Moores Bait/IDA Crew Ice Fishing Get Together!

Saturday, January 6th. Noon until whenever.

I’m still planning on attending and I might have Marcus along as well.

That was on the east side of Rush wasn’t it? Anyone have current ice conditions. If anyone is planning on doing any scouting up there this week give me a shout. I would be able to get away to help out.

fisher dave said that he has been out there doing 6 t 8 inches out there. so I am sure that we have safe ice, but not sure where the fish are located. sure wish I could get out there and help scout but I am a little buzy with 4 little ones.

I have my daughter that weekend, so your ATV soccer match is up in the air for now. I am not sure I want to scar her by seeing her dad that way.

pug.. I’m sure she would get a laugh out of it seeing your facial expressions! I have a helmet around here somewhere she can wear and she can sit in front of me on my 4 wheeler so she gets *front row seats*.

Mike W, I plan on fishing there a lot from new years day on.. possibly every day until the gathering. I might be able to swing that way this week yet.. pm me if you are considering heading out and would like some company.

whats the lastest report on ice conditions? does it look like it maybe driveable by the the 6th???

I going to go out on a limb here and say that it would probably be safer to go out fishing on 4 than go out on the ice. well atleast i would feel safer.

shane

I’ll be up there tomorrow or sunday, I’ll report the ice conditions when I get back. I was on west rush and there was 8″-10″ of good ice, east is probably the same. With that being said, it would probably be against better judgement to get several vehicles piled on the ice next weekend.

Ladies & Gentlemen, thank you for your interest in this wonderful get together that Fisher Dave has brought up. I am sure as with me, that we are very sorry to hear that BrianK won’t be in attendance. As to those of you who have expressed bringing their grills along, just remember to bring the batter. Being new to the ice fishing scene, I intend to use my beginners luck to the full extent. Thus said, by the time you guides decide who is on whoms team, I should be able to have iced at least a legal limit of any species that prevails in this body of water. After that is done, I look forward to meeting alot of you who I haven’t had the pleasure of doing so. This should be a good time, and even with temps in the forties predicted this week I hope we have enough ice. Don’t forget your hip boots, not just for some standing water but the trash talk that is sure to follow……..

well folks, as much as I would ahve loved to be there for this GTG, I am not a very trusting person when it comes to ice, I like atleast 8″, the warm weather has me worried that there would be soft spots in the ice. so at this time, I respectfully regret, I also will NOT be in attendance. might be heading to pool 4 in the boat though, fee much safer jigging for walleyes.

shane

I’ll be out there in about 8 hours testing the ice and helping Fisher Dave find some pannies.

I will report when we get back what we found for ice, and found for fish. Its going to be a wet day. Raining like crazy now, expected toturn over to sleet, then a couple inches of snow as the cold front moves in(for aday).

What a crazy winter this has been! I just looked at the weather and its 43 degrees in minneapolis right now, and there are thunderstorms by st cloud?!?

I have no doubt there will be safe ice for fishing on rush. The ice was in excellent condition when I was out a few days ago… crystal clear other than a little surface crust.

The ice right now with the rains finally over with is 8.5″ on the average on east rush. Its roughly the same on west rush.

I didnt get a chance to fish east today. I was there at sunrise to be welcomed by ankle deep standing water for as far as the eye could see.. wasnt exactly a good day to be drilling holes searching for fish!

West rush seemed to be floating a little higher with all the holes drilled in the village.. but many of the holes leftover from yesterday are now 15″ in diameter! The rain was so heavy the water on the ice eventually built up there too, and was sagging wherever I parked my 4 wheeler.. I moved it to a *high spot* and 20 seconds later there was 1.5″ of water there It was time to get off the lake.

It was raining like crazy, now snow is falling. They expect up to 4″ of snow.. The way it looks the lake is going to be a big slush ball in a few hours, possibly all week.

I am going to head back up on tuesday and see what the ice condition is. I am sure there will still be plenty of ice, but I am sure there will be some hazzards from previous ice holes. If travel on the lake is difficult or unsafe.. I will cancel the gathering for next saturday

I havent given up yet.. the conditions on top of the ice might be much better than expected(by me) once the water recedes(sp?).

You want the good news or bad news first?

Good news: I went fishing on West Rush today. My buddy and I were able to sit inside the portable and do OK. We kept 6 and released 10 times that many.

The BAD BAD news: Got soaking wet out there. Fell in a hole up to my knee and ended up with some pretty good bruises. The kicker is I’ve been begging my Dad to use his truck for the past two weeks. Today he lets me use it to go ice fishing, and I smash it up 5 miles from the house. Made it 50 miles through crap from Rush, and then it happens. I’ll see you guys next Spring.

I hope nobody got hurt in the truck incident. I hope your dad doesnt hurt you for killing his truck!

I wish all would have went better today, sorry for not acknowledging our plan to leave.. it was a immediate decision when we had sagging ice..

Some of those ice holes were so big I was worried about losing Mr Keb!

ICE UPDATE… Very Good News!

The ice is looking very good at East Rush over the majority of the lake! I couldnt believe my eyes after seeing the lake covered in water from the rain yesterday, and to get there this afternoon to find most of the water found its way into the lake, and the snow took care of anything left and created some minor slush… which all had frozen by this afternoon!

So, there is currently about 10″(didnt tape it) of ice with the surface crust of 1/2″ tops.. It is actually an improvement because you can travel comfortably without cleats. All the ice under the surface is very good clear ice.

