Archived Minnesota Ice Fishing Reports From Lake Winnie, Leech Lake, Cass Lake, Red Lake and Lake of the Woods for January 2011

Ice Fishing Report January 31, 2011 Jeff Sundin Say goodbye to January folks! Most of the lodge owners and ice shelter rental operators who have been trying hard to keep a few fishing spots open for their guests, will be happy to see this month gone. It's been the kind of winter that grandpa used to talk about, snow on most days and when its not snowing, its cold. It's true that we've spent a lot more time talking about ice conditions this winter than we have fishing. But it's really important, road conditions keep changing and if you can't find a place to get on a lake, you can't fish at all.
Over the past couple of weeks, talking with plow operators about the road conditions has been a little dicey too. I can see that many of them are getting frustrated with crummy conditions, equipment problems and trying to meet people's expectations. Right now, more than ever, if you're lucky enough to have someone plowing a road out onto the lake, do us all a favor and ask for advice before you head out and set up. Lots of the road problems are caused by anglers grouping up too tightly, drilling holes too close to the roads and setting up in places where snow is too deep. By taking a few minutes to get on "the same page" with the plow operators, you'll make everyone's winter go a lot smoother from here on out.
The best news is that the fishing is good, especially if you can get to some new territory. If you're one of the lucky ones that's equipped with a snow machine, then you are in the drivers seat right now. There are huge expanses of water that hasn't been touched this winter. Even though there are reports of slush, clever snowmobilers can find plenty of lakes where problems are minimal. Most of the really bad slush problems are on shallower lakes that froze early. Keep an eye on deeper, clearer lakes and you'll find better ice conditions.
(1/31) Lake of the Woods Anglers are catching their limits of Walleye and a lot of these fish are still suspended 5-20 feet below the surface in overall water depths of 30 to 35 feet. Folks fishing on the reefs are catching Sauger too, but unlike the Walleyes, Saugers remain on the bottom. Everyone that's reported in has mentioned using a different lure, so I think using your favorite baits will get you some fish. Glow Red, Buckshot Spoons, Gold Jigging Rapalas and "dead-sticking" live minnows on a plain hook have all been mentioned. Average size of the fish appears to be better than usual tright now and there are a lot of anglers reporting catches of Walleye in the 20 plus inch range. Saugers are running about the typical size for LOW with an average fish running 12 to 13 inches and large ones occasionally approaching 15 inches.
(1/31) From Border View Lodge on Lake of the Woods, Mike Kinsella reports that they split their fleet of houses and are now fishing two seperate areas. Their plowed road access is out 11 miles from the lodge at about 32-35 feet of water. Mike says that there are no other resorts or private houses near this location. Border View's sleepers are also located in this are, out deep.
Their guests are still seeing great numbers of suspended Walleye from 5-20’ below the ice. There are quite a few suspended Tullibees cruising around as well. Saugers are holding tighter to the bottom. The number of fish being caught has been fair to good, but the quality of fish has been superb. Lots of nice, keeper sized Walleyes along with some larger ones too. Right now, Walleyes are out numbering Saugers.
Border View also has a group of houses, only accessible by bomber, located between Knight Island and Bridges. Mike says that with a one hour ride, it's quite a haul up there, but the number of fish they've caught have made the trips worthwhile. In this area, most of their action has mainly been Saugers caught close to the bottom. Mike says that Sauger numers have been "ridiculous". Walleyes, Jumbo Perch and Eelpout are in the mix too.
(1/31) Rick and Kim Leonhardt at Highbanks Resort on Lake Winnie, repeated the announcement that they have closed their plowed access roads to the public until Thursday February 4th. The game plan is to get roads stabilized and work on improving roads to Zoomers and the Big Island.
(1/31) John Seekon at the Pines Resort, on Lake Winnie's Tamarack Bay annouced that their plowed road will be closed to the public until they've had a chance to open up new spurs and stabilize slushy areas along the main roadway. I was out for a visit on Sunday and the main road is actually in good shape, they just need some time to let the slush and wet spots freeze in again. With heavy traffic in small areas, the ice doesn't get a chance to heal. Watch for updates as conditions change.
(1/31) Ball Club Lake, Gus says that the patterns have remained consistent for a couple of weeks now. There is a good solid daytime Perch bite. There are some small ones to sort through, but many of the Perch are between 8-11 inches. You may even see an occasional 12-14 incher. Best location has been 20-25 feet of water along the drop-offs.
Northern Pike have been active in similar areas and many have been taken by anglers fishing for Perch near the bottom. If you are fishing Northern Pike, Gus says; try setting your tip-ups at about around 15-20 feet for best results.
The Walleye pattern continues to center around the low-light bite early morning and late afternoon. Larger fish seem to prefer deeper water in the 25+ foot range. Anglers at Gus's Place are primarily using live bait rigs (dead sticking) for Walleyes. Bluegill and Crappie remains slow on Ball Club, Gus is hoping fro an increase in the action during late winter, when the temperatures warm and panfish typically get more active.
ICE CONDITIONS Lake conditions remain less than ideal. Even though they have 16-22 inches of good ice, Gus reports 10 inches of packed snow with some deeper drifts. There are some areas of slush and water, especially under the deepest snow. They have good plowed access, but Gus says that they have struggled to maintain trails out to the deep water drop-off. Lake travel is best with snowmobile, chained 4X4 ATV. If you take a truck out you will need tire chains.
Gus always shares GPS coordinates with his lodging customers.
(1/31) Upper Red Lake, Ryan Klein of Ryan's Fish House Rentals After another busy weekend, Ryan reported that compared to fishing reports from other areas of Red Lake, he can't complain about the action his customers have had. Anglers in all of the houses were getting some fish, most took home their limits and some even had an extra treat of a meal on the lake. Ryan says that Walleye action has been strictly early morning and late afternoon. This week's trend was that afternoon produced the best.
Northern Pike action in the area has still been okay, with one group landing a healthy 39 incher. Most of the rental shelters Klein operates are still located around center bar and he anticipates staying in that area for another week or so.

