Brainerd Lakes Ice Pike and Bass Report, Jan 16-18

One of my favorite trips every year is a reunion of college and grad school friends in the Brainerd Lakes area. Since the mid-1990s, we have gathered on the shores of the Whitefish Chain to pursue pike and bass with tip-ups. We target some of the smaller, less heavily traveled areas of the chain so that we can enjoy the peace and solace that ice fishing brings.

Our angling success varies from year to year, but the camaraderie is always great. With only one pre-determined weekend to work with, our reunion trips are at the mercy of the weather. Prior to this year’s trip, Canada had spring a leak. The low temperature in Brainerd on Thursday night (24 hours before our adventure began) was in the -30s. Happily, the air warmed all weekend, yielding daytime highs in the teens to 20s above zero. The warming weather had a positive influence on the Chain’s finned inhabitants, providing us with dynamite fishing this year.

Our tip-up approach is relatively simple. The water we target is essentially a big bowl. There are scrubby coontail patches in the shallow portions of the bowl (growing down to 13-14′), and the bowl slowly drops down to 18-22′. The bottom is generally sandy. With a total of six guys fishing, we spread out along the rim of the bowl, and each guy drops one shallow flag (10-14′) and a second flag in the deeper water. We position the shallow baits right at or just above the tips of the coontail patches, while the deep baits are either set a couple of feet below the ice, or right above the bottom of the sandy basin. This approach allows us to target both the fish that are cruising the weeds looking for a meal as well as the basin fish that have a more neutral attitude. We move flags to new water as often as necessary to keep them flying, and check baits often as light-biting bass have the tendency to gnaw on a bait without tripping the flag.

So, how did we do? Well, when the sun was shining brightly, we did great! With 14″ of ice, 2-4″ of slush, and 12-18″ of powdery snow, light penetration in the depths was relatively low. A bright sun helped these sight-feeding pike and bass to hone in on our offerings, and make brief appearances above the ice for photos before being released back into the Chain. Our big pike for the weekend, shown in the first photo above, was a 9lb-ish fish that hit a dead sucker fished 3-feet down over 18 feet of water. We also CPRd a number of 5-7 lb fish as well as a handful of 24″-class fish that we harvested for some delicious fish tacos.

The bass we contacted were just plain gorgeous! We ended up with a trio of bass in the 18″ class and a bunch of 15-17″ fish. The one-pounders that I can’t seem to escape back in Wisconsin took a holiday this past weekend on the Chain. All of the bass we caught were gently CPRd after posing with happy anglers for a quick pic or two. The largest bass we contacted were on the deep coontail edge; the fish that were shallower or out in the basin tended to run smaller. Tip-up placement had to be precise to get a chance to dance with the bigger bass.

This weekend was my first opportunity to use a MarCum 825C color camera through the ice. I’ll save most of my observations for the near future, once we get a chance to convert the film we shot using the camera into web videos that we’ll share right here. I will pass on a few quick observations. First, there is NO better tool for identifying structure (weeds, rocks, various man-made stuff) than the MarCum camera. Second, the camera allows you to see exactly how game fish interact with your baits, either in a positive or a negative way. Finally, there is nothing more cool than taking the raw, recorded camera footage and watching it on TV after a day on the ice, rooting for bass and pike as they enter the frame and smash your bait. You’re going to love the footage that the 825c produces!

In closing….take advantage of our next warm-up and do some ice fishing with your family and friends. As you’ll see in the sequences that follow this report, good times abound on the Minnesota ice!