North of Park Rapids

[jbrunny]

Looking for some advice on the area north of Park Rapids, I'm going up with a buddy from Williston ND and he is bringing a few buddies who he was in the Army with from Kansas. We have a place by Emmaville for a long weekend to do some ice fishing. I almost always fish ND and Northern SD so I have zero knowledge on this area. The tow of the guys coming up have very little to no ice experience. Ideally we would like to get on crappie and eyes, hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Not looking for your honey hole, just want to get these guys on fish. Thank you,

[leech~~]

4 hours ago, jbrunny said:

Looking for some advice on the area north of Park Rapids, I'm going up with a buddy from Williston ND and he is bringing a few buddies who he was in the Army with from Kansas. We have a place by Emmaville for a long weekend to do some ice fishing. I almost always fish ND and Northern SD so I have zero knowledge on this area. The tow of the guys coming up have very little to no ice experience. Ideally we would like to get on crappie and eyes, hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Not looking for your honey hole, just want to get these guys on fish. Thank you,

Welcome to the forum.  Looks like not a lot of help yet?  

Is you buddy from Williston ND the leader of the group or how did you pick the area to go to?  If he is he must have some ideas or it is just he has a place to stay.  I would google some of the bait shops in or around the Park Rapid, Mn area and feel them out for some good lakes and maybe even some spots.  Let them know you will be stopping by for some bait-of course!   Good Luck.  

[jbrunny]

Yes his parents have a lake place on Stocking. Neither of us have spent any real  time ice fishing it. We fished Stocking last winter once. Zero fish. I will give the bait shops a call next week. Thank you. 

[Mike89]

welcome and good luck!!  maybe look into a guide for a day too.. split with all the guys wouldn't be that bad...   

[Wanderer]

There’s a lot of slush reports coming from the Alexandria and Ottertail county area. You might want to make some calls to find out from people who’ve actually been on the lakes in your target area.
 

The other issue seems to be people are starting to crowd the lakes that aren’t slushy.

 

Not trying to throw a wet blanket on your plans but when people start pulling their houses this early, it’s gotta be bad.  In central MN I have 4 houses sitting in my yard right now plus my brothers.  I’m going to a lake today that’s reported to be more crowded than usual to see if there’s room for one of mine in one of the spots I like.

New to ice fishing people won’t be happy in slush.  Wear rubber boots.

 

[Skis]

So curious if you had your trip yet with your buddies & how things went?  Our family vacations up there in June every year (Bottle Lake) & I don't ice fish!!