*chirp* *chirp* *chirp*

Sure is dead in here. Come on, mother nature has given us an extra few weeks to the season. You telling me you guys just ice walleye, pike and bass?

Mother nature has put a ton of snow and slush on top of what ice she gave us. Walking out in this crap is like walking in 3′ of mud

I’ll make some noise next week. I’m planning on going on a 7 day bender to finish out my season. Trout, slabs, and some bull gills. I’m not much for reporting on my winter haunts but might do a year to date with pictures.

I’ve been trying to take advantage of the extra time to get my boat re-stocked I’m going to need a few more weeks if this crap keeps up. 1/3 of the contents of the box in my mailbox yesterday was gone

With the nearest ice three hours away from central Montana, we are already launching boats

I’m hitting the ice one last time Sunday

What do you want from me Pug.

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What do you want from me Pug.

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I wish I was fishing for gils this weekend but need to sled one more time. Hopefully I will be on the ice next weekend and April.

Hit a small lake near brainerd yesterday.rode sled out,pretty slushy but managed to stay on top. Got a good meal of sunnies and a couple of crappies. Couldn’t keep the bass of my line with the biggest being around 4 #s. Good times, going to do it again today.

Went out on Big Carnelian yesterday had to pack light, small sled, auger, vex, and one rod. Got my workout for the day trudging through the deep snow, but it was manageable once I found some snowmobile tracks to walk on. Caught a few decent gills and nice crappies.

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Sure is dead in here. Come on, mother nature has given us an extra few weeks to the season. You telling me you guys just ice walleye, pike and bass?

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Putting any kind of mechanized transportation on the ice right now is a “roll the dice” gamble. We’ve been finding deep snow and under that slush over tall boots. Even small walk-out lakes are a mess. The last time we tried to get out the crew and I spent the first 3 hours digging out our Polaris that only made it 30′ down the access before bogging to a stop.

Conditions will get better. When it does I expect we’re in for a couple weeks of awesome ice fishing. I’ve not given up hope yet that’s for sure.

Hitting the ice tomorrow with the hovercrafts…

It’s the only way to travel this time of yeat !!!

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What do you want from me Pug.

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– It was supposed to be crickets “chirping”.

Thanks for the ice condition updates. You helped me decide where to go, if I go. I am not trudging on the ice by myself on 2 of my options, so I think I will go to Smetana and play with the potato chips. Might not be as fun without a tip up.

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Sure is dead in here. Come on, mother nature has given us an extra few weeks to the season. You telling me you guys just ice walleye, pike and bass?

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I’m not brave enough to try and fish on 3″ of white honeycombed ice.

I will be ice fishing all weekend and driving my truck. Have a buddy that just got done plowing a road for me.

Guess I got the hotspot after hearing your stories…My walk is about 100yds from the car and half of it on shore…Theres a lot of snow and some slush underneath, but the walk on ice is about 30yds so its not bad…Have been catching between 10-25 crappies a night…13″ being the biggest so far…anyone thats up in the Duluth area and wants to come out give me a PM I usually fish by myself

We are all out of ice here in front range colorado. There is ice up in the mountains though. Nearest lake is about 2 hours out though.

I live in the Brainerd Lakes Area.

I was out fishing yesterday.

Caught a limit of crappies, not big, didn’t keep one (18 FOW).

Other than the trudge out on the lake through 1 ft. plus of snow.
There was 2 1/2 feet of ice to drill though underneath.

There is still good spring fishing out there.

Went out again yesterday around the Stillwater area. I was in just a tshirt and wind pants for most of the time. I didn’t know you could get this sunburned while ice fishing…Lobster face…

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You should’ve been there last year before everything got hauled out in buckets…

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I thought it got cleaned out a couple years ago.

Lot of ice in the dakotas still 28 inches

The best is yet to come, hopefully some of this snow melts before it decides to really warm up, rain like crazy and make a real mess of things Sled travel has been good here and I have a few spots that are just a short walk.

Here is a few pictures from this last week…The GF working the crappie on the flasher and the result

I’ve been fishing OTC and Becker County this winter and the snow/slush conditions are brutal. I can get where I want to go on a snowmobile just fine, it’s the actual fishing part that’s a lot more work than usual. Constantly punching holes and hopping around a lot is difficult in knee deep snow with 6 inches of slush underneath.

To be honest I am pretty annoyed with the conditions yet thankful at the same time. This is a time of year that typically has a bunch of people out all pounding on the panfish and keeping everything. This year is the complete opposite since no one is plowing roads after the hardsides came off, the lakes are relatively void of fishermen. I have pretty much anywhere I want all to myself and I’m lovin it! No late ice panfish population beat down going on this year!

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Anyone have a report for this past weekend? I was out all day Friday and Saturday and had to work hard for every fish I found. One of the lakes I fished had good schools of crappies but they were very picky. Just seeing how things were for everyone else. Fishing in 18 to 20 fow still. Still waiting for that crazy aggressive bite!

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Fishing was good. Not great, but good. The days sure are long this time of year, up at 0400 and don’t get done with dinner until after 11. Ice just keeps on getting thicker, 12″ extension did not get through multiple times throughout the day. The sun sets on another ice season.

That sounds like a great way to end the season, and the pictures of those green backs sure makes me think about taking a trip north one of these years!

Thanks guys for making this one of my longer running threads…

…where I didn’t have to antangonize someone.

The season is still going strong. Going after perch tomorrow on the backwaters of Pool 4/5a