Decided to try out Minnetonka today…

So after getting all loaded up in the snow this morning I called an audible and headed for lake Minnetonka, I have never been on the ice on this beast of a lake, but I figured with Navionics and a Marcum I would do just fine.
GPS said 54 miles and 1.16 hours, 2.5 hours later (thank you MN drivers) I arrived at the only local launch that pulled up on my Tom Tom, Lake Minnetonka regional park. I walked out on the ice that looked about 6″ thick and there was NO snow on it what so ever. I drilled a couple holes (14″ of ice) and tried to pull up my Navionics but something wasn’t allowing that to pull up, so I started drilling holes across the bay, found a few bumps, but marked nothing. I then headed to the island directly out from the landing and started working out from the point until I found 7 FOW and moved about 15′ over and found 22 FOW. I punched some more holes and got setup to wait for my buddy and hope his navionics was working.

He showed up and we decided to try our luck here and get the shack setup with 20-30mph winds. I used all of the stakes and 2 ropes to hold my shack, and had to drill 6 holes just to get some slush to keep my kite on the ice. We started fishing waxies and crappie minnows but nothing was interested in the waxies. We pulled in quite a few small perch, and then started to concentrate on the tip ups. We had 2 TU set one in 7FOW and one in 14FOW with small sucker minnows. Within 15 minutes the first flag went and we caught our first northern of the day! After that we had 6 more flags go before sundown and 5 of them we were able to hook up. Nothing huge but much more fun than NOT seeing that flag go up! We fished till sundown and never really got much more action after the snow moved in for about 2 hours.

I must say it was a good time, but that drive is nonsense!!

Here is a few pics, oh yeah and if you need a pizza in the bay make sure to call Carbones

I lived on Tonka for 5 years, and the only thing I miss is that great pizza!

WOW! Take me out with you next time!

Not sure if you are asking me ,but if you are, come out to Big Stone Lake. The perch bite is great, and we are starting to catch some nice eyes on the north end of the lake.No pizza just a bunch of fish!

Best Za in the SW metro in my opinion!

Cool post.
I have to order a pizza to my ice house some day. That is on my bucket list.

So how did the fatfish stand up to the wind? Is that the 949i? jw because I just got one and I’m wondering how it will hold up against the prairie wind out here in SoDak

So you can access the lake and drive out onto the lake from Minnetonka regional park? Are there any fees to drive through the park? Still trying to learn the lake and access points myself.

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So how did the fatfish stand up to the wind? Is that the 949i? jw because I just got one and I’m wondering how it will hold up against the prairie wind out here in SoDak

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It was VERY windy, and the key is to put the spikes in the corners BEFORE you try to pop it up, also since there was no snow until we left, we had to drill a few extra holes to get slush for packing in the skirt, also I would make sure to use the ropes that it comes with (or make your own) to put on the 2 sides that the wind is hitting the most. I was that guy last week in my quickfish 3 that had his shack lift up and I had to chase it down (I swore I wouldn’t tell a soul, I was soooooo pissed) I WONT be that guy again, it is worth the 3 minutes to stake it down in any wind!

And yeah it is the 949i and it is AMAZING!!!!!! I’m gonna put it to the test this weekend on Mille Lacs!

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So you can access the lake and drive out onto the lake from Minnetonka regional park? Are there any fees to drive through the park? Still trying to learn the lake and access points myself.

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Yes you can, no fee but make sure you park in the lot just up the hill on the left from the landing (if your not driving on), or the top lot if you have a trailer. The police that stopped down talked to me for about an hour and was super cool. Said that bay had cleared out 2 weeks ago because fishing was slow… I liked it

Just be careful, the ice is rough to get over the heave going onto and off of the ice. I parked on the ice right at shore because I don’t drive my truck out on water I don’t know and it weighs 7600lbs!! That’s a heavy anchor to pull out!

Thanks for the info. I’m still amazed at the lack of ice fishing done on Minnetonka. There is a lot of water not being fished out there. Could be a lack of acessibility that slows people down or poor ice, I’m not sure.

Someone went through today… I don’t know anymore details yet.