I had the chance to go try some ice fishing on Lake Zumbro today. The bite has been typical of mid-winter – somewhat on the slow side. The first thing I noticed was that the current was very low, which is always a good sign when ice fishing. A stronger current will put the fish on the move and they tend to be less likely to bite.
I decided to start the fishing with my usual choice of lures/bait – a diamond jig tipped with red spikes. I quickly found no reason to try anything else. The fish were there and willing to bite. The action was actually quite good early in the day and tailed off as the day went on.
I set up in 23 FOW and saw almost constant activity on the bottom. The active fish would slowly raise up off the bottom and take a swipe at the lure about 2-3 above the bottom. Without the use of my Marcum LX-5 I would probably not have caught many. It was imperative to see the fish start to rise and then be ready for the bite. The bites were light and you needed to set the hook almost immediately, or the fish would spit the lure away.
The fishing should get better very soon on Lake Zumbro. In a normal year, we start to see the fish move up-river around this time, and there is some indication that a few of the fish are moving already. The Zumbro Zinger GTG is coming up March 8th. There is a post in the Rochester forum with details. Sure was fun to catch some decent fish on the Zum again! Hope you all have a chance to get out fishing soon.
Glad to hear the bite is getting back on track out there.
Thanks for the report Mike.
Thanks for the report and pics bud. Am looking forward to the fish movement and the Zumbro Zinger.
Thanks, Bill
Now I really have to think about heading down to the ZZ.
Good report,
Corey Bechtold
Mike,
Just getting out must of been great…
catching a few is A BONUS….
Jack..
Great report Mike
Corey, I’ll see you on the ol’ Zumbro…have a hole cut for you with the StrikeMaster and…you can use my Marcum and Reel Weeds!
See ya there.
Besides our secret purple <censored> and the Diamond Jig, what else are you using for bait?
Thanks for the report. I have drivin by there many times heading up to the twin cities to visit family, and I often wondered how the fishing was there. It’s nice to know there are fish in there. Thanks again for the report.
While I had a limited window to fish yesterday morning and seemed to have misses the mid-day bite, some very nice whites were caught. Very nice. The same window was available today and I jumped all over it, but the nice one eluded me again. I got three black crappies but they were hard pressed to hit the 9 inch mark. I am positive it was timing today.
For a little added twist here, the better fish for a couple of my very reliable sources have been coming off much larger plastic….like the mini-mites and Cuprit Paddletails. A variety of color/head combinations were working well. I was getting a crappie or two randomly over the last couple weeks on the more aggresive-profiled plastic and yesterday’s fish for these two just confirms that the bite is shifting gears ….as it does every year about now. The fish are shifting preferred areas now as well.
The bite for sunfish has been off and on at Fisherman’s but rumblings about nice fish are starting to dribble in. The ice is holding together across the channel yet too, so Zinger should see some decent fishing. Last year I was able to hang some mega slabs in the current , yet under the ice. They were taken pretty much by a large-plastics attack too. Jigheads are generally 1/32 or 1/16 collar-less heads.
For two weeks now we have been seeing a lot of sucker, redhorse, and carp activity picking up in this immediate area and all of that tends to precede the crappies appearance.
Corey, again I say if you want to bunk here you are welcome at the house….good meals included. Drop me a line dude…