OK, I thought it was about time that I went fishing and post a report, 
as I do not get out ice fishing as much as I would like too or as much as I used to. Stacie and I took the weekend to head up to the family’s cabin near McGregor, MN and spend some time snowmobiling, ice fishing, and to just get away. We got up to McGregor around late morning on Saturday and after a bite to eat and a little time on the trails we decided to switch gears. I was excited to get Stacie and myself out on the ice fishing but after hearing the bartender say that fishing has been slow and her brother had caught 3 crappies the whole day on Friday, my outlook was not as bright. After some trail time our new focus was getting set up late that afternoon for some Walleye and Crappie action. These were our fish target of choice, but we would be happy with anything that wanted to pull on the other end.
So we were headed to a spot on the sleds with fish house, gear and Dog Rufus in tow, as we near the spot I thought I wanted to fish. However, my plans soon changed as we turned the corner and were greeted with a village of fish houses, people and trucks where I wanted to go. 
Traditionally there would be about 3-4 houses in this area every year for the last 10years. So knowing the lake fairly well, my mind shifted to a very close and adjacent transition area where I have taken quite a few walleyes in the past few years during the summer months. My thinking was the pressure from the spot near by would move those fish off that spot and would push them into my new spot where we had it pretty much to ourselves. We set up on a sand gravel transition that had a very steep break on it that went from 7-8 feet down to 15 feet fairly quick. The plan was to set up tip ups on the shallow part and about 10 yards away we set the shack up in 15 fow. Dropping the flasher down we immediately started to mark fish and our hopes began to rise.
I quick got Stacie set up with a jigging spoon w/ minnow head and the flasher as I set up tip ups. I came back and she had not gotten bit?? I changed thing s up a bit and went with waxies incase they were perch down there. Still nothing??? I changed her bait again to a little jig and fat head minnow and as soon as that minnow started to fall, I watched the flasher as fish started to rise to meet her offering and it was FISH ON. Up came a nice 10” Crappie. This is how the whole next hour and half would go as she could not get her bait to the bottom where the fish were showing up on the flasher. She put on a clinic as I as tending to northern’s on the tip ups. Finally I just left the tip ups out of the water and joined her as Crappie after Crappie hit the ice. That torrid pace slowed down as it got dark, but they would still show up about every 15 minutes and we would yank a few more to the ice.
The fish ranged mainly from 8.5-12 inches with a few smaller ones and one bigger one that went just about 14” that we ended up releasing to swim another day. We fished from 3:30 until about 7pm. When 7 pm rolled around we decided to call it quits, but the fish were still down there and still biting. We ended up keeping 15 crappies for a fish fry this week. Stacie lost 2 larger fish at the bottom of the hole that I’m guessing were walleyes as it was dark out and the action had slowed down. I’m not sure if the warm weather turned the fish on or it was location??? I think a big part of it was getting away from the crowd and if your marking fish, keep changing baits until you find something they like. We found small jigs like shown in the picture, seemed to work best. One jig is an old favorite from when I was about 10 years old fishing with my Dad and the other is a red glow Diamond Jig, by Custom Jigs & Spins. We tipped those with whole fatheads. These set ups produced all off our crappies except for one that fell victim to a red glow Demon jigging spoon tipped with a fathead head. The norhterns were also on the chew but I elected like previously stated, to leave them alone so I could concentrate on the crappie action. The last pic is a "VERY UNIQUE" snow sculpture Stacie and I found along the snowmobile trail on Sunday. It was great to get back out on the ice and catch some fish and doing it with my new bride made it even better. I’m already looking forward to next ice season in hopes to seeing a lot more “ICE TIME” as my schedule is booked the rest of this Winter with the 14th Annual Rooster Run, my Honeymoon, Deer Classic and snowmobile trips.
Good luck to the rest of you Ice Fisherman as this boy is dreaming of Open Water fishing! 
See Lip….Ice fishing is fun!
Nice report.
I bet Stacie made him go
Nice report and good looking crappies
Thanks Guys it was a blast to see her putting on a clinic!
No she did not BRETT, but after Spanking fish like that with a flasher, I bet I have the go ahead to get that new Flasher.
Not to mention a wheel house to make sure she stays warm 
She had a blast watching the flasher,as she said it was like a video game.
I’m seriously looking to get back into ice fishing next year. 
When you tip your jigs do you find that lips or dorsal fin location is better?
angling dad, for this past weekend it was definitely dorsal fin. I think that when the minnow was falling and having it fall and fluttter (struggle) by having it hooked in the dorsal fin is what got their attention. I tried 2 other presentations and did not get a bite.
So the thinking was the slowing the presentation the fish could better see the bait-take their time and come get it..
We fished this past weekend and found that the dorsal also was the best but little or no jigging was key. Matter a fact we would lift it to just below the ice and then drop it again rather than work it in front of the fish..
Must be something to do with the low pressure that rolled in this weekend.
Great report Lip! There were a ton of people out this weekend with the warm weather.
Here is my idea of “ICE TIME”.
Link for Report on IDO
CB, I would have went but I wasn’t invited!
Shannon how was the bite over on your side of the MCGregor area????
can you kinda slim it down to at least what lake you were on or did i miss something in the great report- that would be very informative to viewers–
nice fish rob and stacie!
Great report, Rob!! Bummer that she is going to make you buy another flasher and a wheelhouse
My wife blessed me with 4 new appliances to install and she picked friday night into saturday to get it done.
Somtimes you just have to keep them happy! 
I did fish local here around Mora and managed the mother load of pinky size sunfish and perch but I had a blast with my son! 
Good to hear you still got out Shannon!
Dave, I hope the wheel house will come this Spring/Summer
Great report Rob!
Even though we all know that your day would have been a bust if it wasn’t for Stacie! 
If a guy keeps on doing what everyone else is doing, you are most likely going to get the same results. Good job on getting away from the crowd and finding what they wanted!
nice crappies!!!!
busted lip!!!
Luke, what you mean????? I got a new flasher!
WE got a new Flasher
You two….
Sorry Luke ,
WE got a new flasher.
Keep him in line Stacie….
Lip and Stacie,
Nice to spend some time together pulling some Slabs…
hope to see you at the Classic.
Jack..
Thanks Jack, Will you be at a booth???? We plan on comng with our friends from ND.
Hey bud….I hate to be the one to break the news to you….BUT… you just did get back into ice fishing already.
Thanks for the report. 
Thanks, Bill
Hey Rob nice to see you finally put down the bows and guns to pick up the Fishing Rods
Great Report 
Thanks Plunge!
It was hard to do. 
Stacie,
Dont’t you mean You got a new flasher and Rob can maybe
borrow it at times when you are not using it?
Broncs