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Excellent ice conditions are expanding the fishing opportunities in the area every day. With anywhere from 11 to 18 inches of good clear ice, we were confident enough to begin driving out on many of the area lakes although we’re still staying near the edges over shallow water. Thanks to very low snow cover, we are not depending on plowing roads and we can drive most anywhere we think it’s safe. On the larger lakes, ice heaves are showing up and beginning to be a problem. There’s no way to stay on top of where all of these cracks are, so stay in touch with the area resorts. These folks are usually the ones plowing the roads and they have a good idea where the obstructions are.
Reports of Perch action are still coming in from Winnie and there are a fair number of decent Northern Pike and Walleye being caught as well. Most of the action has been in the shallow water 6 to 10 feet deep, but there is a movement under way and many of these fish are starting to show up in the 20-24 foot range as well. These are mainly shoreline or primary structures. Perch are hitting well on rocker spoons tipped with a minnow head, or even a plain jig head fished on the bottom. We had some luck with a small perch-eye imitation tipped with a smaller than average minnow and hooked through the tail.
Walleyes (mainly small size) are still running some of the shallow points and weed edges during the last hour or so in the afternoon but they too are showing up on the deeper main lake structures. Swedish Pimple or other jigging spoons with a minnow head will continue to produce now. A nice approach is to fish one hole jigging and set up another hole nearby with a simple bobber, plain hook and a lively shiner. The jigging rod often attracts fish into the area, but the free-swimming shiner catches the ones that won’t jump at the jig.
Crappie fishing has been a little spotty, but anglers are catching some fish mainly “eating size” fish are reported locally at the moment. Some of the lakes that were fished hard during the past couple of years are not producing great catches this winter, Crappie populations tend to build up in a lake until they’re discovered or noticed by a few anglers. Once the word spreads, pressure builds and the population gets worked down to a point where fishing declines. If you want to be consistent, it’s important to keep exploring new places and locate larger schools of “new fish”. The traditional approach of locating the deeper holes and fishing with small jigs, teardrops and plain hooks with crappie minnow will all produce some fish. Glow in the dark jigs kept charged with a flashlight, does seem to give you an edge and is worth the effort to try.
Good Luck! Check Back For Updates!

------------------
The Early Bird-Jeff Sundin
Early Bird Fishing Guide Service
Phone: 218-246-2375
North-Central Minnesota
Lakes Country
E-mail: [email protected]

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early bird and others,
put lots of holes & time in from friday thru
sunday on two seperate lakes (marcell area) and can say i would not drive vehical out yet, thickest ice i found was only 12" and closer to shore was 6" to 9" hope this report will help others to check before they drive out

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  • 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      
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