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Ice Fishing Reports


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Lets use this thread to report on our fishing endeavors through the early ice season. I will start.

As of this morning Big Detroit is almost entirely froze over. I will be out ice fishing tomorrow morning and I will report results. A buddy of mine fished the other day and got three walleyes in about 14 fow. Ice should be pushing 3 inches on where I will be going.

Everyone be safe and have fun, Ice fishing is not worth taking a dunk over.

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  • Dahitman44

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Say -- Can you let us know the ice condition too. That would be great.

Some of us are part chicken, but I think I am 3/4 chicken. wink.gif

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First hand report of 4 inches in Deadshot bay, should be ok but wear a life jacket and have hand spikes available just in case.

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Went out today for my trial run.

I went to a pond between twelve and fourteen and saw nothing, (fished in 11' of water)but had a great time.

The wind tried to blow me of the lake so I packed up about 6PM and headed for home.

I was on 5" of clear ice

Use extreame caution if venturing out over deeper water as the ice appeared to get thinner as the depth increased.

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Planning on going to Swede Grove tomorrow afternoon - if the wife lets me out of the house. Drove by it this afternoon and walked out a ways, there is between 5"-6" of ice that I could tell. Also saw some guys fishing a small slough just to the west of Hitterdahl - I know there are tons of walleyes in there, but most are pretty small (8"-10"). I would think that there was more ice on that pond.

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Just an FYI for the 'heavier' angler who wants to fish little D. I was out on Little D this morning with 4" of ice and was experiencing some cracking of the ice when I was venturing out. With that and the freezing rain, I went back home; not worth going in... the bad spots were betweeen the marina and the public beach. I weigh 230 lbs.

Be safe out there, and careful driving today, it's slick.

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Fished the late afternoon bite on Deadshot with a friend of mine and DEADhead. I small pike, and nothing else. Not sure why the lack of fish, didn't mark anything large, could be just a fluke, it's usually real good early ice.

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Don't put the boat away yet!!

For about 2 hours I was walking all over the ice (5") northeast of Hitterdahl. Only set up a tip up for 15 minutes while I checked out the lake with my LX3. Nothing happening so I drove around and......

At 5:00 pm Sunday evening I saw a boat out on Big C. with a couple fishing just off the north landing! Not a sign of ice other then 50% of Leif starting.

Hmmmm....what's a guy to do??

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Shae - did you have any luck?? In the past we have done pretty good on Swede. Acutally broke the 10lb mark this summer on a few fish.

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Lenny,

I didn't even fish that night, me and a buddy are busy building a spear house but we went and talked to another of our friends out their and he said he hasn't marked a thing, but thats how i knew how much ice was out their. I was hoping to try thier on sunday but got busy doing some other things. Maybe this weekend, depends on the weather, might have to do some pheasant hunting instead. But good luck too all who venture out and be safe, especially after this rain.

Andrew

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i heard of a couple of guys goin on south twin and slottering the wallys i seen on tamarac sum guys were in a portable already i hope this weekend i will be on the lake be safe out there guys wink.gif

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I am starting to salivate -- I neeed to get out there.

I have been muzzleloading -- Need to get fishing.

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Hit Little D with DEADhead on Friday, caught tons of bluegills and 2 small crappie's. Fished 12.5 fow, and it was good to get out. It was good to get the kinks out and make sure all the equipment works.

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Talked to my cousin this morning. He put his spear house out on Lida yesterday. He said he found four inches of good ice. I don't know the exact location (I'm sure one of his super duper secret, kill you if you tell, spots) He did get a couple of northerns and had a couple others stay outside the edge of the hole. He thought Lida blew pretty much completely open before it froze solid, but be very careful. I'd never take anyone's word for ice depth early in the season. Plus, I have seen what he calls a 15 inch walleye! I'm thinking of trying my favorite early season lake this afternoon. Good luck and stay topside.

