the NE/CO border.  The only people not complaining about snow and cold at home were from CA!

 

I thought there was a noticeable lack of fishouses out on our MN lakes too.  I hope to get a good view of Mille Lacs when we come into Brainerd.  It was amazing how small the lake looked on the way out! ?

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  • 2 weeks later...

The dog and i went to for a walk last weekend to buddy of mines Ice castle. About a .5 mile walk each way. 10”-16” of snow and then 4”-6” of slush under the snow. The walking was doable but it was a workout. So looking at the forecast we’ve got for sure one snow storm headed our way this Saturday looking like 4”-10” of snow. As we sit now off road travel on lakes is possible by Snowmobile but if we get any more snow I’m not sure if lakes will even be accessible by really any vehicle.

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I tried this last weekend nothing but slush walking out was a heart attack waiting to happen. For me by the time the snow melts enough to get on the lakes I don't think they will be very safe. I'm waiting a week then I think I will put the ice gear away?

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Saying 8”-14” for central MN now for Saturday and Saturday night. And then another possible storm next Wednesday bringing rain/ice and a possible 2”-6 of snow. As it’s looking now unless there’s plowed roads still open and cleared or if we’re Able to travel by sled down old roads there won’t be much of any moving around on lakes. If none of that is possible it’s back to the good old days of an otter sled and a pair of snow shoes.

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1 hour ago, Wanderer said:

Have fun with those snow shoes....

 

After I posted that I thought that as well. With all the soft powder and water and slush. Would the snow shoes really help or would you just sink? Maybe just going with boots is easier.

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I haven’t been on snow shoes for MANY years but I think the powder is what they’re meant for.  Wet and sticky snow will probably load up the topside of the shoe so much you won’t want to take too many steps for the weight.

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We were just out for a small hike for my forestry class. They were the old time ones with homemade rubber bindings. I have had a few nice sets over the years and I do believe I have a brand new set at home never used. Here’s what I found today. If I was ice fishing towing my one man flip over or otter sled I would be wearing nothing but pants and a sweatshirt. Personally I can walk about 2x as fast without them. And unless the rope to the sled is about 15ft long it’s weird to walk being snow shoes are a lot bigger than normal boots. IMO I would leave them at home unless it’s a short distance or we get dumped on again ( after Tommarows event).

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I got out last night for a few hours before dark. I brought the flip over and planned to stay Mobil till I found the fish. Well I had to drill one hole. I was on fish from time I dropped down to the time I left at about 6:40pm. All big gills 8”-9.5”. Few ok crappies released everything. Only one other person on the lake and they left shorty after I got there so need less to say I had the whole lake to my self. I walked out since it was a short walk and I knew it would be slushy. Well there was no slush! It was all froze solid so there was maybe 4”-5” of snow and when walking you broke through a few inches of it so it was easy walking! Couldn’t believe there was no slush I scrapped down in a few spots with my boot and it was dry. Maybe 5”-6” or froze slush when I drilled my one hole. 17 fow on a gradual break. Wax worm and a tubby jig. Most fish were suspended 4 ft off bottom to 5 ft below the ice and they were AGGRESIVE. Fun times! Ice fishing season is just kicking into high gear again for me got a couple fun trips planned for this month. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Spring is no slouch for activities though!

Here’s a list of (fun) possibilities for even this weekend:

 

Sapping

Shooting - rifle range

Shed hunting 

Still enough ice to fish through

Some open water to cast to

Still ‘Nuff night light yet for yotes 

Scout for turkeys

Snow goose season is open too

 

It’s too bad though I have to include some other stuff for the weekend:

 

Helping move someone

Taxes

Annual files cleaning

HVAC maintenance 

Some catching up at work

Snow plow repair/maintenance

 

At least I can count on getting stuff from BOTH sides accomplished!  

Edited by Wanderer
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Got out fishing this morning at about 9am and was off by 2. Had a group of good buddies join and ended with 3 limits of big gills (8”-9.5”),  (limit on this lake is 10 per person per day) 2 jumbo perch, 3 decent pike, and 3 largemouth ( all pike and bass were released immediately as they are out of season). AWESOME day with a good group of buds. Sight fishing in 4-5FOW made the action even more fun? if you were able to get out it was a great day to be out with friends, family or the kiddos. 

B08B6653-051E-42A6-90A8-394D9FEBE05D.jpeg

DF4E4AEE-E3E6-4C1A-B07E-48B069C690AC.jpeg

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yea no target pic...……...I aint buying it!!!!!!!!?:whistle: awesome looking gun !!!!!!!!!

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1 hour ago, smurfy said:

yea no target pic...……...I aint buying it!!!!!!!!?:whistle: 

 

Haha - ya I spose!  Only we weren’t shooting paper.  Painted steel hanging targets with a spotter and spotting scope. Drive to em to paint em but no retrieval.  

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

No body on this site has "Faith" in what they can't see!  ?   ?

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8 hours ago, leech~~ said:

No body on this site has "Faith" in what they can't see!  ?   ?

I do!!!   ?

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9 hours ago, leech~~ said:

No body on this site has "Faith" in what they can't see!  ?   ?

yea, but I think I've heard that somewhere here before!!!!!!!!!

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • 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!  
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