Chasing Early Ice Mille Lacs ‘Eyes!

As far as holidays go Thanksgiving is as good as it gets… Not only is it synonymous with awesome food and spending time with family but it also serves as the unofficial ice fishing opener for us ice heads here in MN.

In talking with friends I had heard of open water spots the past few days so I waited until sunrise just to be on the safe side and it’s a very good thing I did as not more than 50′ feet out from the access I found some very, very thin ice. After a little further exploration and being solo I decided it wasn’t worth risk by myself so I heading back to the landing intent on calling it a day, but instead I found a couple others (Tim & Jack Gavin) who like myself were chomping at the bit to get out. With the added confidence of having help if anything went wrong we decided to go for it and wearing life vests, boots untied, ice picks around our necks, 100’ of rope, and using a spud bar to check the ice each and every step we made our way past the sketchy ice near shore and were greeted by 3-4" of perfectly fishable ice. More on the ice conditions later, but for now on to the fishing.

By the time we arrived at our location it was now 8:30 and with clear skies, thin ice, and no snow cover our bite window was closing quickly. I grabbed the Strikemaster and started to make Swiss cheese of our location from 13′ on the outside weed edge out to 20′ at the bottom edge of the main shoreline break. Not only was it comforting to have other fishermen along while negotiating the risks of early ice but it would also prove helpful to shorten the learning curve by allowing for multiple lines. It wasn’t long and the shallow tip-up went off resulting in my first Mille Lacs ‘Eye of 2013 ice season – A VERY healthy 19.5" keeper.

In between flags we continued to hole hop with Tingler spoons and Rippin’ Raps. At each hole we were greeted by a multitude of young perch as the forage base is of the charts right now so we are going to be seeing some extremely healthy fish this winter. Next the deep flag went off right next to Tim but unfortunately it spit the bait before he had a chance to set. More jigging and more perch, then the 3rd flag popped and it was Jack’s turn on the shallow water tip up, this time with 24.5" fatty that was definitely a weight watchers candidate.

Finally just as we were packing up to head in for the morning the deep flag popped and it was my turn again… As hard as I tried to sneak up on it just before I reached the hole either the noise or my shadow spooked the fish and it took off running so I had to try a quick set. It worked for a few seconds and I was hooked up with easily the best fish of the morning, but a few head shakes and it was gone.

We ended the morning 2-4 on tip-ups with nothing to show on the spoons which wasn’t surprising as in the clear, shallow water we were fishing the bite windows are usually early morning/late afternoon which we had missed due to waiting for daylight before heading out. Not too bad for a first trip out!

And now for the rest of the story… Right about the time that the last tip-up went off we had heard a loud pop as the sun warmed the ice and it started to expand. We finished packing our gear and with little to no noticeable wind thought nothing of it as we headed for shore. It wasn’t until about halfway in that we even realized a new crack that had opened up and we were faced with about 10′ of open water where we had walked only about an hour earlier. Now this is nothing new to me fishing early ice as often we even bring a ladder to cross these cracks that open up during the day but as we started walking the edge of the crack looking for a an easy place to cross, I quickly noticed this was more than an ordinary crack, we were moving as the entire sheet had broken loose! Not just moving but moving at several feet per minute as the main sheet slide out from shore (again without any noticeable wind). The good news is that knowing the area we were fishing I quickly got us over shallow water where the worst case scenario would have been a quick swim in cold water, but donning our life vests again we found a narrow opening and jumped across. The moral of the story is that I’ve fished the lake my whole life and even being very conscious of the wind that morning knowing that if it picked up we needed to leave in a hurry I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get stuck on the wrong side of moving ice.

Be extra safe out there everyone! And don’t expect another Mille Lacs report from me for a least another week or two.