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I went to the Zumbro for a little "look-see" how things were after this wonderful melt job Mother Nature handed us last weekend. The water plowing down the Cascade Creek and the Zumbro River behind the house got me to wondering what things out there looked like. Weeeelll.....

If you are going to the recent hot spot at Fishermans, take waders. Tall ones. Take some charcoal and burgers too. Someone left a nice Weber grill out on the ice and if you make it out, you can have a bar-b-que.

The open water has seen some re-freeze, but it certainly is not solid enough to travel across. And of course, it is too thick to break thru with a jig if you are casting. So now it's a waiting game. Pray for more serious cold, or pray for the heat.

The melt water that got down to the solid ice sure has carried a lot of debris with it

For those who are thinking of Foster's, the ice is changing color already....looks pretty green in some areas. The shore will still allow some access to the ice. Foster likes to hold onto the ice so fishing isn't done just yet, but care should be used if venturing out.

On another note, I did a check on the corps. of engineers site to see what the river volumns were like. Alma is only up about 10 inches but the discharge rate is way up. If RedWing has similar indicators the fishing should be going great guns very soon....even better than it has been.

If you do go out on the ice, be careful. This is the time of year when unexpected thing happen very easily.

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Hey CT it is legal to fish below the dam at Mac's right now for white bass right or isn't it? Is it illegal if i catch a smallmouth or anything else. Just itching for some open water fishing and i know that usually produces. thanks

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Getting legal access to the plunge pool below the dam might be tough right now for anyone. The campground was sold last year and the new owner has it posted up tight.

Crappies and sunfish, bullheads and catfish, perch, white bass, and of course, the nice guys like carp and suckers are legal to catch. The smallie you mentioned might hit if you are fishing for another species and you are in no trouble so long as it goes right back in the drink. It IS against the law to target smallmouth specifically right now.

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Anybody checked the zumbro last couple of days now? Any chance to get back out on the ice by fisherman's again this weekend???? Dan...you been out?

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Smallie-

I'm shooting for an early start at the same place as last weekend. If you get down there I'll give you a hand at unloading.

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sounds like a plan....I think I will head over yet this afternoon to check out the ice.

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ANyone have an accurate ice thickness before the snow on ZUmbro.

I need a my last fix and it will obviously be after it stops snowing............and maybe on the Zum.

Thanks!

Jim

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Hey Jim,

CT was there yesterday and said it's still at around 18" by Fishermans Inn. I haven't been down the Ponerosa lately because the bite has been so good at Fishermans.

There was a small red Jeep pickup on the ice yesterday also.

But don't park at the end of the White Bridge Road where the handicap access is and walk out. It's very unsafe. Get on at the boat ramp area.

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Dan, (or anyone else...), you planning on fishing Zumbro @ fishermans tomorrow or Sun? I'm thinking of making it out in the AM tomorrow maybe by 6:30-7ish. Will be quite different than the last few weeks with all this snow and wind. Funny isn't it....two Sunday's ago we were on the ice catching a tan while we fished in 60+ degrees and now we have two feet of snow, the 20's for temps and a 20mph wind. What a great contrast huh?

Wonder what the snow cover and weather will do to the bite/??? anybody have an opinion?

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Smallie....You will want to be very careful on the ice out there now. Lots of weight on that ice and remember you are on an "ice peninsula when you are fishing where you have been. That ice may have enough weight on it now to shear that finger right off. On Thursday you could see along the dock where the ice had refroze where Dan went through, but the finger of water had been well past where he went in.

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Since going to RedWing antiquing wasn't really in my mind for today, I decided to pack Ma off with the kids and I went fishing.

The Zumbro was the target for today and had it not been for the great company and absolute riot we had, I'd have been home BEFORE the sunburn got to my uncovered dome. Can we say hothothothot?

As mentioned, the fishing was less than overwhelming. Dan Thiem, Smallieobsession, Dan's Boys, my buddy Gary, and a few others were all bunch over what has been the hot spot, but found activities such as snow balling and talking smart more productive, so that's what we did....until Smallie's wife joined in. Then we had to clean it up a bit. lol

A few crappies were found on the ice along with a generous sample of sunfish- some were real dandies too- plus one northern of about 17 pounds. The toothie went back of course after some pics were done....really nice fish and it came off a ratso with a waxie for adornment.

There were fish caught but the bite was slow at times and the fish would take NOTHING that was being moved in any way, shape, or fashion and all were taken literally right off the bottom. It was rumored that the rough fish have started to show up in this area and if it is true, that may keep the fish slowed down. In my two trips prior to this the suckers and carp were hitting on a regular basis and it is getting to be about the time when they show up in force.

All in all, the mini FM getogether was worth the trip....darned good company! Even if the fish won't bite.

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Sunburn? Is that why I look like I have a reverse raccoon when I take off the sunglasses?

It sure was a fun day at the lake. I even caught one gill that was just a fin under ten inches. After reading about how the bulls should be retuned I measured it got a couple pictures and released it only to watch it turn around, swim back up the hole and pop right back on the ice. Wierd. Any time you can fish outside in a sweatshirt and not have to scoop is always fun. I was very impressed with the northern I saw being brought up and released. Way to go R.C.!! Like C.T. said I would guess in the 15-20 pound range. I just wish I could have seen the one I lost yesterday.

