I’m going to start a blog where everyone can post the latest ‘reports’ from resorts as you get on their ice road.
“Had a private party in that bay last weekend and they pulled up just about every species in the lake”
“300 yards out a group limited out on eyes just the other day”
-heard on leach quite recently
Well over a foot of ice on the lake, and the wind as of late has been rough in that area.
Was up Sun-Wed on Traders Bay it of Acorn Hill. They have 30 miles of roads and over 300 spots plowed out. We were supposed to stay until Thursday but packed up early. One 20” walleye on a tip up. Marked all day and night, small finger perch but not a single taker. Got mobile during the day when it was in the mid 30s, all the same. Talked to a few other guys and it was the same story. Was strange, maybe 5 trucks out while we were there, but I guess the weekend was a zoo. We were in the Ivan Bay Area.
Best of luck to you, I’m sure there are good reports out there. Our whole season has been this way with Red Lake early ice being the exception.
We jokingly decided that next season, we are fishing early Red 3 weekends and then hanging it up.
We are on leech now out of acorn, fishing Ivan’s Bay. We were up in Winnie Jan14 out of Nodak and it was a dead zone. Which made us shy away from it this weekend (aside from Detroit Lakes being unattainable).
We’re close enough to move, but we have some bent wheel axel issues that probably means the shack is staying here for a few weeks.
So after all the questions and research, we landed on Leech. Been quite a few years since we’ve fished it, and there seems to be pretty hardy access. Ottertail was our preferred but it’s too sketchy right now. Too many resorts have shut their roads down due to snow pack and slush.
So one last question for anyone familiar with Leech… Walker Bay or Traders?
Anything happening in the Brainerd lakes area? Looking at Gull or North Long. A few people I’ve reached out to near Ottertail are giving it a rest until conditions improve. Ottertail Lake has about 20″ of snow and an intense snow pack I guess.
We primarily target walleye but it’s been a long time since we’ve gone after panfish. Anything to keep us busy, a night bite is always appreciated but not necessary. We do enjoy the prospect of trying a new lake.
Well there’s sort of a trade off there, you’d be paying more money but it’s also not the newest technology. So you’d probably catch more fish but they won’t be any trophys
Yes homemade, lighter then any fish Ouse out there! More then trustworthy in the father who made it. This baby has 20+ years age in it. I can’t imagine there was anything cost saving about it! Everyone is safe, he was on his way to pick up his nephews for a weekend on the ice.
Crazy right, except the break happened on the wrong side of the chains! The house flipped over.
Lol we made due. Proud to say the whiskey bottles are empty.
Didn’t help that the first night we gave a bunch away to our neighbors!
Fish on?
Thems fighting words!
Well we did get up here thur am. Still have half a bottle of 4 roses and some Tennessee fire. Just no beer!
Do they have built in thermostats if we wanted to keep it in the lowest setting?
I would literally launch anywhere else on the lake, and it has nothing to do with the fishing in the area.
Lol so don’t use myr mar is what your saying? We just plan on a couple day excursions to lakes west of ML so we were wanting an ice road on that side!
Can I dm you to take this offline?
What about Out of the west side by garrison? There’s a lake or two we want to hit In that area and that would put us closer. Not sure who manages that ice road?
We were out yesterday, same as Biggill stated, but lots of snow in the forecast.
Just call ahead a day or two to your resort and they can fill you in (their FB page might have some details too)
By then you’ll probably need to use one for plowed access.
As far as plowed access, would they plow us a spot for a fee as well? Or do we just bring a couple shovels!
We did ok, not great. 8 of us in 2 day shacks out of wigwam over the weekend. We were 5 miles past Pine Island.
No where close to limits. I did manage a PB walleye at 29″ though!
We didn’t have a choice since we had to rebook last minute since Winnie wasn’t fishable… fun weekend but disappointed fishing wise (aside from my trophy)
Appreciate the feedback everyone, can’t wait for next week!
Any tips on winni colors/lures? None of us have fished it before. We’re all pretty geared up for red and Lotw.
Thanks ice cap… im actually contemplating splicing the wires into the vexilar quick connect. The Ultra packs have the terminals on the front that I could hook gators too but curious on other routes
They’re awesome. I had mine setup last year up on LOTW along with everyone else’s tipups. The Finicky Fooler outfished every classic tip.
All my buddies are going to buy one now!
Found it! Finicky Fooler
This is where I’m really glad we are going up tomorrow morning and renting from a smaller, private outfitter who brings all their guests out in SUVs with tracks. No worry about getting stuck or in a bad spot. Not to mention every house of theirs will be completely separated from pressure! Can’t wait.
Yeah I talked them out of it! All set now. Fish on
Just got a second one of these this year… love them. No more tangles
We primarily fish in shacks these days which is prompting me to switch. Two of my rods go braid right to lure and I want to add in the leader.
I don’t know if you are trolling or not but just don’t reel all the way
Oh I’m not, I’m switching all my lines over to this method this season, my fishing buddy swears against it said he had nothing but problems. Having not done this yet I was curious what I may have been missing.
And I want a little fuel to go back and give him some grief
So do you guys treat this thing (performance hoodie) just like an outer shell then? The one I lost was really just a ski jacket that broke the wind and repelled water. Sounds like the hoodie is the same thing with some added warmth?
I have the Striker Performance Hoody, and really like it. Only complaint is the zipper carriage pulled/broke off and despite a few emails to them, never heard back, but my local tailor fixed it for $18, and I’d still buy it again.
I’ve look at this on and off for a few seasons now, the pic of it online gives the appearance of it being rather tight. How well does it fit over a thicker hoodie?
Man, this blew up more than I wanted it too.
1) This is in the ice fishing forum because I couldn’t find another forum dedicated to open water.
2) It’s obviously not written clearly in the books@
3) After reading all of this, I still believe the lure I posted is illegal because it talks about 2 artificial baits WITH 2 hooks. I think Justin Laack is spot on.
4) The lure showed in the book with 9″ separation, to me is meant to be attached to a single piece of bait. Like a big sucker setup when tip up fishing for big pike.
All I wanted to know was if I was in the right place to ask the company to swap lures for me!
But the two plastics on there count as two artificial baits right? And you can only have one?