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Ice Fishing Report January 30, 2011 Jeff Sundin On Saturday, lots of us were disappointed to see another few inches of new snow. We really don't need any more, really! Instead of fishing, I spent my day plowing snow, thawing out horse water and working on melting ice dams on the roof of my house. I know, those are glamour jobs too and yes, I do realize how lucky I am to be able to climb around on that ladder.
Back to fishing though, the buzz about fishing on Saturday came from Lake of the Woods. A friend had asked me to check on how the action is out on the rock reefs, so I got in touch with some of the resorts up there. The reports are still coming in, but it sounds like the Walleye action on the reefs has been really good.
Ice depth is 2 feet plus and the bombardiers are travelling to the reefs located in 32-35 feet of water. Most of the houses that aren't on the reefs are still way out there. Some of the closer houses are still 10 miles out, others are as far as 15 miles away from the shoreline.
(1/30) Reporting in from Fred's Bait in Deer River, Chester Powell has been doing some Lake Trout fishing. Click here for the full report from Fred's Bait.
(1/29) Visiting with my friend Tony Kellin last evening, he gave me a heads up about some of the Lake Trout action in the Grand Rapids area. I'm not going to mention where he'd been fishing, but the report was good. We touched on this a couple of weeks ago, but consider this reminder. There are several deep, clear water lakes in the Iron Range area east of Grand Rapids, that never froze up until after we'd already had that first big snow storm. On these lakes, ice conditions are good, there are very few slush problems because only 8 to 10 inches of snow blankets the ice. According to Tony, Trout are aggressive right now and hitting baits like Demons, Walleye Flyers and small jigging spoons fished on light tackle. So if you've been thinking about trying something different, keep Trout fishing in the back of your mind.
(1/29) Reporting from the North side of Winnibigoshish, the folks at Dixon Lake Resort say that their roads out into the Third River area of Winnie are still quite good. Todd and Roger have been working double time trying to keep up with the plowing and they are managing to keep them open. There's a short stretch of slushy road just as you start out on to the lake, but once you're on their main road, travel is okay. Their road(s) don't access the main section of Winnie, but they are getting folks out to the mouth of the river where panfish action has been good. Perch, Sunfish and Crappies are all hitting well and there's even an occasional Pike or Walleye.
Ice Fishing Report January 29, 2011 Jeff Sundin
A cold front is a cold front, no matter the season, but it's over for now. The tough bite that occurred last week when we were in the throws of the sub-zero, deep freeze, has given way to a period of more aggressive, feeding fish. Apparently, fish of all species are responding to the warmer temperatures because over the past few days, fishing action has really picked up around the Grand Rapids and Deer River area. It's sort of a bummer that anglers have to work so hard at getting out on the ice, but for the ones who do, the rewards are a lot better now than they had been recently.
(1/28) Chris Dunker is on the South end of Lake Winnie where his rental customers are having a great run of fishing right now. He's got a couple of fish houses located in Shallower water now and that seems to be the ticket for more Walleyes. One group fishing in 18 feet of water caught 14 Walleyes, 5 of them keepers and te rest larger, slot fish. Another group located at the edge of the big shoreline drop in 13 feet of water, adjacent to a steep, 34 foot breakline had an over-night catch of 26 Walleyes. By the time Chris met up with them in the morning, they had managed to sort out 16 keepers to take home and capped off the trip with a last minute 27-1/2 incher. On the deeper drop off in 23 feet of water, another group bagged nine keeper Walleyes and two limits of Perch. Chris accesses his rental houses by using the plowed roads heading out from Denny's Resort and says that they are still in fair shape. During the past few days of warmer weather, they have had some flooding problems, but they're working on widening the roads right now. Wider roads and the next clop snap will firm the ice back up in a hurry.
Ice Fishing Report January 28, 2011 Jeff Sundin - The term melt-down, might not be quite the right word just yet, but the warmer weather has definitely encouraged the snow to soften and pack down. For now, it's creating a real mess, but in the long run it's going to help. With another day of temperatures near 30 degrees, we'll see conditions deteriorate even further before improving as the next cold snap arrives.
On Thursday, I and my favorite deer hunting ramrod took a little drive around the area to see if we could nail down a good location for fishing this weekend. We didn't cover a lot of ground, but we saw enough to recognize that the snow has gotten a lot wetter and heavier than it was a week ago. As it warms, the snow loosens up and starts settling or packing. The packed, dense snow becomes heavier than it was earlier, in it's fluffy white form. The extra weight of the snow forces water up toward the surface creating a new kind of heavy, snowy slush. We found this everywhere we went, like at the landing on the South end of Ball Club Lake. Anglers have been using the semi packed, semi plowed road to access their dark houses. The road into the access was still passable, but the snow has gotten soft and un-stable under the truck. Right now, it would be easy to drive out in the morning while overnight temperatures stiffen things up. But later, after the day warms up it could be a problem driving back out.
For now, the more warm weather we get, the better, because once the cold temperatures return, areas that have melted down the most, will re-freeze, providing folks with sort of a "do-over".
It's still a little wishful thinking on my part, but in years past, this kind of condition has set the stage for some really great late season Perch and Panfish action.
(1/27) For now, back to reality. On Thursday, Kim Leonhardt at Highbanks Resort announced that after this weekend, they will be closing their plowed access roads to the public until late next week. For this weekend, service will continue to be offered to the public, but as of 7:00 PM on Sunday, only resort guests will be allowed until next Thursday February 4th. The game plan is to get roads to Zoomers and the Big Island plowed back open during the shutdown.
Ice Fishing Report January 27, 2011 Jeff Sundin - Warming trend is a step in the right direction. I'm not really sure you can call it a meltdown, but the outside air temperture did manage to climb into the mid 20 degree range on Wednesday. I had been waiting for a chance to do a little snow plowing for a friend and hoping that some areas of packed snow were starting to soften up, I ran over to give the job a try. Now, the snow was still packed, but at least movable. I think the warm weather that's predicted for the next couple of days will encourage some packing of snow in certain areas of our lakes too. Even if its only a small step, at least its in the right direction. Assuming that some areas do pack down, the next cold snap will open up some new territory, especially for anglers who want to walk out onto some of the smaller lakes.
The biggest fishing news lately has been that the Northern Pike action appears to be picking up throughout the area, there have been a few specific reports, but there's been a ton of those "I heard about a guy who's catching 'em on....." It could be the warmer weather, maybe the water is clearing up or maybe even an early sign of pike moving back toward the shallows to stage for spawning. Whatever the reason, it could be a good opportunity for the weekend, in fact I think this might turn out to be our game plan for the weekend too.
(1/26) On Big Wolf Lake, Chris Dunker says that the Northern Pike action has been picking up for his rental customers recently. Average size fish are in the 3 to 6 pound range and he's had groups coming in with limits of them during the past few days. Best fishing depth has been about 11 feet of water.
(1/26) Professional guide and member of the NMLOG, Paul Nelson had news from the Bemidji area. Warmer temperatures this past week have helped improve the walleye bite on most of the larger lakes in the Bemidji area. Anglers have been finding active walleyes on top of mid-lake humps and also on points and turns on larger structures in 16-24 feet of water.
The lakes with clear water like Bemidji, Winnibigoshish, Leech, Cass and Pike’s Bay have been best in the evenings and shortly after dark. There has also been a shorter flurry of activity in the mornings for walleyes in many lakes. Anglers have been using jigging spoons like Northland’s Live Forage Spoons tipped with a minnow head or a dead stick and a bobber, with a plain colored hook and lively minnow.
The Walleye bite has also been improving on Upper Red Lake, as most of the Resorts have been able to open up some new areas on the lakes after an extended period of sub-zero temperatures helped freeze some of the slush on the ice. The deep snow is still limiting travel off of the roads, with anglers needing a snowmobile to access many areas on the lakes.
Perch fishing has been picking up, with fish scattered both in the basin and on the shallow flats. Perch need a plentiful food source to stay in one area for a longer period of time. Deep perch feeding on insect larvae tend to stay in one place longer than schools of perch feeding in shallow water, which tend to be more nomadic.
Many of the small lakes in the Bemidji area are receiving very little pressure from anglers this winter because of the deep snow and slush on the lakes. Anglers are advised to travel in pairs and bring a shovel and a tow strap even when traveling with snowmobiles due to the unpredictable ice conditions".
(1/25) On Upper Red Lake, Ryan Klein operates Ryan's Fish House Rentals. Operating out of the Southwest corner of Red Lake, he says that his plowed roads are in great shape right now. They have recently moved a lot of the rentals out to the Northwest side of Center Bar. In that area they only have one minor ice ridge to deal with and so far, travel conditions remain good. He says that they are watching the ridge closely and preparing to make a bridge if they need to. Ryan says the Walleye fishing has been consistent in 12 to 14 feet of water. Jigging has been effective in the early mornings and late afternoons with set lines picking up fish also. Glow red and pink buckshot rattle spoons and macho minnows in the smaller sizes have been the "go to" baits.
(1/25) Also on Red Lake, Chad Benson of Chad's Red Lake Rentals and member of the Northern Minnesota League Of Guides also reports good driving conitions on the roads. Off road travel is still not possible, especially toward the Eastern Edges of the Center Bar Area. Chad says that fishing action had really picked up for a few days over the past weekend. Action has tapered off a bit recently, but his rental customers are still catching 10 or 12 Walleyes per day. Chad added that there are some nice Northern Pike moving in and out of the area too. Small jigging spoons tipped with a minnow head is his recommendation for catching Walleye.
(1/25) On Leech Lake, it's getting a little tough to put a smiley face on the report. Except for a few key areas, most of the operators were never able to get dug out after the big snow we had earlier this month. Darcy Tonga at Federal Dam on Portage Bay says that they haven't even been out on the lake. But anglers have told them that travel out of the road at North Star is very difficult.
Over at Acorn Hills Resort, Rich says that road access to the Pine Point and Goose Island area is still good, but Walker bay is getting really tough. Lots of slush in that area and he's recommending snowmobiles only for travel in Walker Bay.
The bright spot on Leech Lake is at Pine Point where Norm Teegardin at The Shores At Pine Point reports that their plowed roads are in excellent shape. I was over there and saw them myself a couple of weeks ago and they are really nice. They now have a wide, main road with five additional spurs that branch out to various areas on the lake. Norm says that daytime fishing hasn't been bad for Perch. Walleye fishing is okay, but not great and most fish are caught during the last hour of daylight.
(1/25) At Blackduck Lake, Monte Sharbono at White Birch Resort says that the snow is making it tough right now. The wind drifted snow blowing into the roads is a much heavier, harder snow to plow so raod conditions are deteriorating. A snowmobile is the only way to get around right now. But if you want to find the 12'' perch that are biting right now, it could be worth your trouble. There are a few, but not many slushy spots under the snow, but with a machine, travel isn't too bad.
(1/25) On Ball Club Lake, at Gus's Place Resort they're reporting that the ice thickness varies from 16-21 inches over most of the lake. There is some thinner ice out over the deep, middle section of the lake. Areas of slush still remain under packed and now drifted snow. Currently, the snow depth to 9 inches, but warmer weather this week, they are hoping for it to "pack down", at least that the hope. Gus currently recommends travel on the lake with chained ATV or snowmobiles. If you go out in 4WD pickups put on your tire chains. Gus adds that even when the conditions are ideal, you should always have tow straps, long handle shovels, jumper cables and flashlights.
Fishing on Ball Club is very good for Perch & Northern Pike right now. Key depths are 15-25ft. with the fish coming up into the 15 foot range during sunny days with high barometer. Glow jigs and glow hooks, bright colors, with live bait are working well. Walleye action has been reliable in the late afternoon, 4pm and into dark. Crappie and Bluegill fishing remains slow for right now. Gus reminds everyone that he always shares GPS info with his lodging customers.
(12/25) On Bowstring Lake, Darv Oelke at Bowstring Shores says that Conditions have not changed on Bowstring since the last report. Snow and slush are still a problem and its a day by day situation. Some days are better than others though and Darv sugtest calling to check on the road conditions before coming up. Fishing has been pretty good for the lodging guests that they've had staying here. Last weekend, customers were bringing in a mixed bag of Northern, some nice Walleyes and Perch.
(1/25) NMLOG member Captain Josh Hagemeister and his customers have been concentrating on panfish thoughout the week. Josh had a few groups on a hot local Perch bite and they reported catching lots of Perch for the frying pan. Key depths for the Perch were 7-8 ft of water on large flats with old weeds on them. Mixed in, were a few bonus Walleyes. When they aren't chasing Perch, they've been concentrating on bluegills and crappies. Success had been steady throughout the day, but recently the Crappie action increases between 5:15 pm and 6:00 pm. Both Bluegills and Crappies have been suspended off the weedline edges 12 feet deep, over 20 feet of water. Small jigs with a waxie will work just fine, but crappie minnows will also pick up a few extra fish.
(1/25) On Ottertail Lake, NMLOG member Ross Hagemeister says "I've been fighting some of the toughest ice conditions I've seen in many years". Needless to say, he wanted to give me a stronger report but conditions on Ottertail Lake haven't been good lately and this week they've gotten worse. This has been disappointing because Ross believes that earlier this winter, Ottertail was providing some of the best fishing action in the sate. Ross says "We can't seem to shake our wind pattern this season. For a while there were about 15-20 miles of plowed roads on the lake, now there's only about 1-2 miles of over-used roads remaining. I'm not comfortable using them with my guests". The fishing has been tough too, but they continue to battle the conditions, getting the most of every trip. Lately, Ross is staying off of Ottertail and running for panfish and Northern Pike on smaller area lakes that have already flooded and have re-frozen, travel conditions are better that way. Ross is putting his money on mid to late February when, hopefully, we'll have had a meltdown or some rainfall, anything to help reduce snow cover and encourage re-freezing. Ross fisnished up by saying that many lakes on the western side of the state are in the same condition, so do some research before you head out.
(1/25) Arnie Nichols reported in from the South end of Lake Winnie in his own words. I had two guys from the cities come up and met me on Winnie for a weekend of fishing. For those of you that have been on Winnie this year, you know how difficult off road travel is. We went out of Denny's Resort. Pat and his crew have been working hard to get their road in great shape.
In order to get away from other anglers and to get to unfished water, I unhooked the Ice Castle and used my V plow to open my own road out to an area I have fished last year. Once I was in the right area, I plowed out an area the size of a small parking lot. By doing this I eliminated the worry of any flooding. It is a lot of extra work but well worth the effort.
Because of the extreme cold temps, we did not do any exploring and chose to keep warm in the fish house. There was not much of a day bite but as soon as the sun started to set it was fish on. We were fishing the top edge of an underwater point in about 26' of water. All of our walleye action came on dead sticking a shiner on a plain red hook. The perch we caught all came on a Northland Buckshot Rattle Spoon in perch pattern tipped with a chub.
I have attached some pictures of the slot walleyes we caught. The first picture is of Jeff's 26 1/4" eye, then my 24" eye, Jeff's 18" eye and John's 16" eye. John also caught two 20" walleyes while I took John into town to buy a new battery for his car as it would not start on Sunday morning. It was a fun weekend despite the cold. We caught fish, had a perch fry Saturday night and all took fish home when they left.
Ice Fishing Report January 25, 2011 Relief from the deep freeze arrived on Monday and gave everyone a good excuse to get outside and take a deep breath. I know that to a lot of people 15° f doesn't sound real warm, it was a solid 30 degree warm up though and it felt really good.
Lots of us have our fingers crossed that we'll see enough of a warm up to melt down some of the deep snow and set the stage for a re-freeze. At this point, I don't hear too many optimistic voices out there, but over the past couple of years, it seems like our weather patterns have held for about a month at a time. If that holds true now, then we're about a week away from another turn-around. I can still remember last winter and how the late ice turned perfect for fishing. So for me, I'll just try to get some work done now and be ready to jump when the conditions get better.
On some lakes, nature is taking care of this in a different way already. The extreme cold has caused a lot of shifting in the ice, cracks and ice heaves are causing flooding. This has been caused trouble on the South end of Winnie all winter and now its gotten to be a problem In heavily fished areas of Red Lake and on the West side of Leech Lake too.
On Red Lake (1-24) the area surrounding Center Bar has flooded to the point that some of the roads are becoming impassable. According to Jerry at Rogers Campground, they are recommending that only snowmobiles and portables be used. In his report, Jerry says that they're opening up new roads out to the mud flats now.
On Leech Lake (1/24) Ice cracks are causing the closeure of flooded roads too. Watch for trouble spots out in Walker Bay.
The roads at Pine Point out to the area around Goose Island and into the narrows are still reported to be good.
On Lake Winnie (1/23), Chris Dunker and Pat Rooney from Denny's Resort Have been teaming up to keep their customers on fish. Pat's been doing a good job of keeping the roads open, at least as far as the rental houses. Fishing has been a little sluggish during the cold snap, but Chris has put fishing customers wherever he can to make sure they're catching some fish. He mentioned that of his rental shelters, the ones that produce the best Walleye fishing on Winnie have been located shallower than usual. Anglers (on Winnie) fishing in depths of 12 to 18 feet of water are producing 2 to 3 times more fish than those fishing in 20 feet or more. Out deeper, anglers using some of Denny's rentals are catching more Perch. Recently one of the groups bagged a couple dozen nice Perch along with a few Walleye and some good size Eelpout. Finally, Chris repeated that there is still a fairly good nite bite going on Winnie between 9:00 PM and 1:00 AM. The nite action has been consistent for a couple of weeks already and will like continue through the next week too.
Over on Big Wolf Lake, the plowed roads are open and in good shape. Chris has had a couple of his groups fishing in rentals on Big Wolf and it's been a really mixed bag. Some Crappies, Northern Pike, Tulibee and even one giant Sunfish. For now, it sounds like the best opportunity on Big Wolf could be the Pike fishing. Fish in the 4 to 6 pound range are plenty nice for eating and they provide enough action to keep things interesting.
Hey! It's been tough to get in touch with everyone, but I'll be here today, chipping away at some more reports so we can get a major update published before the weekend.

