With it being March 12th we are almost to mid march, although it feels like mid january lately. Switching weather systems, extreme wind, and some small snowstorms have made fishing a pain at times. The fish however have been worth it. We have been moving alot to find fish, but the schools are of great size, and one can usually pull alot of fish out of a school before they move on. This past week we have had some great days with 100 plus fish days when the whole group of guys gets on the fish. Early march every year we try to do a perch bonanza with friends and family from MN. This past weekend we had 9 guys out on the ice drilling holes and moving so there was no shortage of manpower. It was especially nice to have my younger brother come up from brookings. to get on some fish as his time is limited this day with college obligations.
We have continued to find fish on deep transistion lines from gravel/sand to mud fishing mostly 21-22 feet of water and fish are more active in early morning evening hours. With daylight savings time adding the extra hour at night it is alot of fun to have another hour to fish. Tactics remain the same. Slender spoons in silver with red and silver with green continue to produce along with swedish pimples in silver and mother of pearl along with do-jiggers in silver chartuese working at times. 1/8oz size is turning bigger fish with aggressive jigging sweeps sometimes up to 5-6 feet off bottom gets the biggest aggressive fish in the school to slide up and hit it. We had a blizzard saturday so huddled up in shacks and stayed put and waited em out. We had a great day catching alot of fish and everyone had a good time. With the 30mph plus winds and snow we were not able to get any good photo opportunities, but did get one hero shot back at my place. With ice thickness up to 30 inches I am hoping we will be fishing into early april as in years past. Tight lines and slimey hands – Q