Tough bite, but a fun trip

[bturck]

Made the trip up Monday morning to the pond, stayed at Riverbend as usual. My wife and I limited out on walleyes, nothing large 17" was the biggest. We came up 4 short on the Saugs. Marked lots of fish, but also a lot of lookers. We fished from just over Pine in 24' out to Knight Island on Tuesday. Found very agressive fish within 6-8 feet under the ice. The bottom fish did not seem to want a lot of action, nor would they chase the jig if you raised it up.

On another note my son and his 13 yr old were headed out this morning as we were headed back in for the drive home. They were a long ways up and ended up catching 19 from 1130-400pm. It was my grandsons first trip and also his first walleyes through the ice. His first fish was a 17" sauger and the next was a 19" eye. My son just called me from Riverbend and relayed the days events. I believe my grandson is hooked.

On the way in last night in the bomber a young fella had a 30" in the bucket that he was going to mount. It was indeed a pig.

Buckshot rattles in orange, green and gold, Lindy Purple rattle jig, along with the gold angel eye jr were the jigs of choice, with a plain eagle claw gold hook on the sticks. The jigs outfished the dead stick 80-20%. So another trip in the books, and a satisfied wife who had the chance to catch some fish. Good luck to all this weekend, and hold onto your rod. Bill

[BRM]

I'm headed up to LOTW on Friday for the first time this year, I've heard it has been slow. But I hope we can get into the 'eyes! Even if we don't, I know my group will enjoy it

[Mark Christianson]

Tough bite?

Man, I can only hope we do that good next weekend.

Thanks for the report!

[bturck]

I spent quite a lot of time talking with the guides while we were there as there was not a lot of activity being the first part of the week. ONe of the interesting things that they said was that the bite seems to move from day to day. For example one of the houses they use as the guide house during the day while they are way out had only 5 fish caught on Monday. One of the guides never had a bite. The next day Tuesday when we headed out toward Garden Island that same house had 14 fish in just under two hours. The first house we fished in when we got out there Tuesday had caught 20 the day before, we had one keeper walleye and 5 throwbacks at 1100am. We then moved three miles to another house and it was slow until 300pm and then all hell broke loose. So to say its been a strange year is an understatement. Glenn and I were having coffee yesterday morning at Riverbend and he said that in 12 years that he has owned the resort he has never seen that many fish caught 5-8' below the ice in that depth of water. One of the female bartenders was telling me she was out on Monday and if she stood up and put the tip of her rod at the roof of the house and could see her jig in the hole thats as deep as she was fishing in 30' of water. In years past you could almost gurantee that any advice you read on this forum would produce fish regularily this year it has been a whole lot of experimenting and changing up the jigs and presentations to find that hot button. The green, orange, pink and purple have produced this year where in the past it was pretty much gold, gold and more gold. the weather was great however even though it snowed almost all the way back yesterday so all in all it was a good time. Hope you guys get into some this weekend. I'm headed back March 23rd for the late season and looking forward to it. Good luck and have a good time. Bill

[fiskyknut]

Glad you had a good trip Bill. Sounds like you will be up more now that you have your Grandson hooked good!

Norm

[bturck]

There is no doubt that he is going to want to go every trip now. when I talked to him last night from up there he was still pumped up. My son said he was taking a video of him witht the 19" and his legs were shaking so bad he could hardly hold onto the fish. Two years ago I had him out bass fishing and he hooked into a 28" eye on a spinner bait in 3' of water. His eyes were as big a saucers. Yes he is hooked and I think he will spend many days on the pond. What better way to spend time than with mother nature. Bill

[fiskyknut]

And Grandpa!

[bturck]

Ya, I guess you're right about that to. Well I've been gone for three days so I better head for the office so I can make a buck and be able to buy some more minnows. ONe of these days you and I are still going to run into each other at Riverbend, at least I hope so. If you're headed out today, good luck. Bill

[Radke]

bturck -

Thanks for the info. I'm headed up to Riverbend next weekend. Being that you were there mid-week rather than the weekend, obviously you had much more ability to move around to different houses (which is nice to have options). In talking to Glen, did you get any idea as to how many houses they have up by Garden Island? Are they moving more up there or just leaving them spread out based on the unpredictable bite pattern? Is Rick/Brian/etc still working there or did the crew change over with the new owner?

Thanks

[bturck]

Radtke; They have several houses up north, but also some over Pine from 22' all the way out to about 30'. You're right the mid week traffic is somewhat lighter than the weekends. Rich and Brian no longer are working the ice. Richard is working for the Baudette school district. I'm not sure what Brian is doing, he was in the lodge on Monday evening we said hi, and he asked how fishing was, but he was with some folks and I didn't get a chance to talk to him other than that. The three new ice guides are Bo, Adam and Paul. All three are extremly nice guys and will really go the extra mile to make your trip enjoyable. If you happen to work with Bo, taller sandy hair and well built former hockey player, tell him Bill Turck says hi from his friend Chopper. Then ask him to explain the story, you will be amazed. It was quite an expierance. Please post your results when you get back. Good luck, have a great time and hold onto your rod. Bill

[bturck]

Radke: My son just called me from Riverbend and they did pretty well again. He said it was a little slower than yesterday as the fish did not seem quite as agressive, had to play with em a little. They did end up catching 14 with the biggest at 17". My 13 yr old grandson caught a 14 1/2" perch and lost a very nice fish that bent the hooks on the jig. So father and son had a pretty good two days of fishing. He didn't have much time to talk so not sure what the other houses did. Bill

[Radke]

Thanks for the info. It's always nice to hear how people are doing up there. A lot can change in a week based on weather fronts, etc.

Seems like the fishing has slowly been improving the last couple weeks. Hopefully we'll time it right. If not, a couple of days in a fishhouse with family and friends is still a lot better than sitting here at my desk.

Can't remember if you said anything about it earlier or not, but is the water still really cloudy up there?

I'll let you know how we do.

[bturck]

The water was cloudier up that way than the area just over Pine Island, but it sure didn't seem to bother the fish. The fact that they were suspended as much as they were may have something to do with it, but then I'm not a biologist. I talked to my son at 1130am this morning and they were on there way back, just about to Ackley and he said it was really snowing. It figured 4" on the roads. We hit the same thing coming back on Wed, maybe not quite as much. But it should be great for the sledders up there. Dan said last night it was standing room only at Riverbend, lots of people ready to fish. Dan also said they headed north with three bombers this morning, so plenty of housing available on the reefs. Bill

[bturck]

The water was cloudier up that way than the area just over Pine Island, but it sure didn't seem to bother the fish. The fact that they were suspended as much as they were may have something to do with it, but then I'm not a biologist. I talked to my son at 1130am this morning and they were on there way back, just about down to Ackley and he said it was really snowing. He figured 4" on the roads. We hit the same thing coming back on Wed, maybe not quite as much. But it should be great for the sledders up there. Dan said last night it was standing room only at Riverbend, lots of people ready to fish. Dan also said they headed north with three bombers this morning, so plenty of housing available on the reefs. Bill