Early ice out

What will you be doing this year to take advantage of open water while still in what should be late ice conditions?

probably go kill a turkey one morning.

Be on open water.

A little windy this morning but I did some shore fishing and absolutely loved it. No fish but being out on water was great.

Getting the boat next weekend. White Bear is half open and most smaller lakes in the area are mostly open.

My local river hasn’t seen enough of me last couple years, usually she’s frozen up good by now. Be doing plenty of scanning seeing where catfish pile up this time of year, usually have a good idea for a normal spring where to soak some bait but will be interesting in the boat this year.

Crystal lake in Burnsville completely ice free today.
Time to get the boat out and do some early season mapping on a couple promising early ice ponds for next year.

get on open water.

Got 110 crapps in a couple hours yesterday on open water in the twin cities metro. Nothing huge…8″ to 13″ but was just what the doctor ordered.

With 90% of my fishing being on the river, ice isn’t usually the issue…so this year isn’t that different other than not having to battle the cold and now the lack of any flow for the foreseeable future.

I did block out some time to hit the water next Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday though if the weather cooperates. Plan 1 is to get on more jumbo perch as they’ve been snapping pretty good. The best part about jumbo perch from the boat is that you can fish all day without seeing another soul during the week, versus the most productive walleye/sauger spots being absurdly busy this time of the year every day. If I get out 3 of those 4 days, I’ll probably fish the head of the lake and can line area on Pool 4 for one of the days and perch the other 2.