Metro Walleye Get Together - Ice Fishing

[John Mickish]

I'm in.

[metrojoe]

Got it marked on the calendar.

[WallyGator12000]

Sounds great and works for me!

[tashit]

I am most likely in with at least one other. (As of now that is one of my free weekends this winter). I have my honeyhole for slab crappies up north so I decided that this winter I am going to concentrate on finding the eyes on Tonka. Last year was my first real winter fishing Tonka and had very minimal success with the eyes so I spent a fair time fishing pannies too. Between a buddy and myself we caught maybe 6 or 7 eyes but it was always only one or maybe two right at dusk. It seemed like there was only about a half an hour window. A friend of a friend had lots of success last year and found quite a few larger ones but he will not give away his honeyhole and I don't blame him. I think this is a great idea and with a lot of people we will hopefully find some fish.

[Matt Johnson]

Yep, I'll be busy on Sunday, January 29 with the Medicine Lake Ultimate Panfish event, but I have Saturday, January 28 free.

Let's plan for that day then...

Saturday, January 28 on Lake Minnetonka

Now, where do we meet and at what time?

I was thinking we start around 7am...

[markkstanley]

Matt might want to meet in the middle so guys can fan out. Could use the Narrows parking lot as no one will be shore fishing and access roads are close by. Excelsior Commons might work too. If we start at 7am that means Moby1 will have been out for 3 hours already

[Matt Johnson]

That sounds good to me Mark. Meet up in the morning at a certain access and gather each others cell phone numbers and figure out a plan of attack. Then head out for a few hours scoping out a few spots. Then meet up again to discuss where we want to target for the evening bite and go from there.

I might be tempted to venture off and chase a few pannies, someone is going to have to hold me back

I also suppose I could meet up with Mark and moby at 4am, that's if they don't mind me dropping down a Ratso instead of a jigging spoon

[John Mickish]

Would you call Minnetonka a night, dusk and dawn or day bite lake? Does it fish like a traditional Walleye lake or does a guy have to look for something different there?

[BDR]

That sounds like a perfect plan to me. You 3 start at 4am, I'll show around seven to catch some fish !! Hey I'll even bring some donuts.

[markkstanley]

I didn't say I'd be out at 4am..ugh. But Moby will. Tonka is a sunrise/sunset walleye bite for the most part. Some days the window is 30 minutes but most times it is about 90 minutes. For this adventure I might get up and hit the ice around 5:30am but that is not my usual practice. I can't ever recall catching a walleye during the day but then again I target pike during the day. Matt I will be happy to chase pannies during daylight for a few hours. Most spots I am thinking of you can drop a tipup out deep for eyes and move to the weedline for panfish.

[Matt Johnson]

The day bite throughout most of the Metro can be tough for 'eyes, Tonka is no exception. I've only seen a couple winter walleyes caught out on Tonka during the day, however this one guy caught one that was about 7 pounds, so the possibility is there.

I agree, we can scout around for a little while and then chase pannies during the day

[SportFishin']

Most of my success on the eyes has been early sunrise & the sundown primetime. I think if we can scout out some spots & have them ready to fish at prime time in the evening we'll see some nice eyes iced.

I'll probably spend the night in my permy to scout the evening bite & catch the sunrise jiggin fest. Then meet up with the rest of you at the designated time & place for the rest of the days events in my portable.

I'm also up for chasing some bulls around during the daylight hours. Ohhhhh the possibilties are endless!

Later,

Chris

[chaffmj]

Matt,

I voted and I can't make that date. I thought it was going to be earlier in Jan. I will be up at the Burntside Bash that weekend. Sounds like fun though.

Mike

[Captain B.R.K]

Now January 28th might just work out for me. I'll mark it on the calendar and keep checking any updates on the link here.

This should be exciting as everyone always talks about how good the Tonka walleye fishing can/can't be!

With a number of guys, you'd think we could at least 1 walleye.

Um.....right??

[Seeker of Clayface]

Got it down on my calendar as well. Maybe the guys with the GPS/Lakemaster Chip can go out extra early and pre-drill a bunch of fishy lookin' spots.

[AQUAJOE]

Do you guys mind new guys tagging along? on some of these excursions you all are planning.

I am new to the forums. I also am pretty new to Ice Fishing. I can count on two hands how many times I have gone.

