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Lake Waconia Ice Report


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was out on the east side this afternoon. found 7-8 inches of ice at the access and out about 100yds from shore but as i travelled north i kept checking along the shoreline as i went along . was not long before i was on 6". i followed out on a snomobile trail but when you get off the trail. there is 10-12 inches of powder snow above the ice and ice was only 5" max and remained that as i went out to about 100 yds or a bit more from shore. was set up by 4pm fished til 7 no lookers or takers. was targeting waldos. sure was nice to get a chance to play with my new lx3tc. be careful out there guys and ladies. i left the quad runner parked near shore and hoofed out from there. going to have to get the chains mounted on the quad. was tough going with a two wheel drive. wont be tough at all after i get the chains back onit. good luck and happy holidays....... paul

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Paul,

I went out yesterday and fished the bay and I found 10" of ice. There is not much snow cover due all the traffic so I guess the ice grows faster. A couple perms already out and the couple fish I did catch were to small to keep. I didn't see anything else on the Aqua-vu, the water was really murky looking.

Does anyone know of a good propane heater to hook up to a 20 pound tank, mine quit working yesterday. I looked at that Mr. Heater but it only puts out 9,000 BTU's and I think the one I had put out a max of 14,000 BTU's and it was a floor model heater/cooker, worked really good but i can't find one out there.

Thanks,

TT

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good to hear we are finally getting some ice. About your heater, Fleet Farm and Northern tool both have ReddiHeaters or some such brand,1 is 5-10,000 btu for about $129 and also have larger output heaters up to about 30,000. All have pilot lights, some have thermostats. Hope this helps. Keep a tight line. cool.gif

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I was just looking at Mr. Heater Mr. Cookers yesterday. I've got one and like it but it's old and was thinking about replacing it before a trip. Gander has them on sale for $35 right now, normally $40. For another $25 you can get a 12 foot hose that lets you connect them to a larger propane tank, or you can run them off 1 lb disposable cylinders. I think the Heater/Cookers have 3 settings between 9,000 nad 14,000 btus. Hope this helps.

I was on Waconia a few days ago in the bay. Used the wheeler. Got a few sunnies and a few crappies near dark, not too impressive but nice to catch some fish.

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A note of caution for those of you not fishing in or pulling your houses to Turds bay...In Town recommended to me last night (You had a good point Jimmy, but I didn't listen) that we think twice about pulling out permanent houses with skids and maybe even wheels because of the slush and water on top of the ice, covered by snow. I can tell you from experience last night that it's real hard to get out of that stuff when you go through. I did get my house out after getting stuck once with my wheeler, but its real tough going. I found variable ice from 5-10 inches, be careful out there.

TMan

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ty tt

it is good to see that the ice in the bay is doing well it needs to do well with all the traffic it recieves.and thanks always to jim, cindy, and the boys for all the upto date info. i tend to stay away from the crowds. may not be as productive, but i preferr a bit more peace and quiet when i am on the ice. hope all of you fellow FM-ers have a happy holiday. see you on the ice ...... or .... not. hehehehh ... paul

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Paul, when are you getting that big green beast out there? You have to be just iching to get that palace out.... I'm out of here in 26 min, should be on lake X in 40 min.... It's Muskie time..... j/k grin.gif

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i have already convinced myself that it may just not see ice this year. as you know it is a pig. it goes 3000# i need a good 12-14 inches so it dont sink as it sits. to many hassles to get it reset all the time. i am very positional as far as where i put it. i figger oh welll i have the quad runner and a great otter set-up for a portable, it may just be i has to go and find a few new lakes this year. kinda see what i been missing staying in the comforts of the sleeper. cant say i wont miss it tho . but there will be other years. besides all those fish i c&r out there , are porobable getting tired of seeing me every year so ill give em a break. heheheeheheh have a happy holiday season . and then lets get some fishies.

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PerchJerker,

Thanks for the heads up on the Gander Mountain Heaters, I drive by the one in Lakeville on my way home from work so I might stop in tomorrow and see what they have. I had the Mr. Heater in my hand at cabela's yesterday and it was $79.00. I did'nt think it would work as good as a Mr. Cooker so I set it back down. Thanks for the info and I'll let you know if I get a deal on one.

I was going to bring the perm out this weekend but I think I'll wait and see what this warm weather does to our ever so BAD ice. I won't get much of a chance to fish this week anyways so I can drag the portable out one or two more times. When I do decide to put it out and if there is anyone with a 4 wheeler that wants to make a couple-few bucks e-mail me and we'll talk about the when,where, and how much.

Thanks for all the info and Merry Christmas to all.

[email protected]

TT

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Nyte and Rsbigfoot,

You Waconia pro's I bet are still just itching away to get out there....We are now driving on our lakes up north...I can't wait to get back up there to get back to work(fishing)...

Bigfoot I wish we could of made it out there today..I really wanted to say hi to Jim and Cindy..It has been a long time since I visited them...I haven't been out to the big pond since my dad passed away..

Oh well...Maybe I will have to make a trip back here to the cities for a fishing trip on the old lake....

Hope everyone has a great X-mas and remember to practice P-n-R..