Ice Fishing Report January 24, 2011 Okay, lets see if I can come up with something nice to say about our weather conditions on Sunday. Hmmm...nope.
Luckily, it's Monday now and things are looking a little better. We may get a dusting of snow, but if temperatures reach the predicted mid-teens above zero, we'll all think we're in heaven. Now that the winds have finally calmed, we can all get out and do some plowing to clean up the areas that drifted in yesterday. If you're heading out on to the lake today, I think it would be a good time to find the person who plowed the road and thank them for the work they're doing. If in the past, you ever thought that these guys were making easy money, this season has more than made up for it. They're working steady now just to keep existing roads open, let alone finding time to make new ones.
On Upper Red Lake, what had been a hot bite out on Center Bar has fizzled out, at least for now. Anglers on Red who have moved to new locations this week are doing a lot better. According to Chad Benson, Chads Red Lake Rentals, the big move he made last week has paid off. Over the past few days, most of his customers are catching fish in the 15 to 17 inch range with an occaisional "slot fish" coming in for the camera. Chad was cautiously optimistic that folks are spread out enough to keep the fish from getting too spooky, too soon.
The best presentations lately have been smaller jigging spoons with a minnow head attached to the treble hook and also plain red or colored hooks on a set line. Red Glow, Chartreuse, Yellow, & Gold have all been working pretty well.
Operators further up the shore are planning similar moves to open up some fresh territory and get folks in on some more action before the Walleye season winds down.
On Lake of the Woods, there was a slow down in the action during the cold snap too. Some anglers did better than others though and the consensus is that those who are fishing further out, at depths of 34 to 36 feet are having the best action. Many of the rental operators are moving some of their houses further out into the lake now.
If you want to get away from the big crowds, Mike Kinsella at Border View Lodge provides road access only for customers using their rental shelters. Their roads are in great shape and run 5 to 7 miles out into the lake from Pine Island. Mike said that anglers are fishing in 32 to 35 feet of water and right now, they're catching more Walleye than Sauger. He offered a fishing tip about suspended Walleye, they are finding many fish stacked up vertically in the water column. Some of the Walleye are being caught as shallow as 5 feet below the surface.

Saturday 1-23-11 Attention Lodge Owners and Ice Rental Operators, it's time to update the access and road conditions for your lake. There are a lot of folks looking for a place to fish and the weather is going to improve this week. A few sentences about the ice and road conditions at your lake is all we need. Email your update
Ice Fishing Report January 23, 2011 By mid-afternoon on Saturday, the calm wind and sunny sky combined to make a downright nice afternoon. Temperatures were still cold, but compared to what we've had lately, Zero Degrees felt like springtime! I was following up on a couple of "hot tips" that I'd heard about Sunfish and Crappie spots that have been producing over the past few days, so we hopped in the truck and took a ride. What we found was really encouraging for folks who have snowmobiles, but not so good for the rest of us. There are a half dozen really good panfish lakes in the Deer River area that are virtually un-fished right now because the accesses are snow bound. Except for spotting a small group of rigs with snowmoile trailers at one of the landings, we saw no sign of anyone fishing on any of these lakes. A couple of the spots we stopped were near decent fishing spots and walking out would be an option. But except for a lightly used walking trail that I spotted at the Eagle Nest Landing on Cutfoot Sioux, there wasn't any other sign of folks hoofing it out on to the lake. I know it's hard to see the good news in this, but if the accesses improve later on, it's going to be just like a second fishing opener. Lots of un-disturbed fish could add up to a hot late season bite this winter.
I did get one report from Leech Lake on Saturday where anglers heading out from Pine Point have been getting decent numbers of Perch. The problem there is that many of the fish are running on the small side right now. Walleye fishing is still reported as slow, but there are a few fish being caught in 14 feet of water in Traders Bay during the eveing.
On Lake Winnie, Northern Pike are still cruising some of the shallow areas in the Bowen's Flat area. I talked to one of the anglers yesterday who had just bagged a nice 36-1/2 inch Pike from his spear house. He said that the fish are coming in one-by-one and that there hasn't been any real key time for the fish to move, but they're seeing enough to make it interesting.
On (1-21-11) Red Lake, Steve Brasel, of the Bear Paw Guides says that his customers have been pleasantly surprised by the good fishing. It's not at a peak level, but almost everyone is getting at least their limit of 4 Walleyes to take home. Finding new areas to fish has been their biggest challenge because slush pockets are persistent and scattered. It just takes longer to open up new territory when you have to keep going around all of "the bad spots". Steve says that there are still a lot of new areas they want to reach, but from here on out it will depend on how much new snow we see.
On (1-21-11) Lake of the Woods anglers heading out on to the lake from Wheelers Point are reporting good catches of Walleye. According to Bill Powell at Fred's Bait, the guys who are really catching fish are driving way out into the main lake, by-passing the areas where lots of the rental shelters are located.
On Friday (1-21-11) , a reader emailed asking me to comment about the slush on many of the area lakes. His question, What would freeze up the slush better, extreme cold? or a complete meltdown? The simple answer is that a complete melt-down would be the best. Deep snow is a terrific insulator and traps the warmer water at the surface of the ice. No matter how cold it gets, slush pockets under deep snow will remain a problem for the rest of this winter. There are exceptions, like areas where lots of traffic and hole drilling keep water the "wicking" up through the snow and a double layer of ice. The wet surface freezes solid and remains frozen while its cold, we may even be able to drive on it. But as soon as we get warmer temperatures, we'll start breaking through the surface layer, often getting stuck in the remaining soft snow and slush at the ice surface.
If we get a meltdown, which we often do and has already happened this winter on Lake MilleLacs, most of the snow combines with surface water and water from melted snow. When all of this re-freezes, it's just like getting a whole new solid surface. In past years, we've had situations like the one we're in right now, hopelessly deep snow and slush that ends up later with fantastic travel conditions. Right now it's anyone's guess, but never be surprised by nature. By mid February or early March we could all be driving anywhere we want to go.
Hey, Hold on and let time work its magic! Better conditions are just around the corner.

