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Hey guys and gals, I'd be happy to ponder your questions about lakes in the East Central region of the state. I've been fishing this region for almost 20 years and would say it's pretty hard to beat for quantity, quality, and specie diversity. If I don't know the answer, I can probably get it from the other folks I know that fish this area as much as I do. Plus, there's some regular contributors to this forum that know an awful lot about the area. If you've got a question, it will get answered here. If you've got a hot tip, post it here. If you've got a secret, email it to me wink.gif

Let's heat this forum up a little. A little something for you right now, I rarely ice fish anywhere but this region. That might say it all right there.

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Great, I have a ? I do a lot of oce fishing but don't have much luck cheching eye's throught the ice what is the best set up for this and what baits are good. I pick up a few just crappie fishing but never on my set up for eye's. If you have any ideas I would love to here them.

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Shorefisher,

I don't think winter walleyes are a bait issue as much as I think they are a location issue. I think if you can present a bait where the fish want to be you have a pretty good chance at iceing them. Now, there's no doubt that such-and-such bait will be better than another at a certain time, and that makes for a good case to have multiple presentations rigged up. The baits I have had the most success with have been jigging spoons like a Sweedish Pimple tipped with the head of a fathead, a jigging Rapala with eurolarve on the the treble, and just a plain hook and small shiner on a tip-up. But these presentations are worthless without the right location.

The right location? Boy that varies greatly in every lake. It takes a lot of holes and quite a few fishless trips before I've been able to put something together. Some lakes I still haven't figured out. One piece of structure has seemed to be common to almost all places that I've caught winter walleyes is a bottom composition change. And, it's almost always a real distinct change. I mean rocks or hard packed clay to mud. A deal where the depth finder gives you a triple echo to where it almost doesn't read any bottom at all. And, this transition seems to run for a signigicant distance, say 100 yards or longer. It's never really seemed to matter where that transition was. It could be on the side of a point or hump, on top, or at the base; it could be up on a flat or even in the main basin of the lake. Whenever I've caught walleyes in the winter, it's been there.

I've still got a ton to learn on winter walleyes. I'd like to see someone else chime in on there experiences.

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.....before you get all tangled up in presentation and so forth, don't forget, that
FIRST ICE rules, especially in pressured metro lakes.....

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BIG,

Agreed, first ice can be the best deal in the metro and areas immediately north. Also, it does pay to keep away from the pack through the season. Then the first ice type bite can last well into January.

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I was wondering if you know how things are going on Pine lake near Finlayson? I have never fished it this late in the year but will up in the area this weekend and still have the boat out. Wondering if you had any info?

Thanks

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Pherris,

I have not heard anything about Pine since Labor Day. I'm guessing you're thinking about crappie fishing. I'll give someone a call tonight that might have a report. There's also someone else in this forum that has posted info about Pine in the past. Post this as a new topic and maybe we'll get a response.

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Thanks. I will check back to see if you heard anything. Also I would be open to trying other lakes in the area if you think they would be better.

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Rush, Pokegama or Cross could all be worth a try for crappies. I think you're going to find them in fairly deep water. I've had experience with Cross in the fall and have caught crappies. In fact, it can be real good once you find them. They get out in the main basin of the lake though, so you need to do alot of hunting with the electronics.

Pine is more than likely the same deal. Both Pines bottom out between 25 and 30 ft, the crappies will likely be out in that main lake basin. I think Pine is a good choice, but you'll need to patient with the fish until you locate them.

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.....I can confirm what Born... is saying
because 2 weeks ago - on Rush - the crappies
were deep, 28-30 feet and fairly aggressive, and on Rush there also were perch in some spots that were 6 inches or more....by the way the crappies were always near the deepest water....also, I didn't catch any walleyes - which should have been in the same places....a little puzzling.....
the water temps haven't changed that much in the last two weeks - about 45 degrees- so everything should be the same....good luck, if you run into some wallbeanies let us know....

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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
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    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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    • 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
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    • SkunkedAgain
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