Lake Pepin ice report point no point

Has anyone been on Lake Pepin out from Maiden Rock? Planning on first trip this weekend and was wondering if the ice is thick enough for atv travel.

No idea but us know what you find.

I haven’t personally been out there, but have seen guys out with four wheelers. Not out as far as before. I’d be very careful with these last few warm days.

It probably was before the warmup this week.
I can see patches of refroze water that thawed and don’t look good.
Saw 1 SxS and it was down stream a ways where there’s very little current.
I wouldn’t trust it myself. Looks pretty sketchy.

I walked out at Frontenac yesterday. 6 or 7 inches downstream from the point. Not enough ice for this guy to take a wheeler out, but there was two. As for the fishing, I went out in the middle of the day and only had a couple hours to fish. Caught one sauger in about 24 feet.

marendt wrote:

I walked out at Frontenac yesterday. 6 or 7 inches downstream from the point. Not enough ice for this guy to take a wheeler out, but there was two. As for the fishing, I went out in the middle of the day and only had a couple hours to fish. Caught one sauger in about 24 feet.

Is there alot of snow on the ice?I may try to make it down next week one day.Thanks

No, it’s packed down pretty good from the wind. Easy walking

Went out from Maiden Rock across to near the channel. 10 inches of ice 8 inches of clear. Side by sides and atvs and even 2 nuts in cars. Fishing was pretty good but a lot of shorts.

marendt wrote:

No, it’s packed down pretty good from the wind. Easy walking

I dont live close and I am on foot so looking for an easy walk,Thanks for the info.

Any color that works better than others?. I usually go through everythingvI’ve got. Never caught any on a plain hook and minnow. Brightly colored Demon jigs and minnows have worked s few times.

Ron Burgundy wrote:

Any color that works better than others?. I usually go through everythingvI’ve got. Never caught any on a plain hook and minnow. Brightly colored Demon jigs and minnows have worked s few times.

I have only winter fished out from Frontenac 1 time quite a few years ago.I caught a few saugers on a red jigging spoon and a couple on a bobber and plain hook,also caught some mooneyes on the bobber set-up.Anyone know how much snow fell from this past storm?Thanks

Did good on red/chrome jiggin rap and gold jiggin spoon and yes any one know how much new snow is on the lake?

EASY walking. Lot was icy as hell. 6″ off the end of the point. 8″-10″ away from it.

8″ today. Got my first slab rap fish. 19″ sauger. We had 4 fis between 3 of us. A perch & small sauger on bobber rods, a 16″ sauger jigging a minnow a the 19″ sauger on the right green slab rap.

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At the moment I can’t delete the 2nd pic if the angry looking fisherman. The smaller sauger with the feed up line had my minnow in it’s mouth and still took another minnow. I just missed him maybe 1 minute earlier.

Ice conditions look good

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That area has went from a great spot to catch a few saugers and get away from people, to a litter box of trash and people crowding each other 7 days a week for a few 14” saugers in a full day of fishing…and it’s all happened in 3 or 4 years

buckybadger wrote:

That area has went from a great spot to catch a few saugers and get away from people, to a litter box of trash and people crowding each other 7 days a week for a few 14” saugers in a full day of fishing…and it’s all happened in 3 or 4 years

I don’t get it . Every time I drive by silver creek in Rochester there’s 40 vehicles in the parking lot for 6 inch perch and 8 inch crappies . Same thing . It’s crazy .

isu22andy wrote:

I don’t get it . Every time I drive by silver creek in Rochester there’s 40 vehicles in the parking lot for 6 inch <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch and 8 inch crappies . Same thing . It’s crazy .

I always wonder the same thing. Can’t even be many fish left in that little puddle

Looks like a good time.

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Sconybubba wrote:

Looks like a good time.

I saw the pics and video from a FB group. What a mess. If lakes up here can’t handle cars, how in the world would the river down south hold them, especially parked right next to each other!! This was just a case of lemmings. One guy couldn’t find street parking so parked down on the ice and everyone else followed.

buckybadger wrote:

That area has went from a great spot to catch a few saugers and get away from people, to a litter box of trash and people crowding each other 7 days a week for a few 14” saugers in a full day of fishing…and it’s all happened in 3 or 4 years

bite must be hot with all those shacks! i fish it a few times a year and always during the week. is it like this every weekend Bucky? i catch a few saugers here and there but usually a typical multi species day. imma have to check it out on Monday since i got the day off to verify!

I really don’t ice fish the river much but fished a small tournament a few years back and saw a scene similar to those pictures. My question for those of you who provided those pictures or saw things like that: why do people insist on driving on the ice 30 yards offshore when they could just walk an extra 75 yards or so and not worry about a vehicle falling through the ice? Am I missing something?

Dan wrote:

I really don’t ice fish the river much but fished a small tournament a few years back and saw a scene similar to those pictures. My question for those of you who provided those pictures or saw things like that: why do people insist on driving on the ice 30 yards offshore when they could just walk an extra 75 yards or so and not worry about a vehicle falling through the ice? Am I missing something?

The landing was totally full. I know a few guys that were there today

Parking.
There’s about 25ish parking spots in the lot.
This is nothing new there. Happens dam near every year.
You put that much weight in a small area…doh.
JJ’s post about the fishing there is spot on. OK until hundreds of people drops lines and then lucky to catch a few small ones. Mooneyes or stippers mostly.
Could say more but no.

eyeguy507 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>buckybadger wrote:</div>
That area has went from a great spot to catch a few saugers and get away from people, to a litter box of trash and people crowding each other 7 days a week for a few 14” saugers in a full day of fishing…and it’s all happened in 3 or 4 years

bite must be hot with all those shacks! i fish it a few times a year and always during the week. is it like this every weekend Bucky? i catch a few saugers here and there but usually a typical multi species day. imma have to check it out on Monday since i got the day off to verify!

This year, yes…that way every weekend. Last time we were out a couple weeks ago we were truck #20 or so at 5:50am. When we left there were probably 100.

I’d say 5 years ago a busy day with good weather was 20 trucks here…and weekdays you would be shocked to see another person.

The bite here and Maiden Rock side is always best early and slows with crowds and the sheer number of fish pulled out. It’s popular because it’s a close easy walk and you can catch eater saugers (rarely fast or in huge numbers but they’re around). Another thing I think that keeps people coming back is that you can mark a ton of fish that “just don’t bite”, but many people aren’t aware they’re schools of rough fish that winter in the area. Last time out a guy at the landing told us he “kept x3 14 inch saugers but marked hundreds” after being out there from sun up until about 3pm.

yeah i mark a bunch of fish in the deeper water which are usually baby striped bass or sheep which frequent the area in winter. had some big bites and better fish shallow in my recent trips. maybe the clarity is better this year? last few years the river was pretty dirty. the times i have gone during the week, there was not a soul in sight almost made me question going out. hopefully they get the “thin ice” signs out tomorrow and everyone goes somewhere else!