The fish on the other hand were cooperating about as well as they have been everywhere else the last couple days… plenty down there to chase my presentation around, only a few to eat it in the couple hours I spent there this evening. I will be back out there tomorrow hunting down the fish!

It’ll be going fast this week. Be careful out on Rush!

FisherDave- MetroMuskie and I plan on coming up around 11:00 see you at the landing, we might need a ride out with our stuff. Love2Fish.

if brianK isn’t going to make it whos team am I going to be on now? I will be makeing it over that way just as soon as I wake up that morning see ya’ll there

No Problem on the ride guys!

I have some really good news… I was out once again today with blacksportsman, mr keb, and another friend. We did lots of scouting and hole cutting/jumping and we finally pegged a system that worked.. found fish and sat and caught them!

Bad and Good news…

Bad news… the fish are not biting very well throughout the mid day hours.. lots of dinky perch to keep a person occupied and put marks on the flasher.

Good News… About an hour before sunset(3:30ish) the action picked up, crappies started grabbing a bait here and there, the perch grew(biggest 11″, nice fish Manny), and a 9″ sunfish also found Mr Kebs line. The crappies were on fire throughout the sunset transition… we left with enough light to comfortably see because we had no source of light.

So the report is… 11:30-3:30.. lots of dinky perch and 1 keeper. 3:30-5:00(time we left) we got a handfull of keeper perch, Mr Keb’s(Karl) really fat sunny, and about 35 crappies combined between all of us. They were running smaller tonight. We got 15 keeper crappies from 9.5″-11″, and several 7″-8″ fish.. must have been a good spawn a couple years ago? No walleyes tonight which was a surprise, but we left at prime time.

It was a good time from 3:30 on… almost impossible to keep 2 lines down for a period of time for me.

The ice was 9″-10″ everywhere we drilled. There is no significant snow on the surface so if the forecasted warm weather does hold true, there wont be any standing water, or depreciating ice.

There is 1 ugly crack on the lake which I drove across a few times today with a 4 wheeler, 700 lb trailer + 3 occupants and basic gear. A 4 wheeler wa pulling out a small wheel house next to us towards the end of the evening across the same crack. Its below freezing and making ice as I type.

FisherDave, if you want to do some more scouting Thursday or Friday give me a shout.

You know my number… I might be back out there tomorrow a bit more prepared for darkness(any source of light more than my cig lighter )

Either afternoon should work

Great news FisherDave. Now I really can’t wait. We will be at the campground landing at 10;30 waiting for everyone. How far of a walk out is it? I do not have a sled or 4 wheeler. See ya Saturday. John

The ice conditions now provide for an easy walk to a few different spots. The most consistant perch and walleye action has been right out in front of the resort.. but it doesnt drop off very fast, if I had to make a guess its about 300 yards or so. The area I intend to set up myself is about 600 yards out heading towards the south(left at about 45 degrees from the access, about 1/3 of the way out onto the lake). If I remember to bring the gps one of these days I will post the rough coordinates where I will be

The guys at the resort are very helpful for pointing people at spots that might want to get out there early. I will inform them where I am going to be also for those coming out under their own power.

East Rush does have special regs on Northerns for anyone intending on putting out a tip-up… all northerns between 24″-36″ must be immediately released, so be sure to keep that in mind.

I highly recommend everyone brings some source of light to fish with, if the daytime bite stays the same as it was yesterday, there is going to be more BS’ing going on in the mid day than fish catching, that will change greatly getting closer to sunset.

Crappie minnows took most of my crappies yesterday, Mr Keb was using waxies and maggots and catching his fair share also. Waxies/maggots seemed to be best for the perch in the mid day hours, but the fat ones had no problem grabbing a minnow when feeding time finally started.

I’ll be there about noon. Blue Chevy crew, green sportsman atv, purple Otter and small trailer in tow. If you see a big guy in green guide wear, hollar. I will be avail for giving rides.

Hey Mike, I could use a ride down to the south bay to fish for sunfish if you are heading that way. Or I could walk from Fisher Dave’s spot to the south and then come back to the group area to fish around 3:30. Either way a ride would be great. If someone wants to carpool from the northeast metro I could drive my Silverado. I would probably leave around 10:30-45 am and stay fishing past sunset a little while.

Be careful wandering around down there on the south end. The day of all the rain there was a little bit of open water by where the river comes out of the lake(that direct area). There hasnt been anyone fishing by the point(narrows?) area this year between where I fish and the south side.. I am not sure why… there is usually some decent sunny action there in the daytime too. Shallow water, about 5′. Maybe I will swing down that way today or tomorrow and wet a line to see whats happening.

Dave, I was just thinking of fishing by the narrows for a couple hours. Might be a tough bite down there if the ice is clear though. I was hoping the snow melted into the ice and made it white blocking some of the light. If you go down there I would be interested to hear a report!

The ice is perfectly clear… with the exception of the 1/2″ of frozen slush or snow across the entire lake! Its not the walking/riding around on the ice skating rink looking at all the cracks of a couple weeks ago. A person shouldnt have any problems fishing the shallows if they arent pacing back and forth.

FisherDave- I know to bring my panfish gear, I am also bringing a tip-up (just in case). What do you suggest for the evening walleye bite, or are the hitting the bigger crappie jigs with a minnow. Let me know. John