Any Chain Updates?

No worries

Just a heads up, the access in Cold Spring is completely open. You could easily take a boat ride up to County Rd 49 bridge.

i took a drive around the horseshoe chain yesterday…. alot of ope water along the shorelines…and some bays were open. river was mostly oen where i crossed it.

except for a few brave, or goofy , souls out on Browns lake nooone else was out. ice looked pretty ugly!

Got word that the ice went out on the lake that my parents live on on the East end of the chain yesterday. Earliest they remember in 40+ years.

CBMN wrote:

Got word that the ice went out on my the lake that my parents live on on the East end of the chain yesterday. Earliest they remember in 40+ years.

ican believe it, some of that ice looked really crappy when i drove around the chain!!!!!

Yeah the ice is going to go fast if this weather holds. There is no repairing it now.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Yeah the ice is going to go fast if this weather holds. There is no repairing it now.

Winter’s over!

Spring!

I also saw Thein Lake was wide open this morning.

I’ll probably take the long hike(10 minutes) from the house to the cabin after work to check out Horseshoe.

Im not ready for Spring, but its been refreshing. The chair on the pond at my office went through over the weekend and its completely ice free. Its shallow though.

They just put the docks in at the Cold Spring landing yesterday afternoon.

I might try to get out Sunday and see if the Cats are still hanging onto their winter spots.

I dropped the boat in at the Highway 22 Landing, which is honestly in good shape, except for the morons that did doughnuts in it.

Water temp on the river was 58 and main lake is 53.

Water is still pretty murky and lots of bottom muck still floating on the surface.

I didn’t try any fishing as I was just doing a rundown test to make sure everything in the boat is working, I’m heading to Rainy later this week. I did check some spring walleye spots and did mark fish, I assume they’re in spawn mode.

there are always idiots tearing it up!!!!!!

Made it out to the chain on Sat. Fishing was decent. Found crappies in a few different spots. Was surprised how warm the water temps were. Like Tillrlife we found 51-53 main lake with 54-56 back in a few shallow bays.

I checked out the chain yesterday.

I saw 58-59* in the main lake and 62* in the back bays. I did see some fish in the shallows, but one thing that surprised be was the amount of baitfish. I saw huge schools swimming around the shallows. The water is still murky on Horseshoe, but clears up back in the west bay, about 15′ of clarity.

I also checked a few spots in moderate depth(18FOW) near to humps, and found fish on them. I’m guessing the spawn for walleye is done, likely for over a week. So, next weekend could be a fun opener. Lots of green weeds so I might be fishing walleye like it’s late May. Water is still up a bit. Your vehicle will be completely in the water to dump your boat at the 22 landing. So just a heads up on that.

Good luck to anyone that’s fishing the Chain this weekend.

I was up chasing some cats yesterday. I was amazed at the water clarity and how many weeds there were. Anything shallower than 8ft was choked with visible submerged weeds and gin clear water. It took quite a bit of searching, but finally found some cats. Pretty darn slow overall though.

TillRLife – Overall how would you say the weeds are looking at this point? would you say there is more, less, or about the same as past openers. The last 4-5 years it seems like there are way less weeds on opener than there has been in past years. To me the amount of good early weeds is the key to a great opener out there. I was hoping with the mind winter and a earlier than normal ice out that the weed growth would be a little ahead of schedule this opener. Just curious on your thoughts.

3Rivers wrote:

I was up chasing some cats yesterday. I was amazed at the water clarity and how many weeds there were. Anything shallower than 8ft was choked with visible submerged weeds and gin clear water. It took quite a bit of searching, but finally found some cats. Pretty darn slow overall though.

I’m not sure where you were looking. But, I’d be looking at steep drops close to muddy flats, if you’re having a tough time finding cats this time of year. I marked a few schools of cats yesterday while trolling around. They were in 24-26FOW, right on the drop, close by is 3FOW point.

Thumper, the weeds are very healthy for this time of year. I was going to rip over to Long and check some spots(weeds on Long are normally ahead of the Horseshoe/Cedar), but the boy was starting to get tired so I headed back home. I’ll just check it out Friday after I get settled in at the Cabin.

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I’m not sure where you were looking. But, I’d be looking at steep drops close to muddy flats, if you’re having a tough time finding cats this time of year. I marked a few schools of cats yesterday while trolling around. They were in 24-26FOW, right on the drop, close by is 3FOW point.

Thumper, the weeds are very healthy for this time of year. I was going to rip over to Long and check some spots(weeds on Long are normally ahead of the Horseshoe/Cedar), but the boy was starting to get tired so I headed back home. I’ll just check it out Friday after I get settled in at the Cabin.
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I was on Long. Ignoring deeper water was my fatal flaw. I did finally figure it out, but mostly was locked in on super shallow as that is my only experience with May Channel Cats on lakes (sometimes 1-3ft), but too many weeds forced me out deeper.

