The Grand Slam of Ice Fishing!

I literally have so many stories and pictures from the past 4 days of fishing that I don't really know where to start.  Bails, Mikey and myself (aka: The Tripod) left this past Thursday in search of the grand slam of ice fishing.  I call it the grand slam because we target my 4 favorite species through the ice and they are all trophy caliber fish.  The list consists of Monster Bluegills, Slab Crappies, Big Bellied Jumbo Perch, and Fat Bellied Walleyes.  During our trip we fished all of these species and managed to try 9 different lakes on our quest.

The first on our list was the Slab Crappies, and boy did we ever strike gold.  The small puddle in the forest that we fished is one of my favorite holes to fish because we commonly catch crappies up to nearly 2 pounds.  If you have ever caught the giants in red lake then you know what size of fish I am talking about.  When the bite is going on this particular lake it doesn't take long to wear your arm out, which is exactly what we experienced.  We caught several large crappies over a pound with some going over 1 1/2 pounds.  We kept a nice meal for our first fish fry, and threw all the larger fish back for next time.  This very tiny lake can handle very little pressure, and since I have never seen another soul on it while I have been out there, I like to let the big ones grow even larger. 

After catching our crappies for the day we switched to a new lake that produces many species for us while we target the Monster Bluegills.  We set out our tip-ups with shiners and ran back and forth chasing the pike while we played around with the giant sunnies.  Since we had our meal of crappies already in the pail, we decided to throw everything back and just enjoyed the sight of every sunfish that managed to cover our entire hands.  We didn't catch any pounders, but had several up to 3/4 pound, which for a sunfish, is truly a giant and a very rare bread.  While catching our sunfish we chased a tip-up nearly every 10 - 15 minutes and caught several northern pike.  We also caught Largemouth bass, and a few BBJP's in this short afternoon on the water.  All I have to say is that We nearly caught everything on our list in the first half day of fishing for our trip.  A great start to say the least.

Day 2 of our excursion took us to Red Lake to get in on the Walleye bite and to cross another specie off our list to tackle.  Since we had all the crappie action from the day before, we concentrated on strictly catching the Walleyes instead of searching for the huge crappies that most people chase out there.  We fished in the well below zero temps all day and caught several nice walleyes.  We landed these fish by getting as far away from anybody as we could and fishing the shoreline break in 11-12 feet of water.  On this large swamp once you hit 14ft of water, there is no structure until you hit shore on the other side.  It can make things frustrating when sitting miles out on an endless flat, so we stuck to the shoreline break which is actually pretty steep if you go out of JR's resort on the SouthWest side of the fishable water.  We caught in the neighborhood of 30 walleyes and had fairly steady action in both the morning and evening.  The only downside to our day was our inability to catch up with our buddies on the big lake.  Theo, Todd and their crew were also on the water, but with our horibble phone service and the fact that Theo managed to drop his phone down the ice hole, we were unable to find them.  Sorry fellas, Next time I guess!

Day 3 had us chasing the awesome Perch bite that can be had on a few of the lakes in the area.  We fished hard and tried 3 different lakes before we decided that this wasn't going to be the weekend for the Big Bellied Jumbo Perch.  We caught many perch, but they just didn't have the size that we were after.  A couple of the lakes that I have done well on, have very drastic up and down times.  The thing that makes it worth trying is that when they do hit, they are fast and furious, and they are truly massive.  Although we didn't strike gold with them, I will definitely be trying again next time up.  We switched gears and headed down another logging road for the afternoon bite for the Bull Gills.  We had a great time catching many large fish and hole hopping around all afternoon.  This lake is my absolute favorite, and didn't let us down on this trip either.  We didn't break the pound mark, but came very close several times.  Awesome! Awesome! Awesome bluegill Bite!