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hey cicada were he was at there probably was about that much ice in front of the cabin i founf 4-6 inches but when you got to the edge were it was open on wed there was maybe 2 stopped when i got that far shawn earley

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Hit Little D with Deadhead today. Tried for gills and crappies in 11-13 fow. Gills were very finicky with most of the biters being small ones. Caught a couple bass which surprised me a bit. Deadhead had a nice fish on, thinking northern, that he must have fought with for a couple minutes before it broke off. Sure would have been nice to see what it was.

Good to get out for the first time, but boy was it cold out there! shocked.gif

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I did go to the little lake mentioned earlier. There was eight inches of ice away from shore. There was also an inch or two of snow on top of the ice. I usually walk about a half mile to my spot. With that little bit of snow, I didn't get all the way out there. Being a old fat guy and trying to pull a Clam Jr and a sled with equiptment and auger, just about killed me. Fished 15 feet of water. Marked a few fish, mostly small stuff. Got skunked. Decided to make two trips to shore after dark. Oh well, there's Wednesday.

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fished little detroit sat. we got 9 bass, 2 crappies (1 was about 5 inches long), 2 northerns that broke off in the hole, 2 sunfish, and a bullhead. Fun to get out but would have liked more crappies.

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Funny story here. My brother and I were out yesterday and I had to relieve myself and went outside the house and he said a second later my bobber was down. when I get back inside he's reeling in a pretty good size fish. After about 5 minutes of playing him out he shows himself sideways in the house. Its a monster Walleye. Boom hes gone for another run. comes up again still same way sideways. hes not coming up that hole for nothing - both of these times I dont have enough time to reach and grab him. the Third time I did just that and finally got him through the 8 inch hole. Took him outside and find that my tiny little jig hook was not hooked by any skin just hanging from his mouth. I remove it and it was bent pretty good. (27inch 8 lb Walleye.) It was a team effort. If I wasn't there to grab him he would of been gone and it would just be a story. Its his biggest walleye. Would of been mine too. Dang it!!!! Why did I have to Pee just then.

Just thought I would share. This was about 5 p.m. last night

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Just wanted to add my report, I was out on Sunday on Franklin back in Churchs Bay, ice was good / clear about 4". Was only able to fish for an hour, but got to work out a few things equipment wise. I used a spud bar infront of me at all times and there are places where one solid hit with the spud and you are throught the ice. I did see a few folks out on crystal, lida, prairie etc. One note on Franklin the water was very dirty. Maybe 3-4 feet visability which for that lake is uncommon. No-hook ups but marked a few on the LX-3, but no takers. All in all it felt really good to get out. Use common sense and stay safe.

Jay

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Fished Little Cormrant saturday. There were eight inches of ice. Fished in 17' and marked alot of fish but they were really finicky.

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8 inches of ice on the smaller lakes I fished. Swede Grove lots of small perch. Most productive catching bass surprisingly in 11-17 FOW. Goergeous weekend!

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Quote:

Fished Little Cormrant saturday. There were eight inches of ice. Fished in 17' and marked alot of fish but they were really finicky.


did you get out with steve-o? i was hoping to get out with you guys this year.

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Yeah, I did get out with steve-o. I think we will be heading out either friday after classes or saturday. Not sure where yet. Drop me a line if you want to join.

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Anyone have any info on ice thickness of Little Detroit or Sallie? I have seen some houses out in front on J&K Marina, but wondering on thickness. I went to the access at Sallie and saw no houses. Hoping to put a 7 X 12 house w/ retarctable wheels out this weekend. Any info would be great.

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Anyone have any info on ice thickness of Little Detroit or Sallie? I have seen some houses out in front on J&K Marina, but wondering on thickness.


As of this past Sunday, out around the Marina there was a good 8-9" of ice. The number of permanents doubled in the few hours I was out there. Don't know about Sallie. I thought Deadhead did an ice check on there, might be in one of the other threads on here.

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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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