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Ice conditions in the bay.


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Does anyone have any reports on the ice conditions in the St. Louis bay. Or fishing reports for that matter. The bay was open longer this year, than any other year I can remember. Its one of my all time favorite ice fishing spots, but I have not ventured out on it yet this year.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

CaptAdam, welcome aboard. We have a few guys that fish the river and will jump in here with a report.

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Anywheres from 5" to maybe 8" in some spots where the ice sheets layered up.

Reports are slow. A few guys get 1 here 2 there but not fast by any means. Some better fish have been caught and a couple sturgions but its not a numbers game. In 3 times out I have yet to catch a keeper eye out there. Remember eyes on the river have to be 15". I saw a guy with 2 13-14" that he had kept. He really fealt dumb when I told him 15" was the limit.

Seems like the guys that are on the shallower flats of about 7-9" are doing better. Dusk bite as always in the winter.

If you go out be really careful by the channel edges. Its layered up and air pockets between sheets makes it hard to drill a smooth hole without jumping your auger around. If you have a good map or Navionics/Lakemaster chip for the river look for rolling humps or the few "Holes" that are out there. If your really lucky you will find some rock.

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ADAM

WELCOME HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?? WELL THE RIVER IS SLOW TO POOR IN MOST PLACES I HAVE BEEN. THAT DONT MEEN MUTCH WHENE IT CAN CHANGE TOMAROW BUT IF YOU ANT FISHIN YOU ANT TRYIN SO GOOD LUCK TO YOU WHERE EVER YOU GO..... TOM

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Hi Tom, Things have been good, Just went down to the airport to check things out a little. There is 9 houses out there tonight. But none of them are where I like to fish, they are all out in the flats off the ball fields. reports I have heard are all slow except that there has been a few nice fish caught.

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well i know you got my # if you would like to go give me a call and we might find a bitter. well the little boat is ready for the lake ether way i will be ready for the bit. and if you are not up to to mutch next weekend you should join us at fish lake it will be good to meet other fmers and have fun raising funds for a good funraisor hope it works for you tom.

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hi new to this site. Lots of great info on it. I was reading this post about fishing the bay at the end of the point. I was thinking about trying it this weekend. Never fished hard water down there before. If you guys could give me any tips or info, I would be thankful.

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Glanville, welcome to the site. Theres going to be 3 or 4 of us going out of Barkers Sat. afternoon (check Wi. forum)Your more then welcome to join us. Not sure if any of us know what were doing though grin.gif I'll get the scoop from Northlander, Steve is it safe to walk across the channel to the Mn flats from Barkers?

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thanks for the invite, I will check with the warden "wife" to see whats going on this weekend. I was thinking more of sunday morn. but I may be able to get out sat. afternoon.

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Randy I wont say its safe because as you know no ice is safe ice but thats what I do. I also have dropped off my gear on the road by the Barkers Island Inn and parked in the lot and walked out. Dont park on the road they will ticket or tow.

Find any humps or holes on the flats. If you have a GPS look for the 11' hole by the airport. Fish on the upper side of it. Otherwise get off the channel edge on a slight turn. Good luck and let me know how ya do.

Whats the word on the eye? I cant stand this suspence! grin.gif

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Hello Outdoor Ran, I grew up on the point and the only time I ever cross the channel is if the ice is smooth and I am on a snowmobile going 95 MPH! And that was a while ago when I was young & dumb. Got over the being young part, still working on the other!

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News just flashed a short blurp about a guy in a truck breaking through in the bay and apprently he died! should be on tonights news.

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Hey Adam~

and Hey all! Yes, it's true I'm alive.

Busy is the word. crazy.gif

So, salute to all!

Joel, shoot me the # for the capt lic. guy.

No, the boat is shrinkwrapped in Ohio.

BD110, & I decided for spring.

B2

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Just wanted to say that I was out on the bay tonight off of Park Point. It appeared to me that people had wheelers and sleds closer to Barkers Island and to me the ice seemed like it could withstand that weight. I found 10-12" of solid ice in most places I checked along with a few 'eyes. I did hear some loud noises that I thought sounded like an alarm going off with voices over the speaker but I couldn't make out what was being said. Maybe that was coming from where the truck went down?? How did everyone do by Barkers..do you need a WI fishing license for that side?

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What truck went down? I know a Red Car (Firebird?) went off the road behind the Decc and into the bay. That may have been what ya heard. You can fish anyplace on the river with either license, MN. or Wi. Any size to the eyes or are they still running small?

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • 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
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