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Springtime Open Water Update!


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I figured it is about time to give an update on whats going on here in the Nisswa area. I've been receiving calls and emails like crazy from anxious anglers. Our lakes seem to be a little behind the rest of the state. In fact the last few days people have been out catching crappies on top of nearly a foot and a half of ice. I'm guessing we are at the end of the ice fishing. The lakes started looking real dark yesterday and today. The only open water right now is the channel area near Zorbaz. With a little luck we may end up with some small lakes open by this weekend. I'm crossing my fingers. We really need some wind and rain, then she'll go fast.

We are cranking the new bait tanks up tomorrow and filling them up with crappie bait. We are finished hanging about 2/3 of the new tackle and should finish up by the weekend. It's all looking pretty nice. I know that our guides are fired up for those springtime crappie fishing trips. They've been getting their boats shined up and the crappie rods and ready for a few weeks now. All they need now is some soft water.

Jason Erlandson

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What a crazy spring. I was down on Lake Minnetonka this past weekend. We could see the crappies in the shallows, but the were real finicky. Water temp was 47-51 in spots. I had to go home Sunday, i'm sure they hit real hard Monday with temps in the low 70's.

Im guessing with the late 10+ inches of snow cover we got it insulated the ice. Oh well, gotta love the anticipation. I think i like preparing for fishing more than fishing. Ok, maybe not.....

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Talked to my folks last night, and the small lake they live on over in Deerwood is open. 371 bay on North Long is looking really close. Gull and Round, a little farther behind.

It's supposed to be windy the next couple of days. That should really help with the break-up.

It won't be long now....

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I haven't been up there to check but I bet there might be some water in the bays/canals by the weekend. We'll see.

Jason Erlandson

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small lakes around deerwoood are open and i'm guessing serpent will be open by the weekend.

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It looked like Crow Wing lake just south of Brainerd was open this afternoon as I drove by. Things are starting now.

Jason Erlandson

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cross is still iced up this morning, but is lookin like it will go anytime. big pine is mostly open a little ice on the south side. most lakes should be open by the end of the weekend around the crosslake area.

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We are really making progress now. As of this morning everything is ice free except a couple of the bigger lakes like the main part of Gull and Whitefish. And those should be open within days. Plus the crappies are starting to bite. Lots of sunfish too. Time to get the boats wet!

Jason Erlandson

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Right now my boat is getting wet sitting in my driveway from the rain! LOL grin.gif

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I live on Gull and it's now wide open... Nice to see spring is finally here. I would think that all the local large lakes are now open given the rain today...

The rain is very welcome given the recent dry conditions. The small marshy areas are now holding water. Really good!

Spring fishing should be terrific this year.

blush.gif)

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Round lake near garrison opened all the way on Saturday morning. GAME ON!!!!!

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Pelican Status??? I am guessing if Gull is open then Pelican is open or at least close.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • 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
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
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