Anyone ice fishing?

I went out today, got some nice crappies, ice was plenty safe, beautiful, geese and trumpeter swans honkin’.
Part of the access was a mess, checked where it looked good and it was. 4 wheelers were out but overall the lake was pleasntly quiet. One the lake I was on, would say at least 2 more good weeks.

Me icefishing caught my first fish ever while icefishing today. It was only a snake though.

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Went out yesterday. Was pleasantly surprised how the ice looked better than it did last Monday when I was out. The forecasted 70° and rain Friday will probably keep me off the ice the rest of the season so hoping to sneak out one more time this week. Bite has been great and very few people out.

went out yesterday on Petenwell in central WI, ice was good for walking, got 2 legal walleyes, 12 shorts and a catfish. All on tipups, not a bite jigging

I made it out to a couple lakes in the Backus area. It took some work to find them, but once we did they were definitely willing to eat. 8-10′ of water on the weed edges. A few went home for a swim in the grease last night, and many more went back to be caught again. The ice was in great shape still.

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We were on Rainy all weekend. I’d guess after today there won’t be much snow left on the lake but it hasn’t even began to touch the ice. Couple spots I couldn’t get through without an extension and everywhere else was very close. Fishing was the best it’s been for us all year with a nice mixed bag of a little bit of everything. Deep water was the best. 40 ish feet off the edges of reefs or in deep holes between islands.

Nice catch Micheal & Hill! Good to see others are out.

My brother and I did our last wheel house overnighter. Caught some decent panfish. The ice will be good for walking for a few more days but did not like the 38 degree water temp. Won’t be long and it will start to honeycomb from the bottom.

Got out for a full day of fishing yesterday. Took a few different lakes to get on a good panfish bite. Once we found them, the bite was incredible. Ended the day with a 2 person limit of sunfish. All in the 8.5 – 9.5” range. We also got into an incredible SM bass bite on one of the lakes. Nothing really big but LOTS of fish in the 1.5 – 2.5 lb range. Lots of fun on panfish rods with 2 lb. Test line. Only broke off one fish. Ice still In great shape. With the warm temps in the forecast the landings are going to start taking a beating. Still lots of hard water fishing remaining, but the days for driving out are numbered.

bigstorm wrote:

went out yesterday on Petenwell in central WI, ice was good for walking, got 2 legal walleyes, 12 shorts and a catfish. All on tipups, not a bite jigging

Nice! I ice fished part of that pete or castle rock flowage once when I was a kid visiting my step dad’s family years ago and caught a big crappie along with multiple eater sized walleyes. Don’t know exactly where I was but very backwater-ish near a culvert. Was fun.

Have you ever kept and eaten a catfish? Me and a friend kept an 18 or so inch channel on the st croix a few years ago and bled and fried it like you would a walleye and when we talked again it turned out we both liked it. It was nice and flakey and mild— not much gamey taste at all. Also the same year we each kept a smaller white bass just to try and same conclusion. I couldn’t tell you which filet was a bass or walleye, honestly.

As far as cats I have heard flatheads are more popular table-fare than channels. Don’t know why tho really.

hillhiker wrote:

I made it out to a couple lakes in the Backus area. It took some work to find them, but once we did they were definitely willing to eat. 8-10′ of water on the weed edges. A few went home for a swim in the grease last night, and many more went back to be caught again. The ice was in great shape still.

Those are nice ones! And that’s a beautiful area to fish. I see you’re still running a prehistoric gas auger too haha. Nice.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bigstorm wrote:</div>
went out yesterday on Petenwell in central WI, ice was good for walking, got 2 legal walleyes, 12 shorts and a catfish. All on tipups, not a bite jigging

Nice! I ice fished part of that pete or castle rock flowage once when I was a kid visiting my step dad’s family years ago and caught a big crappie along with multiple eater sized walleyes. Don’t know exactly where I was but very backwater-ish near a culvert. Was fun.

Have you ever kept and eaten a catfish? Me and a friend kept an 18 or so inch channel on the st croix a few years ago and bled and fried it like you would a walleye and when we talked again it turned out we both liked it. It was nice and flakey and mild— not much gamey taste at all. Also the same year we each kept a smaller white <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass just to try and same conclusion. I couldn’t tell you which filet was a <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass or walleye, honestly.

