Ottertail Reports?

Chucks:

I’ve heard some conflicting reports up there, any of you guys make it out in the cold weather?

Joel

i stopped in at kens on our way to dead lake and he said the fishin was great until the cold weather hit, but i’m guessing the guys who are reporting that have perminant shacks and don’t won’t to move to find the fish. thats my guess but i’m not sure

good luck

Thanks Joe, I’ve been to Ken’s before. Nice place, plenty of stuff and good bait. Even had a pizza there that was darned good.

With such an abundance of structure, I’d be itching to move around out there too!

Joel

i agree every time i go in there i sit and shoot the bull for an half hour or so

Joel-
Conflicting reports?

You know I’m not going to let some cold air stop me from fishin! Actually, I wasn’t mobile, I enjoyed the comforts of my heated shack this time around. Mikey knows what happened as I chatted with him…caught some, and lost some while he told me about his recent trip from the north.

Im going to be up that way later this month, I usually fish East/West Lost and Deer lake, I’d love for someone to show me how to icefish Ottertail. If anyone is interested in meeting up let me know!

the first thing i would do is get a good map or use your gps if you have one. be as mobile as you can and try every depth there is alot of structure, but you don’t have to move very far to find different reefs, flats, sand, ect.
like chuck said spoons with flash and jigging aggresively works well to get fish to bite.

Hey Joel,

Conflicting reports? The big snow knocked the bite off for a bit, and patterns changed. It has been spotty.

I pulled my wheel shack off prior to the storm, and the put it on a spearing spot for a bit, then moved it back to where it was. It was a tad shallow and not producing.

Did a little scouting around and I am back on a decent bite. The gills were very active this morning. If it ever warms up, I will start chasing ‘eyes.

One thing that has surprised me a bit is the slow ice growth. Still not much more than 14 inches.