The duluth area report

A lot of the die hards are getting out on lakes with 3 to 4 inches of ice. We got a little bit of snow but it was really light and fluffy so it won’t effect the ice to bad. I will say all the lakes in the carlton county and duluth area will be at least walkable next weekend with some seeing wheeler time. This weekend the bite for the guys that got out was good for gills and on the slow side for walleyes. Pike were active. Along with crappies how ever people weren’t able to get to the bigger fish suspended over deep water due to the ice. Next week is looking awesome. Can’t stop the chase.

I did a little poking around on the west border of Carlton Co this weekend. We’ve had plenty of rain this season so there are many instances where the lakes have flooded into the grass and cattails. The problem I was finding was the flooded grass areas with snow loading only had a thin crust of ice. No where near walkable. The main lakes may have had walkable ice but after punching thru numerous times along the bank I wasn’t overly excited to go thru over my boots.

I found anywhere from 6-8 inches of ice on fish lake last weekend going out from the dam. I took the wheeler out all the way across the lake and found pretty consistent ice and didn’t notice any notable cracks or slush pockets. Fishing was below average for that lake but it felt good to get out.

Jake. There is an average of 10 now and fish are being caught more in the deeper weed edges. Try and find anywhere from 8 to 15 feet of water off of weedy shorelines. The dam is a great spot but it seems like fish lake has had a lot better weed growth the last few years so the crappies are starting to hold longer to the weeds and therefore the dam has been hot later in the year. It seems to heat up around February.

Allan, I was out on fish lake again yesterday and still only found 6-8 inches everywhere I drilled. I haven’t seen anywhere with greater than 8 inches on that lake – not sure where you are finding 10. Fishing was lights out yesterday.

A guy decided to set up 10 ft away from my shack when there weren’t any other shacks (besides mine and my buddies right next to me) within a half mile. The guy drilled a few holes all around us right at prime time. People seem to get more stupid and less respectful every year. Just a friendly reminder to give people space when you are out on the ice. Especially when there aren’t any other shacks within a half mile and there is no particular piece of structure underneath us!

Spent another day on Fish Lake yesterday and battled the wind gusts. The weather this last weekend didn’t impact the ice as much as I would have thought. I didn’t find much for slush as it seemed to have frozen. I am still only finding 9 inches of ice on the lake. Fishing has been pretty good.

How has the Duluth area been lately? I may be up there next weekend and will have time to fish Sunday for a bit in the morning. Does the harbor have a bite throughout the day or is it mostly sunrise/sunset? Also, where is a good bait shop near Duluth or Cloquet?

Fishing has been fairly good around the area for multiple species. As for the harbor people have scooted out towards the channels with good success. However there will still be a good bite on the flats. The bite has been fairly consistent during the day with the better fishing being the early and late hours. My rule of thumb is to target the deeper areas during cold fronts and high barometric pressure. And target the flats on the rest. There have been some bigger fish being caught as well.

Outdoor advantage is a good bait shop in cloquet with everything you would need. In duluth mariene general is the way to go a little out of the way but they have a better minnow selection other bait shops are a bit out of the way like fisherman’s courser and chalstrams

Awesome, thanks for the info! Hopefully I can get into a few fish before I have to head back to the cities