A few notes for Saturday 1-22-11 You can see us in action by using this link to view The Upper Red Lake ice fishing video produced by UPNORTH Media this weekend. A couple of weeks ago, I promised some additional information and images about Dick Sternberg's report on the spread of Zebra Mussels. I just got my copy of the report from Dick and I'll get this put together over the weekend.
Ice Fishing Report January 22, 2011 Frigid temperatures are keeping local anglers inside and taking a toll on area bait shops. In spite of the cold conditions, there are still some "hard core ice fishermen" and folks with resort reservations showing up, but it's been a challenge to find many really enthusiastic reports. Ironically, for many of the anglers who do show up, fishing for panfish and Perch has been steady to good. Walleye fishing remains slow here, but I've gotten some good Walleye reports from both the south and the north during the past couple of days.
On (1-21-11) Red Lake, Steve Brasel, of the Bear Paw Guides says that his customers have been pleasantly surprised by the good fishing. It's not at a peak level, but almost everyone is getting at least their limit of 4 Walleyes to take home. Finding new areas to fish has been their biggest challenge because slush pockets are persistent and scattered. It just takes longer to open up new territory when you have to keep going around all of "the bad spots". Steve says that there are still a lot of new areas they want to reach, but from here on out it will depend on how much new snow we see.
On (1-21-11) Lake of the Woods anglers heading out on to the lake from Wheelers Point are reporting good catches of Walleye. According to Bill Powell at Fred's Bait, the guys who are really catching fish are driving way out into the main lake, by-passing the areas where lots of the rental shelters are located.
Closer to home, the buzz around Deer River and Grand Rapids has been Crappies and Sunfish. One way to fight the poor travel conditions on the larger lakes has been to switch over to tiny lakes where walking out a short distance will still get you to a decent spot. Panfish are still located near the deep holes, but are already starting to move back toward weedline areas. 8 to 12 feet of water is a good starting point for Sunfish and sometimes Perch on most of our local lakes. For Crappies, move out deeper, but be sure to check everything from 18 to 35 feet along the way. As we get closer to spring, panfish will keep moving back closer to the weed edges and at times will suspend jsut under the ice.
On Friday (1-21-11) , a reader emailed asking me to comment about the slush on many of the area lakes. His question, What would freeze up the slush better, extreme cold? or a complete meltdown? The simple answer is that a complete melt-down would be the best. Deep snow is a terrific insulator and traps the warmer water at the surface of the ice. No matter how cold it gets, slush pockets under deep snow will remain a problem for the rest of this winter. There are exceptions, like areas where lots of traffic and hole drilling keep water the "wicking" up through the snow and a double layer of ice. The wet surface freezes solid and remains frozen while its cold, we may even be able to drive on it. But as soon as we get warmer temperatures, we'll start breaking through the surface layer, often getting stuck in the remaining soft snow and slush at the ice surface.
If we get a meltdown, which we often do and has already happened this winter on Lake MilleLacs, most of the snow combines with surface water and water from melted snow. When all of this re-freezes, it's just like getting a whole new solid surface. In past years, we've had situations like the one we're in right now, hopelessly deep snow and slush that ends up later with fantastic travel conditions. Right now it's anyone's guess, but never be surprised by nature. By mid February or early March we could all be driving anywhere we want to go.
Hey! This morning our low temperature is only -18°. It's warming up! I feel like a caged animal after sitting at this computer all week, so with a little luck, I'll find somewhere to go this afternoon. Wave if you see me.
Remember to check the recent fishing reports too, there's been a lot of new information coming in the past few days. You don't have to be the worlds foremost authority on ice fishing to throw in your two cents, we want this to be a great report so if you have something to add, please EMAIL ME and I'll be sure that it makes the list.
Lake Winnibigoshish, Pat Rooney checked in from Denny's Resort on the South end and the plowed roads are good. Ice thickness ranges from 16 to 22 inches on the lake and if anglers cooperate by speading out theirs rigs, flooding can be kept under control. From the resort, you can fish the main lake drop-off areas on the Southeast side and they also have some access out into the center, main lake bars. Like everywhere, travelling "off-road" is almost impossible, play it safe and stay on the road.
Perch action has picked up, Pat says that sunny days are best and that the Perch are hitting in water depths of 20 to 30 feet. Walleye fishing remains fairly good at sunset and again at dawn. Walleyes are hitting larger jigging spoons, Northland's Buckshot Rattle Spoons and Moxie Minnow in the Perch pattern are working well. Walleye location has been at the shallow, top edges of main lake bars as shallow as 13 feet and along the shoreline in about 11 feet of water.
Lake Winnibigoshish Nodak Lodge reports that their plowed roads are open for resort guests, but remain closed to the public until further notice. Perch fishing is reported as good in 24 to 30 feet of water.
Lake Winnibigoshish The Pines Resort, John Seekon reports that their road system is improving and that access to Tamarack Bay is generally good. Perch fishing in the bay has been good with scattered groups of fishing moving frequently. Best water depths have been 12 to 14 feet.
Lake Vermillion, Northern Minnesota Guides League member, Billy Rosner reported that there are plowed roads out of Mckinley Park on the east end out of Tower. If you're fishing the west end you will need a snow machine to get around. The Walleye action is slow, but when they bite, it's between 5:00 AM and 9:00 AM then again from 4:00 PM to 6:00 Pm. Best presentaions have been jigging spoons or by fishing with tip-ups using small to medium size Suckers for bait. Northern Pike fishing has been good, and they've enjoyed some "all day action". Tip-ups with medium Suckers or Shiner monnows have been working best. Most of the Pike are coming from weedbeds in 3 to 6 feet of water and some of the deeper weedlines too. Billy says that one local lad pulled out a 42" x 26" northern! What a beast!
Bowstring Lake Darv Oelke, Bowstring Shores Resort. Ice conditions (thicknesses) are good with the exception of snow and slush on the lake. Slush problems have limited travel on the lake to plowed roads only! Conditions for snowmobile travel are not ideal either, but hopefully with the cold conditions this week it will improve. Anglers at the resort during the past weekend caught a good number of northerns, walleye and perch in the 18-20 ft of water range.
Northern Minnesota Guides League Member Captain Josh Hagemeister reports from Central Minnesota, "Panfish are remaining strong throughout central Minnesota. Gills and crappies can be found just outside of any old weedline. Depth ranges include 8-20 ft. Small jigs tipped with a waxie has been working good. Also have had some "midnight" crappie bites locally. Fish are suspended 10 ft down over 20+ ft of water and smacking minnows on plain glow hooks. The midnight northern pike also has been making an appearance. Tip up fishing pike on weed flats near deep water has also been very exciting for clients. Sizes are ranging from 22"-38" on a regular basis. Chartreuse hooks tipped with a lively shiner minnnow suspended 2-3 ft off the bottom in the 9-12 ft range is the key. Walleyes also remain active in the 25-40 ft depths. Small jigging spoons in gold/perch patterns tipped with a small minnow head have by far out produced anything--including the more traditional larger jigging spoons. "Dead Sticks" have also drummed up some nice eating sized walleye".

Ice Fishing Report January 21, 2011 - Hey, This is great news! According the National Weather Service it's 27 degrees below zero right now. Two weeks ago, we spent a morning fishing when it was 28 degrees below, so this goes to show that spring is coming, right? Really, if nature produces any weather that's even close to "normal" any time soon, our first winter-meltdown of the season is just around the corner. With only a few weeks left of the Walleye and Pike season, it will soon be time to get serious about Perch and panfish.
In all honesty, its been really hard to keep drumming up new fishing reports this week because so many folks have been keeping their rigs at home while they wait for warmer temperatures. The folks who are fishing, are using the same areas that we've already been talking about so right now, just sift back through the reports from the past week and you'll know what I know.
A reminder to the wise about lake accesses right now. If there isn't a plowed road in the area you want to fish, bring a snowmobile or ATV with a track. Slush pockets under the snow have been persistent and there are a lot of anglers getting stuck out there. If you really want to drive off road, then further south, anglers on Lake MilleLacs are enjoying better snow conditions and they have reported better travel by vehicle on the lake.
Looking at some of the updates that have come in recently, the common thread around Northern Minnesota right now is that Walleye fishing has generally tapered off, but Panfish and Perch action is picking up. Northern Pike action is holding its own too and there are even some good Trout reports coming in.

Ice Fishing Report January 18, 2011 Ice Fishing A few notes; You can see us in action by using this link to view The Upper Red Lake ice fishing video produced by UPNORTH Media this weekend.
It's been a long time, but I remembered a snowy winter like this one, that we experienced back in the early 80's. Every time you'd turn around, there was more snow coming down. It's like that again and it's getting a little hard to figure out where to put it all. Listening to the radio yesterday, they said that the winter of 1983 is the one I remember. The weather man said that back then we set a snowfall record of 90 inches and that if we remain on the current pace, we'll break the record this year. Oh goody!
Needless to say, this is causing some trouble for folks who've forgotten to check out the reports about road conditions on the lakes. The weekend was full of "horror stories" from anglers who tried to go out accross the snow instead of relying on the operators who have plowed roads on the lakes. Here's the official word, it's not worth the trouble! The snow alone is deep enough to cause problems, but when you add some slush under the snow cover, almost everything gets stuck. Until we get a meltdown, use the plowed roads. I've been doing my best to keep the list of operators (below) with good plowed roads updated. If you have something to add, please EMAIL ME and I'll be sure it makes the list.
When you're forced to follow the crowd, one great way to find water that hasn't already been fished really hard is to make sure you bring along a GPS equipped with a recently updated map chip. Sometimes we have a habit of following plowed roads to where all of the other ice shacks are, but we forget about nearby structure that we pass along the way. For me, the map allows me to watch for interesting structure as I pass along the road. If I see a spot within walking distance that hasn't been fished, I'll park the truck and hoof it. You'd be surprised at how many times perfectly good fishing spots go un-noticed because everyone has been following the crowd. Humminbird has made the job even easier for me since they introduced the ICE-55/385ci Combo. Now when I need to make a move, I can switch screens between the Ice 55 flasher and the 385ci GPS and head to a new area without ever missing a beat. When I get to the next spot, I just switch back to the flasher screen and I'm ready to fish.
Updates On Monday, I put out the word for fishing and road condition updates. Here's what I have so far and I'll keep adding to the list as new info comes in.
Cass Lake Lodge, Jason Ball reports that Ice thickness is 18" to 20" throughout Cass Lake. Snow cover of 1-1/2 to 2 feet have caused areas of flooding and slush under the snow, but Cass Lake Lodge does have plowed roads that allow access to most of the Southeast Corner of the lake.
Jason reported that Jumbo Perch have been biting in shallow water, six to ten feet has been best. He describes Walleye and Northern Pike fishing as "decent" with the key depths being 16 to 22 feet of water.
Dixon Lake Resort reported back that the Third River Flowage area on Lake Winnie has been good for Panfish lately. Perch, Crappie and Sunfish have all been cooperative fishing the weed edges in 7 to 9 feet of water. Their darhouse spearing customers are also bagging some nice, medium to large size Northern Pike. Walleye action has been slow, they reported that Walleyes are present, but the but is very finicky.
Their plowed roads on to the lake are in good shape and you can find the access on forestry road #2172 and #2794. Their $10 access fee is well worth the money and there is a donation box with a sign located in the road as you get onto the ice.
Gus' Place Resort on Ball Club Lake, Gus reports that their ice conditions have really improved over the past week. He says that the lake now has 20 inches of ice with about 7-8 inches of hard pack snow on top. Slush has cleared up a lot too and with cold temperatures continuing, conditions should improve even further.
At this time they have plowed lake access and Gus says that 4WD trucks are moving around without difficulty, if you have a set of tire chains, you'll have unlimited mobility.
Walleye fishing has been good, the best depths are 22-28 ft. on inside turns near areas where the remaining weeds are still green. Using your "Lakemaster" contour map helps you get set up on this detail. Early & late bites have been the best with glow jigs & fat heads.
Perch & Pike are moving deeper now and are biting well during the daylight hours. Gus says, "We have been fishing these fish mid day and working the Walleye early and late". Fathead minnows have been effective for the Perch and Pike too. He added that It's a good idea to move around a bit if the bite runs slow. Crappie and Bluegill fishing has been slow, but they're counting on the fishing for panfish to pickup later, toward late ice. Finally, Gus always share GPS information with their lodging guests.
Highbanks Resort on Lake Winnie reports that their plowed roads are in good condition. They are out about four miles to "Big Island" and also have a second plowed road to the north that takes you up to the Perch Bar. Walleyes continue to be active in 24-29 of water. Perch fishing in this section of the lake has been stagnant, but should improve in the coming weeks. For now, mobility off roads is impossible unless you have a snowmobile. Highbanks does have spur roads plowed for the convenience of wheel houses to get set up off the main roads. They plan to continue expanding their road system as conditions allow.
The Shores at Pine Point on Leech Lake, Norm Teegardin says that their plowed roads are in good conditions and go out about four miles from the resort. Norm says that off road travel is "almost impossible" but they do have a plow operator who is willing to punch you a road to your own ice house for a fee. For custom plowing, Call Brandon 219-766-0865.
According to Norm, Perch fishing in the Pine Point area has been very good to excellent and Walleye fishing has begun to improve recently.
White Birch Resort on Blackduck Lake, Monte Sharbono reports that The snow is getting deep on the ice but the Jumbo Perch are still biting. The bite is really soft right now so you do need some help with electronics to increase your odds of catching fish. Monte was out this Sunday and did well in 16 feet of water on a sand bar break. Like most area lakes, if you plan on off road travel, you do need to have a snowmobile.
Hey, I hope your day is great. I'm planning on setting another stunning example for multi-taskers everywhere! With a little luck, I may get caught up enough to hit the lake again by tomorrow.