3Rivers wrote:

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I was on Long. Ignoring deeper water was my fatal flaw. I did finally figure it out, but mostly was locked in on super shallow as that is my only experience with May Channel Cats on lakes (sometimes 1-3ft), but too many weeds forced me out deeper.

Try the far north weed line next time you’re out. They will also will hang out on the south end of the lake, the break right as you pass through the narrows to the west.

I’ll likely be in that vicinity this Friday scoping things out. I did not see many cats roaming the shallows yesterday. Once the main lake water is in the mid 60s, then you’ll likely see them in numbers.

Here’s a quick vid I put together from my trip on Sunday.

Cool video 3Rivers.

I’ve seen that spot absolutely loaded with cats when the water warms up in the summer. I assume they were going nuts on a bug hatch, as they were surfacing all over. Just to the west of you is a good walleye spot with paddle tails and blade baits.

Great news about the good early weeds. Its been a few years since we have had good weeds out there early. Setting up to be a great opener.

If you guys are planning to hit the Chain Saturday morning, don’t forget about the Landings on Cty 71 and on the south end of Long. You won’t have to back completely in the water on either like you will at the 22 landing. Or more importantly deal with what will likely be a S-Show with morons parking all over.

This is last year. Even last weekend some dude parked his car by the bank so it blocked a spot to back your trailer in.

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Well as mentioned I fished the chain this weekend. I thought boat traffic was a little less than I was expecting. Water Temps was about 62*, obviously slightly warmer in shallow water.

I started out fishing weed lines and found fish. Caught one 23″ in about 6FOW. Then my dad wanted to give it a try, so I figured I would go after more numbers. I think we caught 25 smaller walleyes in about 2.5 hours. Most were 12-15″. We caught all these down river, just fished the deeper holes, 12-18FOW.

I also fished for Crappie Friday evening and caught two smaller walleyes.

I’m sure those small eyes will be hanging out in those areas for at least another month. But it’s nice to see the larger females are already hanging on the weed edges.

My buddy fished off his dock and ended up with more than 12 fish over 24″, largest I believe was 29″.

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I also felt like the boat traffic was down a little. A bit surprised with how nice the weather was, Then again we were off the lake by 9:00 on Sat. and by 8:00 on Sunday. Sounds like you had a good opener out there.

fishthumper wrote:

I also felt like the boat traffic was down a little. A bit surprised with how nice the weather was, Then again we were off the lake by 9:00 on Sat. and by 8:00 on Sunday. Sounds like you had a good opener out there.

It was an average opener for me. I’ve had better and I’ve had worse. I personally only caught the one larger fish. But, I didn’t target them as much as in the past, since I had my dad in the boat.

Why did you get off the water so early?

TillrLife wrote:

Why did you get off the water so early?

The way we like to fish them tends to only be good during low light conditions. Both Sat. and Sun with the calm conditions and bright sky’s the bite just turned off quickly. Need either overcast conditions or some chop on the water to keep the bite going longer in the morning. With the forecast for overcast sky’s and a possibility of rain in the late afternoon or evening, I may give it a shot in the morning for a few hours.

I fishing again this weekend. Friday I tossed swim baits hoping for some larger eyes, but only managed pike. Saturday was fun with the wind, but again only pike.

Sunday morning I decided to fish neck downs and caught probably 30 eyes in about 3 hours. One spot was absolutely loaded with fish. The moment my jig hit the bottom I had a fish on. I likely could have sat there all day and caught fish. But the kids were hungry.

The suspended fish were gills.

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I will be up on the chain the week after the 4th of July. First time on the chain. Surveys look pretty good and sounds like you guys have been doing good since opener. I know I am early, but any tips to which lakes and how to fish walleyes in July? I was thinking slow death/spinners on the weed lines to cover ground also maybe cranks at dark? Anyway, was hoping somebody would help a guy out. Can message me if you want. Any help would be appreciated. I will have my brother and kids here from North Carolina. I will keep checking in here until then to see how things are going. Thanks!

Gerty wrote:

I will be up on the chain the week after the 4th of July. First time on the chain. Surveys look pretty good and sounds like you guys have been doing good since opener. I know I am early, but any tips to which lakes and how to fish <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes in July? I was thinking slow death/spinners on the weed lines to cover ground also maybe cranks at dark? Anyway, was hoping somebody would help a guy out. Can message me if you want. Any help would be appreciated. I will have my brother and kids here from North Carolina. I will keep checking in here until then to see how things are going. Thanks!

I’ll be honest, catching eyes in the middle of July is not going to be as easy as it is right now. But, it can be done. You have the right idea, fishing weedlines. But, the chain is now thick with Curly-leaf pondweed, so finding the right weedline is critical. Use your lake maps, as they will be your best friend. Any weedline with a break near by is going to hold fish, it won’t always be walleye, but it will have fish. Pike will be another option for you, their population has really come back over the past 5-7 years. It was nearly impossible to locate a decent pike 8 years ago. Now, catching 30″ plus fish is becoming common.

What campground/resort are you staying at?

Also, don’t ignore the great bluegill population. But keep in mind the daily limit is 10.