ZINGER UPDATE !!!!!!

[CrappieJohn]

It's a go for sure! We might make an adjustment though and this is to serve notice of such.

We will all gather at the place where we have given directions and may choose stay there to fish for the day IF the fish cooperate. As a rule, the sunfish and crappies will migrate onto the mud flats found here creating an unreal shallow bite.....under 10 feet. As of Tuesday they had not moved from the highbanks area yet. At least not in numbers. The highbanks have to be an option here if the fishing is slow at Fishermans.

In the event that we should opt to move, be advised that this will involve ice travel. The ice is good for this and the directions to where the banks are from this site will be easy to relay. The easiest and most direct travel will be from Fishermans access. We can go as a group if the move is done.

For those who come late and find few people there, we have already done the shift. You can find us by getting on the ice at the access point in the restaraunt parking lot, far left and downhill. Follow the vehicle path straight out from the lot and stay to your left the entire trip. DO NOT CROSS TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE CHANNEL OR GO TO YOUR RIGHT WHEN YOU ACCESS THE LAKE ICE!!!!!! When you have just passed the very last house on your left, you will be looking across a large open bay area. The highbanks are that long sweeping shoreline beginning off a point leftish to your line of vision. We will all try to stay together for a while and can spread out when the fish are found.

This area can be structureless and is deep. Expect to fish 25+ feet and there is some current, but not bad.Once in a while you'll trip across a tree on the bottom, but the bulk of the wood will be found shoreward along with some very large rock structure.

On Tuesday the fish were stacked up in the bottom 6 feet of water and action for me was good. The chance at a ten incher for the wall exists and crappies can run to 12 very easily.

Most of all, keep in mind that this is open to everyone who wants to join in. Ladies and girls included. Watch where you are pointing the whistle during nature calls since we have persons living on the shorelines as well. I have heard some chatter about those from other websites coming to see whats happening. Should this arise, welcome them and put the site differences aside since we are there to have fun and not jaw about superiority!

FishingMinnesota nor it's staff assume any liablity for any accidents that may occur during this gathering.

[Crickschop04]

Thanks for the update Tom! May be a solo trip now as I doubt that the better half will travel in a vehicle accross the ice or bring Taylor. Will also probably prompt a chance in beverage choice since the kids won't be along

[Dan Thiem]

Just tell her it's a road that goes from Fisheman's to Pondie. No need to say it's a road on the ice.

There is water on top of the ice at the base of the public ramp at the Ponderosa. Looks spooky but it was OK last night.

[Hastings gal]

I will be coming to this get together to meet a few more people in the southern half of the state. I only anticipated requesting the help of someone to drill some holes for me since my height doesn't allow me to use the auger very well. I am not a big fan of driving the truck on the ice if there is water on top - and I cant load the wheeler into the truck by myself (Hubby is at URL this week). How far away from Fishermans ramp is this new spot?

Keep Smiling.

[Dan Thiem]

Less than 2 miles.

If it's any consolation there has been full size diesel one ton four door crew cabs that have been using the ramp accsess and travel to and from Fish to the Pondorosa.

[Tyler Holm]

Hastings gal,

We'll get you some holes drilled. That won't be a problem. Glad you can make the trip.

[crappieguy473]

Thanks for the update i will most likely start on the highbanks and hit a few hot spots of mine and see if the fish are still there and if there in any mood to bite. the last few times they have been pretty tight lipped. if u would like Tom send me email and ill give u my cell phone number and ill tell how the fish are biting. [email protected]

[tims]

I fished the shallow flat near Fishermans this evening for about an hour or so. Caught 3 gills and one bass. The good news was that all 3 gills were over 9" and all went back. Those were some thick fish.

[Dan Thiem]

Good time today I'd say. Not a whole lot of fish caught, but a few crappies and gills. Crappieguy473's bud caught a nice crappie. Here's a picture of it. Don't mind the weirdo in the background.

