The Fishing Must Be Horrible!

[Wanderer]

17 hours ago, LoonASea said:

Wanderer,,, We are heading up there on the 17th,,, Will i need hip boots or waders to deal with the slush???  We will be traveling by snowmobile and fishing out of portables so that's a plus to stay away from the crowd  

 

Chest waders maybe...

 

I wasn’t the one there so it’s kinda subjective.  BUT I would plan on wearing boots that are waterproof to maybe the knee.  I had a pair waterproof pac boots on at Crow and stayed dry, except the bottoms of my bibs were wringing wet after day 1.  I made sure to stay out of the slush after that.  The snow was as deep as the knee.

 

The quote came from the guy I fished Crow with the week before.  He was back up there for crappies and walleyes on LOW.  They left it after day 1 and went elsewhere.  He usually fishes through tough conditions.  I’ll get more details when they get back.

[Hoey]

We fished Fri, Sat, and Sun.  We did not experience any slush, out on sleds and portables.  The cabin neighbor buried his Bearcat while pulling his small hardside off the lake.  He was rescued by a Geo with chains pulling from a road.  After the 10 to 12 inches of snow that fell Saturday, I buried my Widetrack between a couple of cabins.  The snow there was 5 foot deep.  

 

We could see spots on the ice where the snow pack was water logged and avoided them during travel and fishing.  Conditions of the snow on the ice have and continue to change rapidly.  Warmer temps with more snow are in the forecast for Wed/Thur, looking like 6 to 8 inches...  

 

On Sunday the trails were a mess.  Ruts from track vans and boomers and the fresh snow made travel by sled tough.  

[Hoey]

Oh and the bite was terrible.  We kept 10 small ones, eyes, saug, and perch.  Sounded like 1 in 50 houses did well.  It was definitely more miss than hit.  

[Wanderer]

Bummer!  Glad you didn’t have slush problems though.  Kinda hard to just flat out say it but my opinion of the cost/benefit analysis is stay away for a while.  Too tough for the general quality of fishing in that area right now.

[LoonASea]

Sounds like a LOT of resorts are calling it a season with the mild temps and rain ,,, Seen some pics of ice roads with 8 inches of water on them ,,,,I bailed on our trip for sunday ,,,, Fishing is supposed to be enjoyed not endured 

[Hoey]

On 3/14/2019 at 4:05 PM, LoonASea said:

Sounds like a LOT of resorts are calling it a season

As of Monday, all un-occupied houses need to be off the lake.  The resorts with booked sleepers are OK.  

 

I fished with the wife, son, and a couple of his Gopher swim team mates Sat, Sun, and Mon. 

 

The snow has really packed/settled down.  A week ago it was a couple feet deep and very soft.  It is now down to a foot or so with a lot of water and slush on the ice.  Sleds were good to go, but walking around was tough, breaking through at times.  Overall he bite was poor to OK - we were kept busy with no real keeper sized fish.  We kept enough for a dinner and then did better on Monday.  We ended up with about half our limit to take home.  Moving forward we need that snow to melt, the water to either freeze solid or find a way to drain off - then you will be able to travel almost everywhere on wheels.  

 

BTW - Sunday weather was beautiful, no wind, no clouds, full sun.  

[Wanderer]

Thanks for the report.  I didn’t hear any news from my buddy’s last trip up there so I assumed it was bad.  I texted and asked; yup it was bad.  He’s finally burned out for the ice season after the back to back bad trips and putting his gear away.  

 

One of his buddies did an 8 man/5 day trip for lakers in another part of Ontario.  8 fish total.

 

I agree, it can get better before the end though if a couple things work out weather wise.

[Ten point]

Just got back from LOTW fishing for us was slow. But if you put the time in and watch your electronics it can still be good. We're fishing in 32ft lot of small fish just need to keep the hook away from them several good fish still coming thru. A few slot fish up to 26 1/2 inches walleyes 15 to 17 saugers 14 to 16 lot of water under the snow in spots.

[CLPDB]

Ten Point what resort were you out of?  Thinking of going up this weekend.

[Ten point]

Didn't go out of resort was on my own off the edge of gull rock reef

[CLPDB]

Fished out of Morris Pt 1/2 day Friday and all of Sat. and it was bad.  5 of us kept a total of 5 fish.  Fished in 32 ft Fri, 28 ft Sat and 21 ft. at sunset.  Marked a lot but I'm pretty sure they were little ones or tullibee.  Access was pretty beat up when we left Sat. night.  Got checked by DNR and they said everyone that they checked had the same results as us.  

[Bear 55]

A buddy and I fished out of Arnesons tues. in one of their houses 28 fow just west of gull rock we had 6-keepers 3-wall 3- saugs 1 jp  also a 24in slot all the keepers were caught on dead sticks . On the ride in the group of 4 had 12 and the two guys fishing pike got only one 37 . Still a lot snow on the lake . So is the fishing horrible? I have seen it better. Stay Safe Good Luck Bear55

[Hookmaster]

My daughter and I fished out of Arnesen's last weekend. We were supposed to fish with Sportsmans but they called the weekend before and said they were shutting down last Wednesday. Saturday fished off of 12 mile and caught about 60 walleye and sauger and kept 7 (3 eyes 14",15",16" and 4 sauger). A lot of small ones. Midday was slow. Ate 3 of the sauger. Day 2 just west of gull rock we caught 42 and kept 8 sauger to fill out our limit. Only had 3 keepers by noon plus a 23" walleye so we switched to the nearest house. Those guys had a good morning and went to fish pike. We did better in the after noon and kept 5 sauger. On Saturday our guide said the resort was full with 320 fisherman.

[Hoey]

Great reports!!!!   I was up this past weekend.  Fished Sat and Sun.  We did alright, enough for fish dinner on Sat.  Ate a couple eyes and some sauger.  We kept our 11 perch to take home.  On Sunday, we ended one sauger short of our limit to take home.  More-or-less could have been done for the day after two hours of fishing.  Nice 16 to 18 inchers.  Had to sort through many of the past two years classes, those 4 to 6 inchers and those 8 to 10s.  

 

Overall, when combining the weather and the catching, Sunday was probably the best day of ice fishing for me this year.  The snow pack is shrinking, but still hanging in there.  We were out on sleds and did not have to drive on any gravel/grass/dirt until we put the sleds in the shed.  Seemed that the slush and water has been soaked up into the snow on the lake and with the colder weather, it was firm. 

 

It would have been great to stay for a couple more days weather and bite-wise. 

 

Much warmer temps on the way that will wipe out all of the snow quickly.  Had a great year.  IDK when the next trip is going to occur.  

[Hoey]

Oh - I forgot to mention, along with a very good bite and great weather, listening to a competitive Twins team playing ball on the radio makes it even more enjoyable.

[walleye 4 me]

what are the odds the ice will be off for the opener? Close to zero I'm guessing...

[Ballyhoo]

same situation last year and it warmed up at the end of April and it was off by opener and there was more ice last year than this year.  Just need to melt the snow off the ice so the sun can get at ice.