Ice Fishing – spotty at best…

I have had my feelers out with all my friends and acquaintances the past few weeks, and it really seems like ice fishing is spotty at best this year, all over. Anyone else getting that feeling?

I have talked to people in the metro area, Brainerd, Mille Lacs, Leech Lake, Vermilion, Red Lake, and Lake of the Woods, and it seems pretty much the same all over the place. Where there are some good days, but lots of slow days in between, no consistency.

I mainly am interested in Walleye, but does seem to matter the species, although I have heard of some great panfish outings here and there.

All my contacts on Mille Lacs have said it has been unexpectedly slow most days, with really no one hitting them hard at any time or place. Red, I heard a couple of early days it was smoking hot, but cooled of quickly and been spotty ever since. LOW, still catching fish, but lots of smalls, not a lot of big Walleye, and not consistent in any way.

Just interesting.

I think a big part is the amount of pressure the lakes are getting this year. Red got completely slammed once ice opened up and continues to get slammed. But I also heard a report of some guys who went up to Red this weekend and did really well by going out deeper and AWAY from the crowds. Sounds like they pulled in between 40-50. Based on inflation I will say 30ish which is still pretty good

The only plausible answer is there aren’t enough regulations.

There is probably 2-3X the pressure on some area waters compared to other past years. Sure, fish may be “dumb” to some as far as being caught repeatedly, but ultimately they spook big time under the ice and cannot be caught more than once IF they go home in a bucket.

The increase of social media, Youtube, the go pro filmers, etc have really ramped up the advertising for ice fishing. Simple searches on Youtube or Facebook show how “easy” it is to catch fish, when in reality those videos everyone watches don’t show countless hours of unproductive fishing edited out. When you then add in the lack of youth sports, concerts, large scale destination vacations, professional sports audiences, etc. ice fishing is an attractive activity.

…The Times They Are A-Changin’

I believe the pressure theory. A buddy of mine sent me a drone video up on LOW this past weekend, I was SHOCKED at the number of houses and vehicles, when it was only recently opened up to 1/2 tons. Makes sense that pressure, commotion, etc… would have an effect. But this buddy of mine goes out on snowmobile, has been fishing LOW for 30 years, and has his own privately marked spots that was way away from crowds, and even he is struggling this year to find a consistent bite.

Everything but crappies have been slow for me honestly. I’ve gotten more quality crappies this year already than I did all of last winter.

I think the open water season was telling of how much of a zoo the ice fishing season will be. Ice fishing is more accessible than open water so I had a hunch it would be a zoo just about everywhere this year.

Mille Lacs is not a surprise. There was a ton of forage mostly perch in the system in the fall. It was one of the slowest fall bites in some years. Minus the fact I could actually target walleyes this fall. I was seeing huge bait schools all over the lake. Fall bite is usually a pre cursor for winter. Fish are there just have a good amount of food to chose from. Which is a good thing. Add that to the ice situation and it is slower than last winter and just means the lake is healthier than last IMHO.

I am going to say I really struggled this weekend. I punched a lot of holes and had some success but I did feel the bite was off for sure.

One thing since I could not catch a break was learn. All that downtime I really did not time of learning with the Marcum Pursuit Camera. I learned really what mudlines looked like. I fish next too them but never looked at them. Recorded it too.

I also saw a bug hatches happen in real time at dusk it was really cool. All that stuff coming out of the mud and how low a walleye comes in from.

If 2020 taught me one thing was to learn when life gives you water drink it just put ice and whiskey in it and enjoy the ride.

I have been doing very well lately on local walleyes, did pretty good on mile lacs last week as well.
But local panfishing has been tough. Tougher then I’ve ever seen it. Crappies are always a easy target at dark but other panfish have been non existent the last 2 weeks. Which is very strange

tucrs wrote:

I am going to say I really struggled this weekend. I punched a lot of holes and had some success but I did feel the bite was off for sure.

One thing since I could not catch a break was learn. All that downtime I really did not time of learning with the Marcum Pursuit Camera. I learned really what mudlines looked like. I fish next too them but never looked at them. Recorded it too.

I also saw a bug hatches happen in real time at dusk it was really cool. All that stuff coming out of the mud and how low a walleye comes in from.

If 2020 taught me one thing was to learn when life gives you water drink it just put ice and whiskey in it and enjoy the ride.

I agree with this – if it’s slower it’s a great time to try new things and learn. For me, I’m trying to find more metro spots that are within a 30 minute drive of my house. With the metro being highly pressured it’s kind of a unique challenge so getting on any sort of a bite seems like a win.

Plus, the weather has been phenomenal to this point so getting out on the ice when the sun is shining and it’s warm is a bonus. All I need is a lawn chair, a tipup, and a few ‘stones.

I’m a panfish guy, mostly crappies; and have many “spots” I have found over the years. About a half dozen of my spots normally are good day bites but this year every spot I have is early in the morning and from 4:30 on in the evening only…no daylight bite….and they are biting later into the night too. A little bummed the day bites have disappeared for me and hope it’s just a one year thing or maybe with more snow it would bring back that day bite.

Matt Moen wrote:

I agree with this – if it’s slower it’s a great time to try new things and learn. For me, I’m trying to find more metro spots that are within a 30 minute drive of my house. With the metro being highly pressured it’s kind of a unique challenge so getting on any sort of a bite seems like a win.

Plus, the weather has been phenomenal to this point so getting out on the ice when the sun is shining and it’s warm is a bonus. All I need is a lawn chair, a tipup, and a few ‘stones.