I just went on Monday to Thorne Brothers and Josh hooked me up with the essentials.

[Matt Johnson]

AQUAJOE,

You're more than welcome to join us out on Tonka. These events are open to anyone and everyone, doesn't matter if you're new to the sport or not. We'd enjoy having you join up with us!

You went to the right place by stopping in at Thorne Bros. The people there know their stuff and they've put a lot of time on the water and ice. Josh is an excellent resource and he'll definitely steer you in the right direction...

[Seeker of Clayface]

From what I've read about past get-togethers, new guys are more than welcome to join. I hope, since this will be my first FM outing too. Should be a great time.

[AQUAJOE]

Thanks Matt!!

Josh said you would be a great choice for me to setup up something Guided to learn how to best use the new equipment.

Some of the stuff he set me up with:

Fish Trap Voyager

Mr. Heater Big

Perch Sweatheart

Vex FL-8

StrikeMaster 2.0hp 8in.

and other stuff.

I do have the Lakemaster program on my laptop. Just don't have a GPS unit that works with that progam.

I will be out of town from Jan 27 thru Feb 5 visting friends in upstate NY.

[Matt Johnson]

So, what access do we want to meet at? And at what time?

How about 7am for a starting time?

This is just a starting point, because I'm sure people will be showing up all day on and off. We'll have to figure out a way where people can get a hold of us. How about anyone who won't be able to make it at 7am just e-mail me (or someone else who is going to be there at 7am) and we'll give you our cell phone number. Then when you get there you can call us and we'll let you know where people are. Does that sound like a plan?

We should also use the starting spot as the same spot where we meet up again around 1pm or so to figure out where we will spend the evening bite...

So, 7am at which access?

[Matt Johnson]

AQUAJOE,

Looks to me like Josh set you up real well!! I'd certainly say you've got the essentials now!

You will like the Perch Sweet Heart, it will work well on Metro walleye.

I also believe you can pick up a brand new Lowrance H2O GPS at Thorne Bros for around $169 right now as well. That unit should work with your LakeMaster program and is ideal for lakes like Minnetonka. The H2O is a nice GPS. I'll bring mine with to the Tonka event and you can check it out to get an idea about how it works if you're still in the market for a GPS...

[petro]

I'd also like to tag along... I'm new to the website here but have been fishing Minnetonka for the past year or so and have found some walleyes but its been tough. So it sounds like I'm right on par with most other fishermen, but I'd like to go out with some new faces and get some different ideas on how to fish the lake.

[markkstanley]

Matt just pick an access. How did Spring Park work for you last year?? I'll be hitting Tonka from next week on for eyes so by Jan 28th I'll have a whole lot of places we won't need to try

[Matt Johnson]

Saturday, January 28 - Lake Minnetonka

7am - Maxwell Bay access

This should be a lot of fun!

[Cowdy]

I hope you guys don't mind, I'd like to join you all in the tournament.

I have the lakemaster chip in my GPS and a lot of hotspots supposibly. So, I plan on hitting Tonka all winter. I'll hopefully have some good areas saved by tournament time.

[markkstanley]

If any of you new guys want to hookup (lousy pun there) before Jan 28th let me know. I live on the west end and go out a couple of nights a week as well as Sat. Be happy to take you along. Caveat is I target the big walleyes and northerns for the most part. Not likely to hit numbers but very likely to get a few pigs. By mid Jan I'll fish crappies on week nights.

[Deitz Dittrich]

This sounds like a lot of fun.. I'll do my best to be there!

Cowdy- Your more than welcome, the gettogeathers are a blast.. .Not really a tournament, just a meeting of people to have a good time!

[John Mickish]

Mark, I'm all for leaning that lake, and I can get out just about anytime. Drop me an email at [email protected] with the where/when and I'll meet you. Thanks in advance.

[TeddyBoy]

Mark-I live in Eden Prairie and would love to get out with you some time. I work until 5:00 during the week but Saturdays will work. I will be looking at taking some time off around Christmas too. Let me know when you are planning to go and I will meet you. Thanks for the offer. [email protected]

[Dan Brelje]

Deitz, we need to get something around our homeland when im home. I have from the 18th of Dec to Jan 16th off of school and i plan to get some heavy ice fishing in. It would be cool to get something around the Chisago Lakes area somewhere in that time frame.