Ice Fishing Report January 17, 2011 Ice Fishing : Upper Red Lake Was our destination on Sunday and after a few minor delays, we managed to make our way on to the ice at about 8:30. Fishing again with Jason Green, Greg Clusiau, Blake Liend and this time joined by Jason's sons Austin and Ryan, our goal was to catch some fish for a fish fry and maybe get a few minutes of video for Jason while we were at it.
When we arrived, it was cold (around -20 degrees) but the sun was shining and the wind was calm. We met up with my friend Chad Benson as he worked on plowing roads into some new territory on the South end of Red Lake. His first comment to me was "I'm working on not breaking my last truck". Keeping the roads open and the houses in good fishing territory has been taxing on the equipment to say the least. He's keeping up though and there's plenty of territory open. He punched us a new spot to park our trucks and we quickly set up our Otters, started fishing and never moved from that spot.
According to Chad, the Walleyes have been scatterd, roaming the soft bottom flats feeding on minnows. The spot we fished was what he described as a "necked down area" or depression that had acted as a funnel for roaming fish. The area had been a good producer for rental customers last winter and he wanted to try it again today.
I wish I could say that it was a frantic bite with lots of action, but it was really more like watching a baseball game. There was almost always a little something happening, but the fish came one at a time, with quiet periods in between. It seemed like there was always a fish showing up on someones flasher, but sometimes they'd strike and sometimes not. My Humminbird would occasionally light up showing small scools of minnows and most often shortly after seeing the schools of minnows, I'd get a strike. One of the Walleyes I caught, spit up an Emerald Shiner at my feet, so it's possible that these were the minnows being pursued by the Walleyes.
After noon, the clouds rolled back in, the snow started spitting again and for me, the action picked up. In fact the majority of the fish I caught came in between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM. According to Chad, afternoon has been the peak time all week long.
We caught fish on a variety of baits. Northland's Macho Minnow and Buckshot Rattle Spoons tipped with minnow heads were both effective. So were blade baits tipped with small Golden Shiners and fished "deadstick style" near the bottom. The fish were definitely in a lazy mood and to trigger a strike with any bait, we had to hold them motionless for a few seconds before they'd bite.
Access to the lake is really good. There are at least a half dozen other operators out there and the roads are open wide and fairly smooth. Most everyone is catching at least some fish, so if you're hungry for a fish fry, it's probably worth the trip.
Hey, Here we go again, the snow is falling right now so it looks like I'm heading toward another day of plowing and another perfect opportunity for more multi-tasking!

Ice Fishing Report January 16, 2011 Ice Fishing : Upper Red Lake continues to produce fish and according to my friend and NMLOG Member Chad Benson, there are a lot more perch than usual on Red Lake this year too. Chad says the action hasn't been hot, but his rental customers are all catching fish, with most houses bringing in 10 to 12 fish each day.
It s ounds like we might be in for a little work, but they're working like crazy to keep the roads open and it beats sitting around the house, so off we go.
I'm leaving yesterdays report posted until we get back from Red Lake. By the time you see this, we're already there and I hope we already have a few fish.
Hey, I hope your day is wonderful, I'm probably off the grid for the rest of the day. Check in tomorrow morning for an update on the action.
Chad Brandt is heading out this morning to one of his favorite trout lakes, one that holds the big ones! So he's hoping to have some nice Trout pictures soon. Chad say that the ice conditions on the lake that he opened on this weekend were perfect. There was 15 inches of solid ice and thanks to the later freeze on these deeper Trout waters, not much snow. Most of the really heavy snow fell before these lakes were frozen, so the ice formed cleanly and the snow depths are less than on the shallow lakes that froze earlier. Chad added that getting to the lake by road, is more of a problem than travelling on the lake.
Chad added this simple recipe for preparing the Trout once you've bagged them. Filleted Trout was basted in melted butter and garlic, then broiled for about 10 or so minutes until nicely browned on top. When ready, the meat slides cleanly off of the skin. Chad prefer's Trout seasoned with cajun in addition to the butter and garlic.
Hey! I have to say that I am doing quite well with my mult-tasking these days! But for me, it's still going to be another busy day in the office, I'm hoping to wet a line this afternoon and with a little luck, I just might make it.

Ice Fishing Report January 15, 2011 Chad Brandt is one of those Trout Enthusiasts and I asked him to give us a few words about his plans for the opener...jump to Trout Fishing Report here.
Snow piled up again on Friday, so my morning is goping to be spent plowing again. I love winter and I even love snow, but it can get old after a while. I think we're about due for one of our famous January Thaws!
Checking in from the Bemidji area , Northern Minnesota Guides League member, Paul Nelson reports in his own words; "Most anglers are sticking to the large lakes, where resorts and individual anglers maintain a network of roads on the ice. Travel off of the trails and on many smaller lakes is limited to anglers with snowmobiles or other track vehicles, which can be outfitted to tow a portable fish house that can be loaded with gear.
Walleye fishing is typically slower during the coldest part of the winter and then picks up as the days grow longer and get a little warmer. Anglers have been catching most of their walleyes in the mornings and evenings or when the weather conditions are favorable. Jigging spoons tipped with a minnow head or dead sticks with a bobber rig and a lively minnow have been the most productive presentations. Anglers have been catching most walleyes in 24-32 feet of water.
Perch have been scattered between shallow and deep water in most lakes this winter. Some perch have been feeding on mayfly larvae and bloodworms in deep water with mud bottom. There have also been perch in shallow water, with perch feeding on minnows, crayfish and smaller perch. The best areas are usually covered with chara and have some rock and cabbage weeds. When perch are being finicky, anglers need to experiment with presentations, to find something the perch will eat.
Crappie anglers are finding crappies in deep water on the edges of holes or off the sides of structure. Most of the crappies have been suspended well off of the bottom, so anglers need to use sonar, so they know how deep to place their baits. Crappies like to feed at or above their eye level, but may not see baits presented too far below them. Don’t forget to try plastics or small jigs tipped with wax worms or eurolarve for crappies". Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service
Throughout the week, Upper Red Lake keeps popping up as the closest thing we have to a local "hotspot". All of the rental operators are plowing like crazy up there and there are now at least two roads heading out into the center bar area. Walleye action out there has been good and so far, every one of the rental operators are reporting that their customers are catching fish, some more than others, but everyone getting some. In case you don't find your way out into the middle, some of the fish are still coming from the shallow breaklines too, 6 to 8 feet of water has produced fish all week long.
The road system on Cass Lake has really improved and according to Froggy's, Perch action has been slow, but steady with most anglers catching 10 to 15 nice size fish each day. Best depths for Perch have been 16 feet or shallower.
On Lake Winnie, anglers that are fishing on the main shoreline breaks have found the action slow. There are some "slot fish" coming in, but not many eater size fish lately. Fishing along the drop off edges on the main (Bena Bar), has been better. Out there you can put together a mixed bag of Walleye, Perch and a few Northern Pike. The Walleye and Pike are on the edges in 18 to 24 of water. Perch have been on the flats on both shallow and deep sides of the breakline. Drill some holes up on top in 14 to 16 feet and more out deep in 30 plus feet of water. If the fish are finicky, try grandpas old trick, just fish a live minnow on a plain hook and let the bait sit still. Better yet, dead stick in one hole and call them in with a jigging spoon in another one located nearby.
Leech Lake is still producing fish too, locations haven't changed so jump down the page to yesterdays report for more about that.
Hey! I can't believe how fast the winter if flying by! In spite of the complications mother nature has thrown at us, there are palces to stay and fish to catch. I know that there's a good spot and I'm happy to help you find it!
Trout Fishing Opener, Chad Brandt: Well, I will be heading out early in the morning to target some rainbows to a lake that i can usually rely on for numbers of trout and not for size most all in the 13 to 14 inch range its a bit closer to my house and dont want to head to far incase the ice conditions arent that great, so by heading here should give me a good idea of the conditions of the other lakes.
My "go to" method of catching rainbows and browns almost always consists of a horizontal jig no.6 darters and tipped with a wax worm Important do not thread the worm on the hook this seems to disinterest the trout always hook them at the tip of the worm so that you can get some action from the worm such as suttle wiggles etc and when hooking up your worms always start with putting on 2 wax worms as many times the trout will come in and circle your bait 3 or mor times before hitting.
They also have a knack for knocking off your worm off, so if this happens you still have another worm on the hook.
I always use a leader of clear mono line atleast 18 inches in length tied to a swivel as trout can be a bit line shy at times. I would recomend 8lb test, but the thinner the better and add a swivel to prevent line twist by darting or circling lures.
I have a real hard time finding the jigs that I love to use and order most of them off of the net. Among the ones available locally that work best, would be the HexiFly, it's a bit bulky for my taste, but it works.
Favorite colors would include pink-white purple-w blue-w 2 tone green-w.
Fishing for trout can lead you to almost any depth, they can be found in water from 15 feet down to over 150 feet. For me, 99 percent of the trout that I catch are caught from 6 to 15 feet below the ice, even if the water is much deeper. For Trout fishing, no sonar is needed, the best sonar will be your eyes. Always keep watching down the hole and be ready for a trout to appear out of nowhere. Most of the trout lakes are so clear that you can see your lure down at 40 feet. So keeping your fish house windows shut will make it easier to see down to deeper depths. Keeping your eyes on your lure can be the key to bagging more Trout, because the feel of many strikes go undetected as they come in take the bait and blow it back out before you detect them.
It is always fun to see up to 3 or more trout circling around your bait and this happens frequently and is really exciting.
A final note, small crappie minnows may be used if the lake that you are fishing on is not a designated trout lake. Check with the DNR and at the public landings for signs. On designated trout lakes, live minnows are not allowed and only 1 line may be used.
Hope this was a bit helpful and good luck. I will be looking forward to that trout dinner and a nice bottle of wine after the trip.

