I heard some of the bigger lakes in OTC have 7-9 inches of good ice. My buddy and me are heading out at first light. I'm really exited, early ice is usually the best fishing of the whole year around here and I missed early ice last year due to working in the oil patch in western nodak. If we do good I'm gonna figure out how to use tapatalk and post some pictures. Good luck tomorrow everyone.
I fished 2 different lakes in OTC Saturday and Sunday. 9 inches on both lakes with only a little slush. Me and my buddy got 2 limits of nice gills and 3 pike 27-32 inches saturday, it was 18 below Saturday morning and we dragged our sleds a 1/3 of a mile out on the lake on 5 inches of snow. We were wore out so Sunday we went to a lake with a plowed road to drag our sleds on, 1 walleye and a couple pike and bass. Good start to the year.
Lakes between Park Rapids and Bemidji have slush due to the 11 inches of snow. Buzzed accross our lake on the sled last weekend and lots of water. Getting the permanent house out there won't happen anytime soon.
We only caught one slot walleye 22". Everything else was 15 - 19 3/4 inches. With the slot 20-26 they were perfect eaters! Id say the majority were 15-17" though but they were still fun to catch. Hard to beat fresh fish after a day of ice fishing :grooving:
We did a day trip to Lake of the Woods yesterday. There is about 10 inches of ice with about 8 inches of snow on top. Fishing was good in 23 feet of water using live shiners on a demon jig with a bobber set 2 feet off the bottom. Jigging lures that worked well were the pink frosty and orange zipper. Some of the resorts will be letting small vehicles out next week.
We only caught one slot walleye 22". Everything else was 15 - 19 3/4 inches. With the slot 20-26 they were perfect eaters! Id say the majority were 15-17" though but they were still fun to catch. Hard to beat fresh fish after a day of ice fishing :grooving:
Hey sorry for the late response I was on vacation for a couple weeks. I dont think color really matters its just about finding the right depth were the fish are at and getting your presentation in front of them. For whats its worth glow white has been best for me on both my jigging line and set line, but thats probably becuase thats what I use the most :lol3:
Does anyone know if there are plowed roads on Lake Koronis near Paynesville? I'm thinking about driving out there, but I don't have 4WD. Looks like I could walk to some spots, but driving around sure would be nice.
The ice up here in OTC is thick, the lake me and hillbilly fished on Saturday had about 3 feet, if there's another 2 or 3 inches I'm gonna have to get an extension for my auger. Fishing has been very slow.
Ottertail county and on sunday my uncle pulled out a 10" bluegill thing was a hog and i caught a 16" bass never did that before and it was my biggest also
Anybody else on Lake of the Woods this weekend? Friday morning we got on the lake and then a ground blizzard hit mid afternoon. The resort guide showed up around 4PM and said we got to go...now. The ice road drifted in. We did not get back to shore until almost 1:30 in the morning. Took the plows 9 hours to get us off the lake. They said worst it's been in 25 years. Only redeeming quality of the day was seeing the nephew land a 30 inch walleye.
Anybody else on Lake of the Woods this weekend? Friday morning we got on the lake and then a ground blizzard hit mid afternoon. The resort guide showed up around 4PM and said we got to go...now. The ice road drifted in. We did not get back to shore until almost 1:30 in the morning. Took the plows 9 hours to get us off the lake. They said worst it's been in 25 years. Only redeeming quality of the day was seeing the nephew land a 30 inch walleye.
I was up there also. In the first 12 hours I had 6 foot drifts around the truck and icehouse. I couldn't keep generator running because it was sucking snow into intake. ( I even had the generator in a wood box) I was removed with a convoy of trucks Friday afternoon. I had to be pulled to the main road from wheelhouse spot.
Good to hear you got out. That was a scary situation for many. Heard reports that bombardiers had to deliver propane to trapped wheel houses. On Saturday we saw several guys drifted in and still digging out.
We've got bad slush again up here since the last 16". On La Croix, seeing it now in places that we've never seen it in years past. mauser
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