A two and a half year old and 3 month old are keeping me local. It’s been fun trying to hit more local lakes and new spots that I haven’t fished before just to see what’s out there. It has produced on a few occasions so far.

Early ice walleye was good.
I havent been panfishing due to project taking my spare time. I heard our local lake was slow but the Phillips Chain was doing good. Finally got out Friday and Saturday with a big group of fishers. My go too spot was very slow. We moved to a mid lake island with rock and wood from 5-10′. Caught many gils up to 10″ a few nice crappy but no numbers, perch but nothing special. A few walleye but nothing over 16″ and a few pike with the biggest being 24″. Not bad for 10 fishers. I would call it slower as the bite usually pretty consistent up to mid to late January.
Another big outing coming this Saturday.

Bite has been a bit slower for me as well (walleyes).

The one thing I’ve learned/gained confidence in is a Rapala Rippin’ Rap. I’ve had them in my box for years but haven’t been using them. Well I finally tied one onto a rod and I keep it ready to go. I’ll be fishing with my spoon and minnow head and doing okay. Sometimes when I mark one and he doesn’t go for the spoon, I’ll reel up quickly and throw down the rippin rap. Happened a couple times now where the fish comes charging back and smokes it. Truly a great feeling.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>

I agree with this – if it’s slower it’s a great time to try new things and learn. For me, I’m trying to find more metro spots that are within a 30 minute drive of my house. With the metro being highly pressured it’s kind of a unique challenge so getting on any sort of a bite seems like a win.

Plus, the weather has been phenomenal to this point so getting out on the ice when the sun is shining and it’s warm is a bonus. All I need is a lawn chair, a tipup, and a few ‘stones.

A two and a half year old and 3 month old are keeping me local. It’s been fun trying to hit more local lakes and new spots that I haven’t fished before just to see what’s out there. It has produced on a few occasions so far.

We have a 5 and half year old daughter. I took her out Saturday and Sunday with me. Last year she would only make it an hour or so. This year we’re getting a few hours and it’ll get better when we can drive out and bring more stuff to entertain her. Being able to stay local and make short, quick trips is key if I want to ice fish with any consistency so I’m with ya!

Matt Moen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>

I agree with this – if it’s slower it’s a great time to try new things and learn. For me, I’m trying to find more metro spots that are within a 30 minute drive of my house. With the metro being highly pressured it’s kind of a unique challenge so getting on any sort of a bite seems like a win.

Plus, the weather has been phenomenal to this point so getting out on the ice when the sun is shining and it’s warm is a bonus. All I need is a lawn chair, a tipup, and a few ‘stones.

A two and a half year old and 3 month old are keeping me local. It’s been fun trying to hit more local lakes and new spots that I haven’t fished before just to see what’s out there. It has produced on a few occasions so far.

We have a 5 and half year old daughter. I took her out Saturday and Sunday with me. Last year she would only make it an hour or so. This year we’re getting a few hours and it’ll get better when we can drive out and bring more stuff to entertain her. Being able to stay local and make short, quick trips is key if I want to ice fish with any consistency so I’m with ya!

That’s great! My 2.5 year old has been asking to go this year. It’ll be fun to take her out for most likely an hour or two. She got pretty mad when I took the Engel cooler with the sucker minnows with me to fish yesterday. HA. Might have to get her a fish tank for her birthday!

Bearcat89 wrote:

But local panfishing has been tough. Tougher then I’ve ever seen it. Crappies are always a easy target at dark but other panfish have been non existent the last 2 weeks. Which is very strange

Local panfishing for me now are lakes with little pressure. I was out today on a small Aitkin county lake with very good bluegill and crappie. I had the entire lake to myself and looking around while out there was little evidence of the lake getting pounded this past weekend. So I can’t blame “bucket fillers” or heavy fishing pressure.

I fished all afternoon into evening and caught all northern pike. Yes, on small tungsten using spikes!

Maybe I should’ve moved spots?

I think pressure was high this summer leading into fall and now into winter. Aside from fishing pressure, the weather has been strange as well. What season is it anyway? In my area we just got fairly consistent ice this week, today it was 40 degrees again. We should be starting the mid season lock jaw period and its still comfortable to sit outside. I have fished steady since first break walkable ice and I never found a typical early ice bite where once you find fish you catch them. I have found a lot of fish that were neutral if not negative. Its been an odd year to say the least.

Gilgetter wrote:

I think pressure was high this summer leading into fall and now into winter.

Anyone on the lakes this winter had to know it was going to be busier than normal considering all the extra people fishing, boating, camping, hunting, etc so far this year. We can all hope that the “COVID crowd” returns to their normal lives sooner rather than later.

So they are finick, go bigger, go smaller or keep moving?

I don’t have walleye lakes so mostly panfishing until April. 4 times out and it’s been ridiculous for quality and consistency. I have barely warmed up the auger. Got some time off soon during the week intentionally to avoid people. Hope this keeps up all month long!

Glad I’m not the only one. I’m a walleye and walleye only guy. Have fished the ice hard the last month. I smacked em around on a weekday on very first ice at URL, but since then its been pretty slow in general. Have since fished 5-6 days on red, 2-3 on ML, 3 on Leech, and 1 on a metro lake. I’m headed to ML to fish Wed/Thurs this week. Sounds like with good ice I’m finally able to get to where I’ve typically done pretty well in years past. Curious to see how it goes.

One thing I’ve noticed is a significant increase in the 23-26″ class on not only leech, but ML and Red too. I’ve caught about as many of them as I have your standard eaters in the last few weeks. Seems odd, but I’m not complaining!