Ice Fishing Report January 14, 2011 Ice Fishing : A few quick notes; The Minnesota Inland Lakes Trout Season opens this Saturday! For many, this is the real season opener for ice fishing in Minnesota. If you're heading out to bag a Trout, Good Luck! If you watched the Tulibee Video we put up earlier this week, you might be interested in the second one about Cooking Smoked Tulibees at home.
Snowy conditions on thursday added another couple of inches on top of the already stressed ice. In spite of mother natures effort to discorurage us, ice fishing continues to exist and for the anglers who are willing to work at it, fish cookers around the northland are being put to good use.
Checking in from the Bemidji area , Northern Minnesota Guides League member, Paul Nelson reports in his own words; "Most anglers are sticking to the large lakes, where resorts and individual anglers maintain a network of roads on the ice. Travel off of the trails and on many smaller lakes is limited to anglers with snowmobiles or other track vehicles, which can be outfitted to tow a portable fish house that can be loaded with gear.
Walleye fishing is typically slower during the coldest part of the winter and then picks up as the days grow longer and get a little warmer. Anglers have been catching most of their walleyes in the mornings and evenings or when the weather conditions are favorable. Jigging spoons tipped with a minnow head or dead sticks with a bobber rig and a lively minnow have been the most productive presentations. Anglers have been catching most walleyes in 24-32 feet of water.
Perch have been scattered between shallow and deep water in most lakes this winter. Some perch have been feeding on mayfly larvae and bloodworms in deep water with mud bottom. There have also been perch in shallow water, with perch feeding on minnows, crayfish and smaller perch. The best areas are usually covered with chara and have some rock and cabbage weeds. When perch are being finicky, anglers need to experiment with presentations, to find something the perch will eat.
Crappie anglers are finding crappies in deep water on the edges of holes or off the sides of structure. Most of the crappies have been suspended well off of the bottom, so anglers need to use sonar, so they know how deep to place their baits. Crappies like to feed at or above their eye level, but may not see baits presented too far below them. Don’t forget to try plastics or small jigs tipped with wax worms or eurolarve for crappies". Paul A. Nelson, Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service
Throughout the week, Upper Red Lake keeps popping up as the closest thing we have to a local "hotspot". All of the rental operators are plowing like crazy up there and there are now at least two roads heading out into the center bar area. Walleye action out there has been good and so far, every one of the rental operators are reporting that their customers are catching fish, some more than others, but everyone getting some. In case you don't find your way out into the middle, some of the fish are still coming from the shallow breaklines too, 6 to 8 feet of water has produced fish all week long.
The road system on Cass Lake has really improved and according to Froggy's, Perch action has been slow, but steady with most anglers catching 10 to 15 nice size fish each day. Best depths for Perch have been 16 feet or shallower.
On Lake Winnie, anglers that are fishing on the main shoreline breaks have found the action slow. There are some "slot fish" coming in, but not many eater size fish lately. Fishing along the drop off edges on the main (Bena Bar), has been better. Out there you can put together a mixed bag of Walleye, Perch and a few Northern Pike. The Walleye and Pike are on the edges in 18 to 24 of water. Perch have been on the flats on both shallow and deep sides of the breakline. Drill some holes up on top in 14 to 16 feet and more out deep in 30 plus feet of water. If the fish are finicky, try grandpas old trick, just fish a live minnow on a plain hook and let the bait sit still. Better yet, dead stick in one hole and call them in with a jigging spoon in another one located nearby.
Leech Lake is still producing fish too, locations haven't changed so jump down the page to yesterdays report for more about that.
Hey! I can't believe how fast the winter if flying by! In spite of the complications mother nature has thrown at us, there are palces to stay and fish to catch. I know that there's a good spot and I'm happy to help you find it!

Ice Fishing Report January 13, 2011 Ice Fishing : Ice fishing reports are coming in slow the past couple of days, mainly because a lot of folks have chosen not to fight the snow conditions. I've heard more than a little moaning and groaning about not being able to get around on the lakes. But, thanks to the resorters and rental operators that have been working hard to keep roads open, there are still some great opportunities.
Throughout the week, Upper Red Lake keeps popping up as the closest thing we have to a local "hotspot". All of the rental operators are plowing like crazy up there and there are now at least two roads heading out into the center bar area. Walleye action out there has been good and so far, every one of the rental operators are reporting that their customers are catching fish, some more than others, but everyone getting some. In case you don't find your way out into the middle, some of the fish are still coming from the shallow breaklines too, 6 to 8 feet of water has produced fish all week long.
The road system on Cass Lake has really improved and according to Froggy's, Perch action has been slow, but steady with most anglers catching 10 to 15 nice size fish each day. Best depths for Perch have been 16 feet or shallower.
On Lake Winnie, anglers that are fishing on the main shoreline breaks have found the action slow. There are some "slot fish" coming in, but not many eater size fish lately. Fishing along the drop off edges on the main (Bena Bar), has been better. Out there you can put together a mixed bag of Walleye, Perch and a few Northern Pike. The Walleye and Pike are on the edges in 18 to 24 of water. Perch have been on the flats on both shallow and deep sides of the breakline. Drill some holes up on top in 14 to 16 feet and more out deep in 30 plus feet of water. If the fish are finicky, try grandpas old trick, just fish a live minnow on a plain hook and let the bait sit still. Better yet, dead stick in one hole and call them in with a jigging spoon in another one located nearby.
Leech Lake is still producing fish too, locations haven't changed so jump down the page to yesterdays report for more about that.
Hey! I know it's a little confusing trying to work around the conditions and figure out good places to go. But I see so many good folks working overtime to keep anglers in the action that it's made me really encouraged. If you want to fish, I am positive that there are places to go. If you need some help, let me know and I'll get the information to you.
For me, I have a couple of busy office days ahead of me before I can set my sights on relaxing again. I'm hoping that my weekend is going to include a Lake Trout trip on Saturday and Red Lake Walleyes on Sunday.

Ice Fishing Report January 12, 2011 Ice Fishing : More moderate temperatures on Tuesday led to a slight increase in traffic as more anglers find their way back to the lakes.
There have been a few developments to pay attention to, Nodaks Resort on Lake Winnie has their plowed road closed to public access until further notice. Resort guests continue to have use of the road, but with slush problems on the South end of the lake, too much excess traffic is a bad idea. They'll notify everyone when the access is available again.
Jessie View Resort, Jessie Lake access is currently "Snowmobile Only" until further notice. If slush problems clear up, the access may be open to vehicles later this winter.
Perch fishing reports from Leech Lake, especially on the west side have been good. The roads at the Shores at Pine Point are good and the perch fishing in traders bay has been steady. Many of the anglers that fished over there last weekend caught or nearly caught limits of Perch with many fish in the 10 inch or larger range. Trader's Bay, Goose Island and Duck Point are getting the most attention, but the roads from Pine Point now lead into the Walker Narrows too and this is typically a good area as well. The ice is about 18" now with anywhere from 9" to 20" of snow cover. Some people are reporting that some trucks can drive off of the roads, but be careful if you try it, there are still some deep snow drifts and slush usually builds up under them. Jigging spoons, jig heads and small blade baits tipped with all or part of a minnow will do the trick. Best depths have been anywhere from 12 to 14 feet.
Further west, Walleyes are hitting on the deep humps in Walker Bay, 30 to 40 feet of water has been best. There's also an un-verified rumor that the Crappies and Sunfish are hitting as well. Maybe checking out Shingobee would be a good idea or at least ask a few more questions around the town of Walker.
On Lake Winnie, The Tulibee fishing that I recorded last weekend with UpNorth Media Productions is available now by using this link Tulibee video segment. Hey, I know it won't be up for any acadamy awards, but ya gotta start somewhere! I think we'll be doing more of this in the near future.
Yesterday's fishing reports from Winnibigosh came in really mixed. Some of the guys are still catching Walleyes out in the middle on main lake humps and bars, but with heavy pressure, the action is getting more spotty. There has been a fairly good school of fish inhabiting the area of what we'd call the "East Humps" but it is a crap shoot and on most days, you can expect to be fishing in a crowd..
Perch have been tough to come by out in the middle of Winnie, but folks fishing shallower water in Tamarack Bay are catching some fish. They've tended to run on the smaller side, but if you sort through them, you'll get a meal.
Upper Red Lake, yesterday I reported that a fishing buddy of mine was able to drive up to the Center Bar area to fish. He found a road that someone had already plowed open. This morning, I read a report from Rogers Campground that says they had a truck break through while trying to open up a road to Center Bar. If you try to head that way, don't cut accross any un-plowed territory. If there's no road, then don't go because it's a mine field of thin spots under the snow. Anyone who decides to pretend that they are like Amerigo Vespucci up there is asking for trouble.