The last day of our trip we decided to try another great Bluegill lake for the morning before heading home,  We tangled around with many more large Bulls, and closed the trip in style.  In the entire time of fishing, we caught trophy fish in all the categories that we wanted.  The perch were a little slower than normal but we still had some in the BBJP size category.  In my opinion this is the best kind of ice fishing that can be had and with the large variety, every day is a new experience.  If you haven't been on a trip like this, I definitely recommend it as one that you need to put on your list.  If you or someone you know would like to experience this excitement let me know soon to set up the ice fishing trip of a lifetime.

More pictures from the trip may be seen in the numerous photo albums. 

The Grand Slam of ice fishing is AWESOME!  Thanks Mike and Sean!

Northbound!

Heading up to the northwoods in search of the grand slam for the first time in 2007.  When I say grand slam I mean catching insane amounts of trophy Bluegill, Crappie, Perch (BBJP's) and Walleye.  We have a couple of days worth of time to spend and hope to conquer each specie.  It is my absolute favorite to fish a handful of lakes in one day and catch a trophy of a different specie on each lake.  Living in the Bemidji area for the past four winters, my hopes are extremely high to get back up there and repeat my success.  Nothing is better than driving through the forest for several miles and coming up on a lake that has no houses on it and hasn't seen a soul all winter.  I will soon find out if my four years of schooling will be paying off for me.  I will be posting our results as soon as we return, so until then good luck in the bitter cold!  Catch some big ones, and let them go!

What's Shakin in the Metro

This winter has been one of those winters that just make a man wonder about about what the heck is going on with this ice.  I snapped these photos yesterday evening while on lake Waconia.  For January 15th it sure seems strange to be looking at open water.  This massive stretch of open water has been steadily gaining in size and is now at approximately 30 acres.  The really odd part about it is that it has been in the single digits to below zero for the last 5 days, yet it still is growing rapidly in size.  You can see in the pics that there are houses and vehicles just beyond the open water...that's right VEHICLES nearly 200 yards from the waves.  Normally I would be the risky person out there, but the current generated from the waves has caused severe ice loss in spots, and while drilling holes in the area yesterday, we found as little as 6" in spots.  The thing that makes me wonder the most is that as soon as one truck touched the ice 3 days ago, everybody and their brother thought the lake was safe to drive on.  There are people driving all around this water and they don't realize how much ice they are actually on.  At one point last night there was a truck and a van parked next to each other, and they weren't even 20 yards from the area that we found the 6" inches of ice.  The current caused by this open water has been eating the ice away right underneath people and they don't even know it.  In the past few days the open water has grown a couple of hundred yards, and people that once had their house on their favorite honey hole have moved it away only to see waves where they had been fishing.  Craziness for this late in the year with the temps being as cold as they are. 

I strongly encourage precaution on all lakes south of Brainerd at this point.  My buddy that flies up north regularly in his small plane said he could see open water on the majority of the lakes south of Brainerd.  This is scary when you think about driving out on the ice on a lake you haven't been on this year.  If it freezes over and gets a layer of snow on top of it, then everything looks the same and the stranger to the lake will have no idea.  I usually cannot be scared by the ice this late in the season, but my ventures that I will soon be taking in the next few weeks to my smaller lakes all over the state have really got me wondering just how risky I am going to be.  Not that I won't be out there, but I will just be using my 4 years of college to make a better decision.

Now back to the fishing report.   I have been out a couple of times on the lakes close to home doing some lazy man fishing and catching whatever wants to swim under the cozy shack.  My outings have taken place on Waconia, Parley and Minnetonka.  The object of my affection lately has been what is suppose to be the "easy to catch" panfish.  Each time out has had different results for us and it seems very difficult to find any consistency in the action.  We have tried several "go-to" spots on Waconia for crappies and the fish have been winning some of the battles.  We have managed some tasty meals a couple of times out, as well as a few bonus fish that we weren't targeting.  One of the best parts about fishing for panfish in the weeds is that you always seem to have a few unexpected fish grab the wigglers (worms) and jigs.  Not that I feel like keeping the slimy northerns or bass,  but they sure can be a great battle at times.  Once this goofy winter weather settles down some, I think the action will stabilize a little more.  

