lake pepin BAD BAD ICE! and fishing report.

i fished the upper end of pepin for the first time this year today,This area is one of my favorite places too ice fish and have fished it alot over the years but too be safe as we walked out we checked the ice in several spots on the way too find for the most part 6 inches of not so good ice and decided it would be safe for walking. we fished the entire day icing two nice sauger several stripers and missed 6 or 7 saugers at the ice due too our baits hooking the edge of the ice. we were fishing in 20 to 22 FOW fish came on jigging raps and fat head minnows. now back too that BAD ice, we walked out on the same trail we came in on and half way back i was following my buddy over 20+ FOW and my right leg went through up too my crotch then my right arm went through and i yelled and looked up too see my buddy still walking away from me not hearing me yell. very scary! luckily i pulled myself out with my right arm and crawled a few feet and got back on some hard ice! yelling at my buddy LOL too pay attention when i yell. i have been through the ice a couple other times in shallow water close too the truck but this time was an eye opener! i will not be traveling out on that lake until we get a long spell of cold cold weather. we talked too a guy at the landing who told us i was not the only one too go through today another guy went through up too his chest before pulling himself out. that same guy said that he had 11 inches of ice sunday and today at most had 6…… I HIGHLY RECOMEND NO TRAVEL ON THE UPPER END OF PEPINS ICE until we get better ice making weather. hers a pic from today of one of the saugers.

Nice fish Drew…and I’m glad you’ll have a chance at a bigger one in the coming days.

I really hate funerals when the body isn’t recovered.

Quote:

---

I really hate funerals when the body isn’t recovered.

---

x2

Scary scary scary, sounds like the St louis river lol.

Hey have you tried cutting off the front hook on the jigging raps? Eliminates it catching the ice and you WILL land more fish

Hearing this sent chills down my spine. I fear going thru. Glad to hear you are still with us.

Thanks for the report, and glad to here your ok. I will be calling Tuck this morning to makes sure he reads this! He has been bugging me to let him get out there. Looks like my truck is gettin loaded and headed NORTH for the NEW YEAR

thats why i do not go on the ice until i can drive my truck on it. i don’t care how good the fishing can be, i just don’t like risking my life on a bad/thin patch of ice early in the year.

Good to read there was a happy ending to your report Drew. Dang…scary stuff !

Thank God you are ok.

Quote:

---

Hey have you tried cutting off the front hook on the jigging raps? Eliminates it catching the ice and you WILL land more fish

---

Doesn’t that upset the balance of the lure?

I’ll let you know what I see on the Marcum.

Drove the wheelers out of Maiden Rock yesterday morn and had 12″ of ice all the way to the wisconsin side of the channel. Ended up fishin the middle of the channel sitting on 8″ of ice. Landed 12 sauger between 9 and 17″. Saw a few guys on the Mn side of the channel, maybe that was you Drew? I defeinately wont be fishing the channel for a while after this rain, but there are fish to be caught in shallower water on thicker ice All fish came on pimples tipped with minnow head and plain hook and minnow. Glad you made it home safe, happy huntin

hey tanders i was set up in the blue shack straight towards shore from you good too here you guys did good. it always has surprised me how that channel hugs the mn side so hard but it does and it can get people in trouble expecialy coming from ws when like you said had good ice out in the middle, if you dont know the flow of the river there you can get on some bad ice in a hurry just like yesterday your on 9 to 12 were on 5 to 6, maybe see you out there after this next cold snap.

I went through at Frontenac on Monday……all the way up to my arm pits….no more than 20′ from the group of shacks and 4-wheelers.

It was a quick in and out….and surprisingly not as scary as I thought it might be….more along the lines of “are you kidding me, I’m going through the ice right now?”……still very cold and wet…..fished bare foot in the shack the rest of the day and caught one……not worth it.

It was my first time on the ice this year……bad way to start! Is it March yet?

anyone been out there this week yet?? looking for update on ice–thanks