Ice Fishing Report January 11, 2011 Ice Fishing : The air temperatures moderated a little on Monday giving folks a chance to move around more. There are glimmers of hope about the ice fishing, but without a doubt, folks have been discouraged by the ice and snow conditions. In spite of the limitations, new roads are opening up every day and there are plenty of opportunities to wet a line.
Reporting from Ball Club Lake, Gus Place Resort "Lake conditions have greatly improved over a week ago. Ice is 16 inches with 3 inches of honey comb; 19 total. There are drifts with areas of slush under; you should avoid. The approaching very cold weather this coming weekend should be just what we need. Walleye (on Ball Club) have moved deeper 20-25ft. and the bite has been early and late afternoon. We are using Fat Heads for both Walleye & Perch. Perch have been both shallow (12-15) and deeper (20-25) inconsistent yes but, they are hungry and on the bite. I always share GPS info with my lodging customers".- Gus Sheker.
On Lake Winnie, John Seekon, The Pines Resort - Slush has been a problem in Tamarack Bay near the resort, so they are diverting traffic to Sunset View Resort where John now has roads plowed well out into the center of Tamarack Bay. He plans on expanding the system more throughout the week.
Checking in from Upper Red Lake, Vern Valliant let me know that he found some excellent Walleye fishing on Red over the weekend. Driving out from the South end, he discovered that someone has ounched a road out to the Center Bar area and he made his way out there. Fishing alone, he caught and released 36 Walleyes, making this one of the better reports I've heard from up there. Rental operators on the South side of the lake are all reporting that their customers catch fish daily, but in the higher traffic areas, the numbers are averaging mor like 8 to 12 fish each day.
On Bowstring Lake, better news from Chester Powell who snowmobiled out from the South side and reported that snow and ice conditions are much better on that side. Recent reports about slush and water on the North end of the lake had scared lots of folks away. I don't think that you'll be able to drive, but if you have snowmobiles, this might be worth looking at.
Hey! More snow for us today, but it doesn't sound like a huge amount. A back-log of computer work is going to keep me inside this morning. But, I can feel a nice long walk coming on this afternoon. More updates later.

Ice Fishing Report January 10, 2011 Ice Fishing : On Sunday, there was a classic confilict between calendar and weather. My friends Jason Green, Greg Clusiau, Blake Liend and I had scheduled a fishing trip to video a short Walleye segment on Lake Winnie. I woke up around 3:30 AM to a temperature of 11 degrees below zero, but by the time we arrived at the lake, the temperature had fallen to 28 degrees below zero.
We were hoping for a quick flurry of action as the sun rose, so while it was still dark, we made our way to an area that Greg had fished the day before with some success. Everyone managed to get holes drilled and had lines in the water before sunrise, but except for a few early Walleyes, the big flurry never really happened. After sunrise, we knew it was time to branch out, but as we began drilling new holes, the weather started playing tricks on our gear. The frigid temperatures started freezing things that shouldn't freeze and we started having problems keeping a head of steam going.
We were planning a major move to a new location when I started seeing a small, but steady number of suspended fish on my Humminbird. Hoping that they were Tulibees, I grabbed a rod that I'd rigged up with a small jig, tipped it with a couple of wax worms and fished about a foot above the suspended fish. It only took a few seconds for the first fish to move up and pop the bait. Now I know we were supposed to be fishing for Walleyes, but I love action and I love smoked Tulibees (Ciscoes) too, so I suggested to Jason that we record a quick segment about fishing for them. He agreed and luckily, we had the full cooperation of the fish.
Tulibees typically move in the deeper, open water areas near mid lake structure, feeding on small minnows and insect larvae. Most often you'll see them on your flasher suspended several feet above the bottom (see flasher screen) to the right. Small jigs tipped with grubs are the best bait, but I've also caught them on some of the smaller jigging spoons tipped with minnow heads. Once you know that they're in the area, you can attract them by jigging large, flashy spoons. Once you see them on the flasher, switch back to the small jig & grub.
Hey, Some days are easier than others, but there's a ray of light in every one of them. Cold as it was, we were lucky today and found a whole bunch of them (ray's of light, this is).

Ice Fishing Report January 9, 2011 Ice Fishing : I got home from the Minnesota DNR Roundtable Meetings at about 7:30 on Saturday Evening, had a nice quiet evening and Now it's about 4:45 AM on Sunday. We'll be heading up to try and do a little video on Lake Winnie in about an hour.
I'll be able to catch up on the fishing reports and give you some of the key points of the DNR Roundtable later this evening. With a little luck, we'll even have a video to share soon.
Hey, I hope this is the day your trophy comes along! Be sure to check back for an update later this (Sunday) evening.
Focusing on where the plowed roads are opened up has been about the only way that most of us can get on the lakes to fish and the good news is that there are more spots opening up every day as the operators get caught up. The list below is updated every day and all updates from new operators are welcome any time. Just EMAIL
On my afternoon tour yesterday, I ran up to Lake Winnie and checked on the landings along the shore at Bowen's Flats. So far, no one has attempted to punch a road out into Tamarack Bay, but there have been several snowmobiles heading in and out from there. Up the shore at the last landing, there's a road beaten into the snow that runs along the shoreline toward the gap at Cutfoot. I didn't drive out on it, but it actually looked pretty good and I'll bet most 4 wheel drive trucks would be okay using it. For now, the more traffic it gets, the better. Accross the road, there have been a few snowmobiles using the McAvity Bay landing, but you can see from the road that there's slush in the tracks. The track will re-frreze and I think eventually this will turn into a useable road.
Fishing reports haven't changed much since yesterday, so jump down to the fishing report from 1-5-11 for what we have at the moment.
Here's an update & fishing report from Gus Sheker at Ball Club Lake; Gus' Place Resort. In his own words; "Lake conditions here are less than desirable. We have 12 inches of good solid ice, then 3 inches of slush and that is topped off with 8-10 inches of snow. We have plowed access through the resort, but we are unable to plow lake roads at this time because the ice is only 12 inches thick. We are recommending lake travel by snowmobiles or walkout.
Fishing has been good for Perch, Pike and Walleye and slow for Crappie & Blue Gills.
We have been fishing last summers weeds with success for Perch & Northerns to 16-18ft. Using fatheads & glow jigs. Walleye have been running deeper @ 20-22ft. and most active at dusk; again using glow jigs. Many fish 14-15 inches are being caught. The Walleye fishermen using cams are spotting some large Whitefish".
As a bonus for his customers, Gus always shares GPS info with folks who lodge there.

DNR, I attended the Minnesota DNR Roundtable Meetings in Minneapolis in early January. There are always plenty of folks from media in attendance so I'm sure that the meetings have been written about extensively already. I'll spare you a lot of chit chat about the majority of the time I spent there, but there's one big issue we're going to need to get to work on right away.
Saturday was devoted almost entirely to issues surrounding the invasion of our waters by exotic species. You know that I don't like to get into the "Gloom and Doom" the way that some folks do, but this is some really scary stuff and it's not something that we have a lot of time to think about. There's a lot of invasives heading our way and I'll drop in a detail about several of them throughout the rest of our winter. But for right now, take a look at some of the information about one of the really nasty ones right away.
One of the more powerful presentations was one by Dick Sternberg about the impact of Zebra Mussels on freshwater lakes and fishing. The upshot is that once they get into your lake, they spread like wildfire and they impact every aspect of life on that lake. It doesn't matter if you fish, swim, ski or just like the smell of clean air, these critters are going to mess it up for you. His presentaion is going to be available in part, so I can share some more details in coming days and I will.
Listen, I know, this is going to be a pain in the butt, but we need to do everything we can to keep these from spreading any more than they already have. If you'll please just take a few minutes to see what they can do, you'll know why I'm concerned. To begin with , just do me one small favor and click on this you tube clip about the impact of Zebra Mussels on Lake Huron, It's only a few minutes long and you're not going to get a bunch of statistics. It will give you a jolt though and a rough idea what we're up against, right here, right now.

Ice Fishing Report January 7, 2011 Ice Fishing : Well lucky for me that I have to head down to the Twin Cities for a couple of days to attend the Minnesota DNR Roundtable sessions. I'll be on the road early in the morning, so I probably won't have time to add much to the report before I leave.
Hey! In the next day or two, fishing and road conditions aren't going to change much anyway. So this little trip saves me from having to figure out a new way to say the same thing tomorrow that I already said yesterday. Ya Know?
When I get back, I'll drop in some notes about what the DNR has in store for us in 2011, along with news about any major fishing developments that occur in the Deer River area while I'm away.
Have a great weekend and be sure to let me know if something cool happens while you're out in the field.

Ice Fishing Report January 6, 2011 Ice Fishing : Cold, but stable weather is starting to help improve ice fishing action, but access is still limited. Last weeks snow storms are turning out to be the gift that keeps on giving! Snowmobiles have been the best option on almost all of the lakes, especially the smaller ones. But, now even snowmobilers are having problems with the slush and water that's building up under the ice. Almost everywhere, the weight of the snow laying on top of what was good, but fairly thin ice, is forcing water up on to the ice. Ice will improve later when the layer of water finally wicks up into the snow and then re-freezes. But until then, it's going to be tough trucking in a lot of areas.