Beef

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The bad news is that there are no more fish in this lake,I dont know why everybody fishes it. Every time I go out I get skunked... I think... smirk.gif

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would someone open the freezer door, we need some cold weather. finally got out this p.m., never worked so hard walking 1/2 mile, man it is ugly! Oh yeah, it was worth it ,crappie central in 24' more time hiking than catching. breing on the siberian express.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • JerkinLips
      41.6°F in Stuntz Bay Thursday morning.  Left my boat in the water to hopefully fish more before the lake freezes.  Caught four 9-11" walleyes in 2½ hours before I gave up due to the strong west wind.  Water level has not gone up more than a couple of inches at the most.  May be a good winter to jack my boathouse out of the water on the deep end.
    • Troy Smutka
      The calendar migrators from the Dakotas have been passing through central MN in trickles the past few weeks, and the recent cooler weather has some Canada ducks starting to show up. We have been harvesting mallards, pintails, gadwalls, wigeon, shovelers, greenwing teal, canvasbacks, redheads, bluebills, and ringnecks in decent numbers.
    • SkunkedAgain
      It doesn't look like the lake level has gone up at all. I was up a week ago and struggled to get my boat in and out of the public landing on the west end of Head O Lakes. I used my paddle to push the boat further out to deeper water. I could hear the hull moving over the sandy/muddy bottom near the launch.
    • JerkinLips
      Pretty tough.  Was catching about 2 walleyes per hour and the biggest was only 13".  Back up Thursday so I hope I have better success.
    • smurfy
      the kid and I always check our stands prior.......i'll go back to check the conditions of said stands before he gets there to see what we need. while i'm at it if i can i shoot at grouse with shells that appear to not have bb,s in them!!!!🙄
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  With unseasonably warm weather, there are still some anglers hitting the water and most have been rewarded.  Limits of walleyes and saugers being caught, and the forecast looking ahead is favorable. The best bite on the south end of LOW has been in 22-28 feet of water. Water temperatures are dropping and as the temps cool further, the bite has been excellent.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners has been the program for most anglers.  Bring plenty of bait, as you’ll need to sort through some smaller fish and short biters.  Plenty of eater fish to be had, just have to do a bit of sorting.  Anglers are also reporting very good numbers of jumbo perch and occasional pike mixed in with the walleyes.     For those fishing structure, if you slide up on top of a rock pile, don't be surprised to catch a big smallmouth bass, there are plenty around.   This week’s hot colors have been gold, gold/glow white, gold/chartreuse, gold/orange, and gold/glow white/pink.     One tip, a stinger hook on your jig will catch you more fish if you start missing too many fish. On the Rainy River...  Bait dealers are reporting good numbers of shiners in the river this past week.  Interesting, each night is different.  Some areas have the small shiners called pinheads.  Other areas have the larger minnows.     The river is producing some nice walleyes in various spots from Four Mile Bay to Wheeler's Point, to Baudette all the way to Birchdale.  There are 42 miles of navigable Rainy River from the mouth to Birchdale with plenty of public boat ramps along the way.     Walleyes are being caught in various depths, but 15-25 feet of water has been good.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners has been highly effective. Some anglers are also trolling crankbaits to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing has been strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  Fall fishing continues to be excellent. Points, neck-down areas with current, shoreline breaks, and transition zones from rock to mud are all productive locations for walleye right now.   It is traditionally a mixed bag up around the many islands in this part of the lake and this fall is no different.  In addition to walleyes, pike, jumbo perch, and crappies are in the mix.  A jig and minnow has been the most effective presentation. Good muskie fishing is the norm during the fall of the year and area reports have been good.  In addition to casting, trolling shorelines, points and neckdown areas has been effective.  Muskies are often targeting schooling tullibees this time of year. The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is conducive for fall fishing.  If you don't deer hunt, or if you have harvested your deer, consider some bonus walleye action before the ice forms.  The bite continues to be excellent.    
    • leech~~
    • gimruis
      I'm not one to leave that to chance the day I need it.  I always check on my stands prior to the season.  Just like I always shoot my rifle before the season and I always run my outboard motor before fishing opener.  Too many things to go wrong without confirming it ahead of time.   I guess it could have been beavers but the house itself didn't appear nearly big enough along one ditch.  It was about the size of chair.  I've seen beavers houses many times before and they appear much bigger than that.
    • leech~~
      Good thing you made a check run.  That would have really suked walking into opening day.  Why do you think muskrats and not beavers?  
    • gimruis
      Well I checked on stands over the weekend.  Kind of a disaster.   All the ditches are plum full and twice as wide becauase muskrats have clogged an area.  I spent an hour unclogging it and the water is slowly moving again, but our bridges and planks were underwater.  The back portion of the land where the best stand is was inaccessible.  Hopefully that changes by Saturday.  I have a feeling the muskrats are just going to clog it back up again.   Tons of standing corn still too.  They've started on it, but being so wet now with more rain coming, whatever's there will remain there for the foreseeable future.   All the grassland is completely flattened like a pancake due to 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow.  That eliminates about 75% of the pheasant habitat in this spot.  Total buzz kill.  And this specific spot was one of my better producers last season because the grass was intact and lush through December last year.
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