I really don't know how many more days of this we will have but I think everbody should get out and try it while the getting is good. There was 18" of ice. But the weight of the snow is pushing down the ice making it wet on top.

Maybe call in to work and say you got "jiggin-itis" or "fishin-pox".

I'm still going to fish there untill it lets go from shore. Not too many years that I have been on the ice after Easter.

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I got off work and headed out to the lake to see if anybody was fishing. There was seven people spread out on the popular spot. I went down to try my luck with them and found out that it was a pretty decent bite happening. That was at 4:30-5:30. Too busy for two poles. The bluegills were really coming on strong! Some with shoulders on them. These were 9" and a couple that were very close to ten inches.

Funny thing, they all come out looking a pale peach color and they will change color to a darker green and yellow with some vertical stripes that are not visible when first caught.

Only got 4 crappies, but my buddy got a catfish that was 16"long. Sliced his finger when it went back down the hole. Pretty funny.

Everything came off waxies on small jigs. VERY close to the bottom. Maybe only three inches up.

Very few days left, it's getting very sloppy out there.

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Pretty quiet this morning. The water should be starting to color a bit with the run off from last weekends storm and that usually gets things fired up. The fish taken today were all sunfish, one in the 9 1/4 inch catagory. The others were about 8 1/2. All went back. Lots of fish were marked and a lot at 5 feet down. They were not in the window long, but the cone at that depth is pretty narrow and I'm thinking they were crappies moving along.

There didn't seem to be as much water on the ice this morning. Sunday was slush city.

Its about killing me to walk out the door with ice gear in tow and looking at the long rods just sitting there.

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We thought about heading over to the River (pool 4) this weekend. The only thing is, I don't really feel like messing with 200 boats around me.

Anyone heard if Pepin has opened up yet?

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Breakers will go through either later today or tomorrow.

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Tom.

I'm thinking of giving the Zumbro one more hard water go but,I haven't been there since January.Do you think the ice will hold through the weekend and is the deepwater spot I fished with you still the ticket?Any chance you might want to give her a go?

Mike

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Most of the fishing has been in the Fishermans Inn neighborhood recently. You may find some action in that other spot and the ice should be good there yet for a week or so. I may be down to Fishermans on Saturday morning for a couple of hours, but with Easter and all Ma will probably have most of my time pre-dictated. If you decide to do Fisherman's , be sure to access the ice from the boat ramp and not from the public fishing piers.

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I was out there last night with my youngest and my brother. There were three portables and half a dozen guys outside fishing. I talked to some and everyone was catching a few.

We got a few also. All ours went back in the lake. One fish almost pulled Alex's pole down the hole but he recoverd it only to have the line break on something big.

There was a catfish caught that was 19" long. Whiskers coming up a hole looks kind of different.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Believe it or not there is an aluminum scaffolding that goes from shore to the ice at the fishing point. Die hard for sure!

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Have the ice breakers went through yet? Is this something that is posted when they will go through? I wonder if it is interesting to time it so the kids can watch it happening?

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Hey Dan, you need to post up some pics of all these fish you are catching. I will wait for the soft water season. That area sounds a little to treacherous for my liking.

Carlcmc, The ice breakers are going through Peppin not Zumbro. Not sure if you were just asking about it here in the zumbro thread or what confused.gif

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No ice breakers on the Zum. The ones that were in Wabasha are likely thru the lake already....either last night or today.

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I was down this morning for a short stint and found some sunfish. All were very nice, being in the 9 inch range. They all came right off the bottom in 9 feet of water. If thee bait was more than 3 inches up, you'd not get hits.

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It's gotta be a pretty cool thing to watch. But, with my luck it could be about as fun as watching Dr. Phil..

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Murph,

If I scan my pictures and e-mail them to you could you post them for me?

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Yea, but not until I get home from work wink.gif Do you still have my e-mail addy?

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I don't know, could you give it to me again? I'll send you the pics tonight. All I have are bluegills and crappies. I already gave Crappie Tom his pictures. I have the nothern picture also but the I don't have permission to put his pic on the internet. No pictures of the cats though. Sorry, I know how you love those catfish. Stop out to the lake Saturday, I'll show the pictures to ya. We are hopeing to get out for one last weekend. Come and join us.

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"Permission" LOL! That is a good one for the internet. I can digitally blur any faces and/or crop it so all you see is the fish. As for Sat. I am busy in LaCrosse with my band all weekend. I am also seriously too afraid of ice to go on it this late in the season. Thanks though. I am sure we will meet up this spring.

Did you ever get a definite answer about fishing access you know where? wink.gif

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Got it so go ahead and edit! Also about fishing below the dam, I'm waiting for a while just to get a final answer from him. Things change so fast sometimes. You know.

If you want to ask him call him up. He's a decent enough guy! Call down to Roo's and ask for Randy.(Zumbro Falls)

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