The best part of Ice fishing is when a plan comes together. This winter has been a constant struggle when heading out. Either the wind is blowing what seems like 90mph out of the NW, facing another front of some sort moving through, or it’s about 20 below zero. This past Friday I found almost perfect conditions on Lake Osakis in west central Minnesota. Mild temps, little to no wind, fishing before the change in weather, so it turns out the fish cooperated very well.
With the recent short runoff we experienced, I took a guess thinking that the fish have begun to move shallow looking for more food, small bugs, nymphs, and in some cases schools of smaller minnows. Using the Lakemaster chip looking for inside turns on what was an old weed line in the summer seems to produce a fairly larger schools of panfish roaming along the edge in search of the food. What these fish ran into was my Custom Jigs& Spins #10 White/Black gill pill with the orange back tipped with eurolarve or spikes.
Key to finding these fish was to drill holes all over this old weedline. Some shallow, some deep, and some right on the break itself. Next it was important to move to each hole put the Marcum in just to check if any fish were in the hole. No fish keep moving until you find some fish suspended off the bottom 2’-4’ off. These were the aggressive fish; these are the fish you’re looking for. Quickly lowering the gill pill down would result in these fish meeting the jig half way, with an immediate strike most times before you could even get your bail closed. You were often able to catch most of the fish you seen on the Marcum, once they were gone you sometimes only had to move about 20 feet away to find the school again
The key to this successful trip was staying on the move. Yes you could have caught fish staying put in one hole all day, but you would have been wasting a lot of time. There were aggressive fish around all day long you just had to move around to find them. Ice was in excellent condition, with the recent snow it made for some slippery conditions. I would recommend ice cleats while out on the ice. I think we should have good safe ice throughout the month of March which often times yields some of the best ice fishing of the season, so don’t put away that ice gear just yet.
See you on the ice..
Great report Calvin. Those are some nice fish. I picked up a few of those black and white gil pils a few weeks back and they have been great.
Ok so I did a little research on what an inside turn is going to look like. I was able to do a screen shot of the lakemaster chip as to the type of structure I was fishing…
Thanks again to lakemaster!!!
A guy can’t make it any clearer than that! Thanks for going the extra mile to illustrate the type of area you were fishing. The guys with the Lakemaster chip should be able to find similar spots without a problem.
I noticed you left off the coordinates though.
How did you get a screen shot of the Lakemaster Chip? Are you using an emulator on your PC with an attached LEI Card Reader?
I talked to Cal about it and it sounds like he just took a pic with his digital camera.
Nice fish sounds like fun
great report calvin that crappie is a pig
Is that actually a shot of the Osakis Lakemaster chip or a different lake? I have the Lakemaster ProMap Series printed map with the 3 foot definition. If that is a picture of the Osakis chip, I think I may know where you were at, but it looks a bit different with the 1 foot graduations. I might have to get me a new GPS and that chip. Do you know if the Lakemaster software works with Apple systems? Nice fish by the way. There are some big ones in Osakis.
That is the MN lakemaster chip zoomed in to about 1/8th of a mile or so….All lakemaster chips are not compatable with computers, they have the computer software to purchase as well.. Lakemaster computer software take a look at this link to browse around about computer compatability. In my opinion I wouldn’t go fishing without a lakemaster chip in some sort of gps, whether thats a handheld or a unit mounted in your boat. Good luck, any further questions feel free to post away.
Wow, what a detailed report!
Do you think you could bait my hook too!
Nice fish and Congrats on your PB Crappie Cal!
Nice job!
RetiredonOsakis,
Sorry, LakeMaster Contour Pro software is not compatible with Apple. It is compatible with the new MicroSoft Vista.
Ya, I checked the link. It is only compatible with Windows Vista or Windows XP. I suppose if I want to use it I could load Parallels and XP on my MacBook Pro and run it that way. Be a whole lot cleaner if they made it for the Mac.
Great report and fish Cal! I want some of my gill pills back!
Cal:
Excellent report, and phenomenal detailing of the bite via those pig panfish. Thanks too for the great Lakemaster illustration. Esp. for the high definition lakes, the price of the chip/software more than pays for itself if you spend any time on those lakes!
Joel
Retired….do you have a handheld or permanent mounted GPS on your boat? If you don’t I really think you could benefit from the handheld for all seasons on Osakis. Get yourself one of these units and equip it with a MN lakemaster chip you will become dangerous on Osakis. One of my favorite all around lakes for multi-species.
Nice looking fish Calvin! Congrats on your PB crappie.
Fantastic report Cal
Congrats on the PB Pie, that is a giant
Cal great report those gills look sweet.
Welcome to IDO Tim…..bought time you sign up..
Nice fish!! Those gills were quite healthy to say the least!
Nice crappies and sunnys!
Calvin,
I have the older hand held Garmin GPS 76 so it doesn’t take the chip. Guess I may have to upgrade.
Nice job Cal!
I’m glad to see that someone is catching some quality fish! 
Maybe I need some lessons? 
How much per fish? Good Luck the rest of the ice season! I am thinking Rainy River already?? 
690reece
I got my Remote border pass in the mail today….yep 2 weeks is all it took…I also got a nice shipment of Blades, and BFT jigheads in the mail today as well….Thanks Bob….I cannot wait for Rainy….
Retired on Osakis…..Give Wade a call at Jolly Ann for an updated handheld GPS along with the lakemaster chip….
Jolly Ann
Very impressive fish Cal!