Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Recommended Posts

Headed back to ottertail on Friday the 9th. Looking for some help. We had great success on July 19, and 20. Getting our limits in 45 minutes both nights trolling hatchett rigs with leeches in 10ft of water. The weekend of July 26, 26 we caught one in 4 hrs both nights. What is working right now on the ottertail for walleyes.


Thanks in advance

Insane4golf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi insane4golf
I've been up the last three weekends and the results were not bad.This last weekend the average size was better than normal.Saturday night between 9 and 10 pm they were slamming my rapala in 6'-8'of water out on the flat in front of you.Also caught 4 nice walleyes Sunday afternoon in 8'-9' in bright sunlight.Go figure.Good luck
P.S. RAPALA,RAPALA,RAPALA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Balmoral

Thanks for the information, are you using shallow running taildancers or shallow running shad raps. What Color? When you say the flats right in front of me, do you mean the balmoral flats just past the saddle?

Insane4golf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wheres Balmoral and wheres the saddle?
Been going to Ottertail since for about 25 years, feel stupid not knowing these locations.
What about the Amor flats on the north side, on the west side of the point, how has that been? hope we are talking about Ottertail Lake.
Plan on going this weekend, will probably try my Millenium stick minnows, haven't had the channce to try them yet.
Heck,in the past I've even had luck going back and forth pulling cranks in front of the camp grounds, plus out in front of the resorts, Barkeys, 3 seasons, on the west side,
then over on the east side over by The Pier resterraunte,, If I remmember right, there are some humps out there somewhere, but haven't fished the lake in a couple years.
Seems there is ALOT of opportunity all around out there.
Anyone have one of those fishing calanders that tells the best time to fish this Saturday?
Mine doesn't say what hours of the day, it just says the whole day will be poor, LOL.

Might have to stop in at kens tackle to see what he has to say.

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Insane4golf

Those are the right flats.I use fireline with my cranks and find they go deeper than using the mono.In the 5'-8' area I use the Rapala floating minnow in blue and white and the firetiger.Firetiger worked very well saturday night.I use the taildancer in 8'-12'.I like the blue and white and the brown crayfish color.The fish seem to be all over the lake and many different techniques may work.

Dano2
Just cross the lake towards the balmoral golf course.It will be on a map.Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OOOOOH yaaa,
when i saw the spelling I was thinking it said ballmoral, and was wondering what the heck is that.
Balmoral, i remeber that, they use to have all those little stores in there, right by the golf course.
thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Insane,
Where I like to go at night is the three flats, or islands if you perfer, that start out in front of the outlook/rest area next to the Pier.

Those three seem to be the best, or at least the areas I've had the most success. 8-10 feet, with a blue and chrome or perch taildancer or suspending shad rap. The corners, and points that drop-off and saddle to the next island seem to be the best areas, especially when a good wind is blowing. But, they are hard to troll accurately, there's a lot of twists and turns. So, I've been snaking down the the steep drop-offs. Going out to 25 feet and coming back over the break, where it comes up to about 7-8 feet. When it hits the break, they nail it. This works best with crankbaits because they'll run at a constant depth.

Last time I was out we caught about 35 in 4 1/2 hours. Most of which were 1.5-2.5 lbs. Lost a lot of fish too.

Hopefully, this will help you. I hope you understand there are I'm speaking of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Crankbait Guy,

Thanks for the advice, we had a blast Saturday night. Not a boat around us in front of the cabin and catching fish. We lost a huge walleye though. I thought I was snagged and thought I was reeling in a log or a ton of weeds. It was a huge walleye that snapped my line when it surfaced. We got three keepers in 2 hours. I can not find the flats you were talking about in front of the pier. How far out from shore.

Thanks, insane4golf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • 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!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.