You'll never catch every fish in the lake, but it sure is fun trying.  Fish On!

It's Not Always Easy

Mike and I busted free early on Friday to head up to Mille Lacs yet again in hopes of landing more eye's.  We hit the ice around 2 in the afternoon for an evening bite, and again the following morning for a half day before returning to the cities.  Our two half days gave us some very interesting time on the water.  As I'm sure most of you know, the ice has been pretty sketchy in some areas, but here is a report from somebody who has actually been up there and fished pretty much the entire lake this winter.  There is a crack that runs around the majority of the lake.  It shifts around from time to time as the ice keeps growing, but there are places that it most definitely can be crossed.  This pressure ridge most likely will not close up this winter, so the only solution is to use the available bridges, or to bring your own.  This crack is roughly 1/4 mile out from shore and wraps around the entire lake from what I have seen.  There is solid ice right up to the crack on both sides, and is fine if you can get planks on both sides.  It is only open because the two sheets of ice keep pushing against each other as the ice thickens on the rest of the lake.  Once you get across this bad boy the ice is 12" or better.  We honestly found nothing under 14" in the several spots we fished this weekend.  I just thought I would tell exactly what I have found, because everybody I talk to seems to think that this big lake has open water and cracks running all over it.  I repeat....Once I crossed this crack, I found nothing but one big skating rink that stretches as far as the eye can see.  

As far as the fishing went, we didn't have the greatest of luck.  We fished two spots on Friday afternoon, and found some hungry fellas on our second honey hole.  We didn't slay them by any means, but Mike and I had a great time running from hole to hole to catch the 6 that we landed.  Saturday morning we were joined by Art who met us on the water to bring us the bad luck he usually carries with him on our fishing outings (heehee).  This man always seems to pick the days when the fishing is the toughest, and therefore I just tell him that he's obviously bad luck.  We drove out to the spot from the night before only to find two portables set up in our holes.  We immediately started fishing new spots with no luck until we boated 3 Walleyes and a BBJP around 10 in the morning.  We called it a day earlier than expected, and spent the next hour trying to cross the ever changing ice heave by shore.  This made for a few laughs and blunders during an otherwise cold, windy, and uneventful morning on the water.  Every time on the ice is an adventure, and as always I enjoyed this one to the fullest.  You can't always catch a ton, but it's still fun trying.  Fish On!!     

Ending 2006 In Style

Battling a fierce cold for the last couple of days, I decided to deal with my sickness on the ice rather than on the couch.  I figured that I'm sick either way, I may as well be sick and doing something I love instead of being a pile on the sofa.  So, Dingy and myself left early yesterday morning for the big pond (aka: Mille Lacs).  With a great trip the first time up there this year, my hopes were extremely high going into the morning.  After a broken rod, a few cuss words from Dingy, objects being thrown (Dingy again) , and crossing a major ice heave, we were to our first spot and fishing for the day.  We had minimal results from our first few spots for the day, but stumbled onto some late in the morning and decided to make that our campsite for the rest of the day.  Unlike last time we were out, the fish were not concentrated on the bottom ledge of the reefs, instead they were roaming around on the tops of the flats.  This required only about 75 - 100 holes from Dingy's what seemed like 200lb ice auger, and a sore back the next day.  By drilling all of these holes, we were able to move from hole to hole finding active fish instead of waiting for them to come to us.  This is my favorite technique for catching many walleyes and we probably tripled our catch for the day by doing this. 

When the day was all said and done, we had in the neighborhood of 20 eye's, one broken rod, a few classic misses from Dingy, and many good laughs.  While the giants weren't smacking for us on this day, we still had action and brought home a nice meal for the table.

On a side note, I want to give a "shout out" to my cousins Matt and Bobby and their buddies who were up on the lake as well.  They were fishing a different area and struck gold, limiting out on eaters for the four of them, and throwing many large fish back up to 28".  Well done boys! 

Happy New Years to all and Fish On in 2007!