I havent kept any of the channel cats I have caught over the years, mainly because I have walleyes or panfish. I do know there are people that do target channel cats on Petenwell though since there are plenty of them there

I got a nice little mess-o-gills sat afternoon. Dinner tonight.
I almost didnt go. Friday night was too much fun and nearly ruined my whole day Sat. I was still a little rough out on the lake but very glad I forced it and got out the last two hours of light.

suzuki wrote:

I almost didnt go. Friday night was too much fun and nearly ruined my whole day Sat.

Those overly fun Friday nights can really mess up a Saturday, can’t they?

Headed to LOTW later this week for Spring Break time with the kids, called and they have 36″ of ice yet.

I was up at LOW this weekend, pretty standard caught a large # of small fish. Went up way shallow by Zipple for pike with no luck one day. And for the Rainy River I still think it’s going to be awhile yet, there is no snow up there which means no runoff. We were drilling at the mouth of Zipple Bay and still needed an extension this weekend. And no pike were found there either.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>hillhiker wrote:</div>
I made it out to a couple lakes in the Backus area. It took some work to find them, but once we did they were definitely willing to eat. 8-10′ of water on the weed edges. A few went home for a swim in the grease last night, and many more went back to be caught again. The ice was in great shape still.

Those are nice ones! And that’s a beautiful area to fish. I see you’re still running a prehistoric gas auger too haha. Nice.

I sure am. I was the only person on the lake still making a bunch of noise drilling holes. I’m sure everyone was loving it!

Jimmy Jones wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
I almost didnt go. Friday night was too much fun and nearly ruined my whole day Sat.

Those overly fun Friday nights can really mess up a Saturday, can’t they?

I consider them rookie moves but every once in a great while, I’m a rookie…

We just got back from 3 days on Devils Lake. One afternoon and one morning were good. The rest were slow. We came back with a lot of fish, however, mainly thanks to good perch fishing one afternoon and keeping a bunch of small walleyes. The trip reminded us of why we quit going to Lake of the Woods: too many small walleyes. I did get 2 personal bests, however: 14.5″ perch and a 4′ stick through an 8″ hole.

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i was up in Itasca county over the weekend….crappie fishing good…..sunfish…not so much. still had 23 inches of ice and didnt even look like it was starting too honeycomb. any snow there was on the ice turned to water sunday!

the sippi by rice was starting to open but not the 2 other spots i cross further north. i noticed Roosevelt by Outing and further south the ice was starting to turn dark.

my ice season is done…..pretty good year!!!

stjoeguy wrote:

I did get 2 personal bests, however: 14.5″ <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch and a 4′ stick through an 8″ hole.

You can catch wierd stuff on Devils Lake. Kid pulled up a 6 foot chunk of barbed wire from deep water – 36′

I was in SD over the weekend. Some lakes had lots of open water, some had diesel trucks and wheel houses on the ice yet. It really depended on the lake. Fish were active up shallow in the weeds. We caught 7 different species in one spot on Saturday.

Headed to LOW tomorrow through Friday.

I have a chance to fish Rainy this weekend, cabin is just north of Jackfish bay just east of I falls. I am not sure if i would want to focus on walleyes or crappies but open to both. Does anyone know what the ice fishing is like in that area?

We are on the way to Rainy right now. We have a place in Sand Bay. Plan to fish all day tomorrow, hopefully not in the rain. If your not familiar with the area be very careful around any neck down areas or narrows this time of year. Some already have open water but the main basins have a ton of ice. That Jackfish Bay around Doctors Marys Point and stop island is a notoriously bad area.

Dang. I hope this isnt last ice weekend in NW Wis.

I was out the past two days and have done great on panfish. Yesterday was my last day. The ice was honeycomb top to bottom and about 18-20″ thick. The rain will make it black very soon. Time to get the boat ready !!

A buddy was out on Wed. on a lake about 50 miles N or St. Cloud. GThere were still full sixed trucks driving out.

one on the lake here yesterday