Matt Quick
Doug Mohrbacher

you bet its a team effort especially this time of year. I must admit that one log was big, heavy and stuck on the concrete so it took some work but hopefully that will help things from building up.

North Ramp is clear now unless it blew back in. I hooked up to the big logs and pulled them out and blew all the junk out also. I did this Sunday 3-25-2018

PM sent! Well done

You Bet, this one has some money put into it! I know I would cry if I lost it lol. Hopefully the person sees this or a friend somehow.

So any change in water so far? does it look like we will still have the 2′ rise?

I couldnt agree more! this ice season has been amazing for me! something about early spring open water tho its just impossible to pass up! good luck this year.

you bet! thanks

10-4, ? im sure its gonna be tough for another week or two until the weather really equalizes. Ill be in a 14ft aluminum boat and evinrude 15, this will be my first time out this year in boat just got the new motor and cant wait, just cant pass up on the oppourtunty. they may still be holding down a little staging to make a push to spawn. who knows this is why I love fishing.

Im sure things have really progressed over the last week but any new info regarding ramps and water flow? this sunday and monday 3/6 and 3/7 temps are looking promissing to try out the new 15 4 stroke!

My plan is this Sunday and Monday to be there! you will only know by trying and with the weather the way its forcasted there is really no excuse especially if the TV is the only alternative! maybe we can work together and find some nice eyes.

If you can get the lure to the depth of the fish anything is possible. I wouldnt bet an enture outing on it but who knows. A bait like that would be probably better suited for northern MN lakes rather then metro lakes just based on the area those fish tend to hold.

Most situations for me I do. Length depends on ice thickness. Battling a large pike into the hole can be made much easier when the leader is longer or close to the length of ice. Makes turning the head up the hole alot easier and removes fear of breaking line. My walleye tip ups I generally run 10 feet or so of mono as a leader in 10pound. never had really any issues with any of this. Sometimes the mono can get a little unruly on the ice and needs to be coached back down the whole on windy days and such but the benefit of a more stealthy approach generally out ways the negatives.

12+ and your most likely good. I say most likely because bottom structure can cause varying ice thickness to include current seems from islands and other shore line structures. Any way you slice it if you don’t understand the lake you shouldn’t drive, if you don’t understand how the ice reacts to driving a vehicle on it you shouldn’t drive you need to do your research and play it smart and stick to resorts info and roads if needed.
Too many people drive WAY to fast! I have watch trucks on 18 inches of ice go through because they are driving 50MPH which can cause a wave to form under the ice in front of the vehicle. When that wave builds up in front of your truck you can create a crack that you invariably drive into.

any way you slice it check ice drive smart and don’t be first lol.

crappie 55369 this is a question we are trying to figure out right now also. We were out the last two days and searching hard with little success.

The question on patterns is interesting as I feel the lakes forage base and structure play a large role with that, I don’t think we can apply any real strategy across the board.

In respect to many lakes in MN I feel that they def. move into the shallows in the fall too the shallower rock/weed structures and remain there until the water temps stabilize when the winter months take hold. As this happens they will push out to the first main lake structures such as flats, points and breaks, this at times may not last that long.

I always tend in the winter to start out in the later spots as I feel you can pretty much find fish in all areas most of the time and it gives me IMO a good opportunity to take the mood of the fish and adjust from there. This way of searching generally gives you more obvious options also as shallow breaks and weed lines can at times be intimidating as the amount of fishable areas is 10X that of the first breaks, points and humps. One piece to this puzzle we must remember is that in “early ice” situations we still have a fairly robust weed base which will continue to provide oxygen and a food source for our panfish which in turn will hold our predatory fish such as walleye, northern and bass to name a few. As the “season” progresses and we get snow cover the light is not able to penetrate and sustain a solid weed growth and will push out the smaller fish to main lake basins and points. This will undoubtedly draw the walleyes with as the food moves so do they.

As I said, over the last two days we started each morning in 24 FOW just off the end of main lake points and didn’t have much success. We began searching off the edge into 28-40FOW and found a few walleyes but not in the size class we wanted (10-14in) we then drilled all the way into 8 FOW to the edge of the weed line with little to no marks or fish to be had.
I am under the impression that at least where we have been fishing (N. Metro) the weather has been playing a large role in the negative mood of the fish. We found many fish that would chase but getting them to commit to bite was a real task. This is contrary to normally what we have seen in the same spot/ same time of year so again, weather patterns as of late in this area I believe has played the largest role.
This is what I find so fun about fishing. You can attack this problem with so many different points of view the only common denominator is whether or not you’re out there trying to figure the puzzle out.