We had a cool convoy that went from Fisherman's down to the high banks. That's where we found Crappieguy473 and his bud. They were on a decent early morning crappie bite that taperd off as the morning went.

I think we all had fun and I hope to fish with everyone again real soon. Thanks Tyler for bringing the chow for us.

[Rick]

Here are some pics from the Zumbro Zinger:

Annabelle With Zumbro Shiner

Annabelle with a small Zumbro Smallie

John with a 11 3/4" Zumbro Crappie

Caught on a Custom Jigs and Spins Ratso.

Annabelle with crappie she caught

on a Little Atom Optic Stealth Jig.

[hanson1287]

I was hoping to make it out to the Zinger today, but by the time me and my dad made it there it was already 11 and everybody had drove to the highbanks. Seeing as my dad isn't quite the huge ice fisherman yet, he was not up to driving across so we ended up at Willow.

[CrappieJohn]

We had a good time. The fishing could have been better for us, but then it is exactly that....fishing. We saw quite a mixed bag actually. Eric and Johgn opted to do the banks early and passed up the opening at Fishermans. That paid off for them with some nice crappies, but by the time we had gotten there and settled in the bite waned. Fish were caught but they tended to be smaller.

Normally we would have seen fish at Fishermans by now, but this weird winter has everything mixed up.

Thanks to those who helped to get this put together and for those whose participated. All of you made it what it was. And thanks to Rick and Anna for stopping and joining in with some demo tackle from Custom Jigs and Spins....it was put right to use and the rewardswere almost immediate. The Little Atom tackle spread around was also a nice gift and it too saw fish action.

What with the beautiful day to enjoy on the ice, the lack of fish really took a back seat to the grewat company we had with one another. A special thanks to Hastings Gal for her appearance. She is really a take-charge young lady and she is welcome to join us any time. It was really nice to see and visit with her again. She is awesome company.

I know at one time we had three cameras down snooping the fish out. Oh yes, they were down there. They just were not going to be teased in any easy way into hitting. With perhaps twenty very skilled anglers working the fish at one time....up-sizing, down-sizing, euros, waxies, minnows....it wasn't like the whole gamut hadn't been run. They just were not going to hit. And it was when that reality settled in that the company of each other kicked in and made things alright. I think the dat the day was a shining example of what fishing is really about. Thanks again to all of you!

[JIvers]

A buddy of mine wanted to go hit the airport lake in Winona again today, and wasn't much interested in the Zinger, so I went to Winona this morning, only to wind up fishing by myself because he spent a wee bit too much time in the bars last night. It would have been fun to spend another day getting to meet some other people from FM, but I did catch some decent bluegills to go with a lot of small ones. Today might have been my last ice-outing of the winter (I'm back in southern Iowa), and I caught a fish with my last drop through the ice, which is a good way to end the season, which started with me catching a fish on my first drop through the ice.

[HateHumminbird]

Thank you Tom, Dan, Tyler, Rick, and all!

It was a great time even though the fish didn't completely cooperate. I had a good time talking with everybody, and it felt like a big family in no time.

Here's some pics:

Tom being all crabby after I asked him for bait.

Hasting's gal - Nice to meet you Deb!

Shawn with a nice looking sunfish.

My big fish of the trip.

Tom trying to steal the rod from a kid.

Joel

[Tyler Holm]

I had a great time fishing with all of you at the Zinger. The Zumbro fish got the best of us this time, but we'll have our revenge!

[crappieguy473]

It was nice to meet some people from site now i can put a face with the post . The fish were surely tight lipped and hitting very light but they were down there for i saw alot fish on the camera. Its too bad everyone missed the hot bite that Me and my friend joel hit but the bite only lasted about 30mins but we landed around 1o to 15 crappies in that 30mins though . I will ahve my revenge tommorow im gonna try to be on the ice by 5am and see how the early early bite is. Hope i get to fish with yall again sometime in the future.