Ice Season

Well, for the daring I guess you could say there is enough ice, but not quite for me. By the weekend I would expect a number of fisherman on the lakes around here, especially Red Lake. Red has reports of 4-7″ of ice. Winnie still has some open water but over the next few nights I would guess it will also be covered. I am hoping to get out this weekend, sounds like red, but if not I will be checking Winnie out, and I will be reporting on whats happening on the ice in are area.

Hey remember if you heading out any time soon NO ICE IS SAFE, Good luck and Happy Holidays.

Hi Sean

During the winter, do you spend much time fishing the Cut Foot for walleye and perch? Seems that the main lake gets all the attention, and although its been a couple years since I fished the area through the ice, my most enjoyable day on the ice (ever!) came on Macavity (sp?) Bay, way up in the Cut Foot.

Literally one of the last times I ice fished anywhere away from the Mississippi River. I made a trip to Winni with my girlfriend’s father. We spent the first day on early ice fishing the main body of Winnie and we caught tons of mid-sized perch and a few pike. The following day we decided to go exploring…. we ended up 4-wheeling it down an unplowed road to a closed public access on the south end of Macavity. No tracks anywhere! Not a mark made by man or beast. We pulled sleds and gear out to the little neck down area to the north of that landing and started punching holes. Fish were easy to spot on the flasher and very aggressive. We ended up releasing 9 walleye, a two man limit of pike (6) with the largest falling just shy of 12 lbs, and oodles of nice perch… caught on jigging spoons. All before noon. We had to split for home mid-day and I’ve never been back since. Of course I’ve often wondered about that little spot after that one great morning of fishing that was made that much more sweet because we took some chances and got off the beaten path.

Is the Cutfoot fished that lightly in the winter or were we just the first guys out onto early ice?

Stay safe on the ice and have a productive season!

H2O,

Well pending how long ago this was, I think it was one of those untold secrets of CutFoot, but for the most part Cutfoot not so much MacCavity bay, is fished fairly hard by most anglers in are area. Most of the anglers are chasing the slab crappies in cutfoot, but the walleye and perch and northern population is probably at its best during the winter months, this is a staging area for these fish for the spring spawn. Myself, I stay away from the main lake and basically fish cutfoot throughout the winter season. Well the opportunity for first ice bites is happening across the area right now, and I can’t wait to get out. I’m heading up there this afternoon to explore the ice a bit and if I’m lucky I will get my line wet. Happy Holidays to all.

I think this was about 3 seasons ago. It was another of those really warm falls…. much like this one. As we trucked past Mille Lacs we could still see open water. Winnie had around 6″ – 7″ of ice…. at the most.

Thanks for the info. Get your line wet… but keep your feet dry!

Well we finally have enough ice to hit any part of Cutfoot or Winnie. Over the weekend, the walleye action was slow for the most part, we did manage to find some walleyes in cutfoot in 20-22′ of water just off the north end of the gap on the east side. The walleyes seemed most active just before dark. We tipped Northlands Forage Minnows with a chub and they really seemed to like this.

The crappie action is picking up just about every where in Northern Minnesota right now. Northland Bug-eye Rattlers are a great new lure that seem to drive the crappies nuts. Cutfoot is producing some nice slab crappies in 24-28′ of water just west of the Island heading towards MacCavity Bay and then off of the points and weed bed on the east shore of MaCavity Bay.

The ice conditions are getting better each day, with 6-12″ just about everywhere.

Red Lake seems to be inconsistent right now. Most of the good reports that I have heard are coming from the North end of the Lake, a few nice limits are starting to come from the south end as well. The crappies are averaging 12-14″ so far on red. It should be a tremendous year on the Big Red Lake.

Remember Be safe on the ice and take a traveled path if your new to the lake. Happy Holidays.