Ice Fishing Report January 5, 2011 Ice Fishing : Another "recovery day" gave many, but not all of the winter resort operators a chance to finish digging out from the storm. Since everyone has been so swamped, it's been hard for me to get updates from many of them, so on Tuesday I packed up the truck and took a road trip from Deer River West to Lake Winnie, Leech Lake and a handful of the smaller area lakes. The conditions we found varied wildly from one location to the next, so you'll need to make some calls to be sure your favorite spot is still accessible. By the way, mention to your favorite operator(s) that they can get their status updates to me and I'll get the info added to this report daily.
Ice Report for 1-5-2011: Heading West from Deer River, our first stop was at Ball Club Lake where someone (locally) has plowed open an access road from US Hwy 2 into the DNR Public Acess on the South end. The road will get you into the landing, but not on to the lake, you'll need a snowmobile to move around out on that end of the lake. An alternative may be to go up Co Rd 39 to Gus's Place and use their access road. I requested an update from gus, but so far haven't heard back.
Our next stop was Six Mile Lake where the news is mixed. The forestry road (Old Six MIle Lake Road) leading to the winter access landing was plowed, narrow, but in great condition. The landing road is not plowed though, so again, you'll need a snowmobile or ATV to get to the lake. Someone had broken a trail earlier this week using an ATV, but we could could not see if they were able to move around out on the lake.
Next stop for us was at Denny's Resort where Pat Rooney has done one of the best jobs of keeping the roads open. They had a nice wide road leading up the Southeast shoreline to a combuned, large group of rental and private ice shelters.
While we were there, I was able to get a fishing report from Pat too. He say's that there has been a good afternoon/evening bite for Walleyes in 16 to 20 feet of water, with 18 feet being his preference. The Perch action has also been good, but out deeper, for Perch, 28 to 30 feet depths have been better. Since you're depending on the plowed road to get to a fishing spot, you'll be limited to the main lake drop off area along the Southeast side, but that covers a lot of territory and you'll at least be able to find a place to fish.
Another Lake Winnie report came by email from Chris Dunker at Big Wolf Resort. After a slow period during the storm, the fish made a slight New Years Recovery. They had several guests reporting catches of Walleye in the protected slot (17-26 inches) but a few of them managed to bag limits of keepers too. Both Chris and Pat Rooney mentioned that there have been some Walleyes hitting at night from around 10 PM to 2 AM as well.
According to Chris, Perch action has been slower, but now that the weather has stabilized, they're hopeful that the action will pick up again.
From the South end of Winnie, we headed toward Federal Dam and stopped in at the landing near North Star Resort on the North end of Leech Lake (Portage Bay). Things were still a little dicey here because the access road through the resort to the lake is good, but once you get on the lake, there's only a hodge podge of attempted plow jobs, mostly by folks trying to get out to their own shelters. You might get on a decent track for a while, but don't count on covering a lot of ground on the lake. We talked with one young man from Remer, MN who said that fishing for Perch had been good before the storm. He said that Walleyes were present, but not very cooperative.
The locals may keep chipping away at the roads here, but for now, I'd play it safe and go out using a snow machine.
Making our way toward the Southwest side of Leech Lake, we spotted several old roads that were now snowed in, but except for a few "private" roads that some of the resorts operate for guests only, we didn't get to another really good access until we arrived at The Shores at Pine Point. Here, they have done another great job of covering a lot of territory with a nice wide road. There were a ton of ice shelters in this area and more on the way. The access fee is $10.00, but if you want to fish anywhere from Pine Point to Goose Island, this is the way to go.
Hey, by now we'd been in the truck for a few hours and I wanted to get home so I could shovel the snow off of my roof. I decided to high-tail it back to Deer River and got here just in time, in fact, during the last few minutes of daylight, I took a sunset picture while I was still up on the roof. Today, I'll get a little look at the North end of Winnie and Cutfoot and post that tomorrow.

Ice Fishing Report January 4, 2011 Ice Fishing : Some of the area roads showed signs of improvement on Monday and many of the reosrts have their "ice roads" plowed back open, at least enough to get back out to their main areas again. The reports about where we can and can't fish are coming in mixed, but it's generally safe to say that almost all of the lake access roads are snowed in. I tried to plow a path up at my farm yesterday and it is going to be a major job if I want to get it done. Deep snow stops my truck in it's tracks every 50 yards or so. If you're used to fishing small lakes on the back roads, you'll need a snowmobile or an Argo to get there.
I managed to get out of the house for a while yesterday afternoon and drove up to look at the Southeast side of Lake Winnie. Along the way, I checked the access roads at Ball Club and Little Ball Club Lakes. There are no roads plowed into either of them and without a snowmobile or a lot of exercise, these lakes won't be accessible for a while.
Heading toward Highbanks, I stopped at the Winnibigoshish Dam to look at Tamarack Bay and it looked really quiet from the bridge, I couldn't see any ice houses or traffic up near Tamarack Point. The water is still high and the river flowing out of the dam looks more like the scene you'd expect to see in spring, during ice out.
There were a few ice shelters set up to the Northeast of Plughat Point, but either there isn't a road out to them yet, or else no one had the idea to fish there yesterday. Either way, it was quiet! On my way toward Highbanks, I noted that the access road into the Birches is snowed in as well. There was a lot of traffic coming and going from there last week, so it's possible that someone will try to plow it back open, but I'd count on using the access at Highbanks Resort instead. As of this morning, they have their roads re-opened back out to the humps and they're working on adding spurs to additional fishing spots today. By the time I left Highbanks yesterday, it was getting dark, so I didn't see much more. But I got a couple of updates via email this morning.
On Lake Winnie, There is a pressure ridge formed in the usual place between Tamarack Point and the gap at Cutfoot. According to John Seekon at the Pines Resort, the road system in Tamarack Bay is expanding daily. Use either the access at the Pines or the one at Sunset View.
John Seekon added that Perch fishing in Tamarack Bay has been good. He says; "The best depth for Perch fishing has been 14 feet, with lots of fish being caught, but some sorting required for the larger fish. The morning bite has been better than late in the day with glow white jigs producing the best".
On Bowstring Lake, Darv Oelke at Bowstring Shores says that fishing has been fair, his customers have had a mixed bag of Walleye, Perch and Northern Pike coming in. He's done his best to get some new roads plowed, but on Bowstring they're fighting a slush/water problem under the heavy snow. He say's that he's run into some places where there was up to a foot of water under the snow. Your best bet on Bowstring will be to get in touch with Darv about using the new roads as they freeze back up again.
On Leech Lake, fishing the west side has been really good according to Norm Teegardin at The Shores at Pine Point, they have about eight miles of roads plowed between Pine Point and Goose Island. He says that the fishing has been excellent with a mixed bag of Jumbo Perch and Walleye coming in.
Hey, Information is starting to flow again, so today I'm going to make my rounds and get a fishing destination set up for tomorrow. I'll be entertaining a guest rider today and haven't quite figured out my game plan, but I know we'll be out checking the ice and road conditions somewhere. If you spot us, take a second an say hello.

Ice Fishing Report January 3, 2011 Ice Fishing : It was great to see the sunshine again and almost equally great to get some of the snow moved. But I'm afraid that Sunday wasn't much more than a day to breathe and get the real work started. There is a lot of snow out there and most of the operators just barely got the roads re-opened, let alone ready for heavy traffic. I left the house at mid-morning to go and get a first hand look at the progress, but the highway conditions were so bad that I decided to stay off the highways until today. Ironically, the un-paved county roads are in much better condition than the paved highways. There's a lot less ice build up, and the plowing job has been excellent.
For most anglers, getting home was more important than catching a fish and almost all of the traffic I saw was heading South. By the end of the day on Sunday, there were a handful of lodges that had their roads plowed open, but many still had them closed to the public until they can be widened.
I did not get a single, current fishing report, but the sun is out again this morning and I expect a few anglers to start moving around today.
The most optimistic report I've gotten back so far was from Highbanks Resort. As of this morning, they have their roads re-opened back out to the humps and added "we’ll continue to expand our roads as conditions allow."
Hey, It's the first day of business for the new year! Now that everyone is back in school, I'm looking forward to clearing some of the paperwork off of my desk. For the morning, I'll stick around and then head out for a look around later this afternoon.

Ice Fishing Report January 2, 2011 Ice Fishing : The storm has passed, the winds are calm again and it looks like we're ready to finish getting plowed out and work our way back wo normal. Luckily for us, we didn't receive many additional inches of snowfall on Saturday, so all we have to do is get rid of the drifts that the wind blew in. For today, calm winds and a sunny skies will help make the recovery go faster. Once everyone catches back up, the real fishing reports will start to flow again.
On Saturday, most of the traffic I saw on the roads, were pickup trucks with snow plows. I talked with Ken Grife at Fred's Bait and as expected, traffic in the shop was really slow. But in spite of the heavy winds, there were a handful of anglers who had made it up for the weekend and they weren't to be denied a chance to fish. Most of them, had some protection in heated ice shelters on the lakes where roads had been plowed before the storm.
On the South end of Lake Winnibigoshish, the fishing action was fair. Perch and Walleye were both being caught on the deeper breaklines in water depths of 26 to 30 feet. Perch are hitting during the daylight hours on Buckshot Spoons tipped with minnow heads. "Keeper" 14 to 16 inch Walleyes hit for a short time at dusk, but gave up shortly past dark. Some of the anglers that spent Friday night in a sleeper house, reported that a few larger "slot fish" were caught during the night on live minnows fished on plain hooks below their rattle reels.
Northern Pike have started showing up out on the deeper breaklines as well. Using a tip up rigged with large size Golden Shiners is one good way to catch them, but they will also respond well to large jigging spoons and the larger size jigging Rapalas.
Slush on the ice will be a problem in certain areas now. On Saturday I stopped and talked with a couple of anglers as they attempted to make their way out onto White Oak Lake to move their dark house. One of them had already moved his house off of Bass Lake and told me that while he worked on blocking up the house to make the move, his snowmobile froze solid into the slush causing a 2 hour removal project. Expect similar probelms in areas where the ice wasn't fully developed before the snow storms and also in areas where deeper drifting has occured. According to Chad Benson on Red Lake there are areas where the snow has drifted as deep as 4 feet. Unless you're using a snow machine, depending on the plowed roads will be the only way to get around up there.
Hey, We had a little fishing trip set up for this afternoon, but I'm not sure that we'll pull it off. Either way, I'll be out and about a lot today checking up on conditions around the area. Drop me a line with an update if you have one!

Ice Fishing Report January 1, 2011 Ice Fishing : When I peaked out the window this morning, I was hoping that I wouldn't see another foot of snow laying on the ground! So far, I've gotten my wish, but it still looks like we're in for another day of plowing and cleanup. The worst is probably over though and I'm hoping that we'll be able to pull off the fishing trip we have planned for tomorrow.
On Friday, travel conditions in the Deer river area were pretty bad and trying to get around on the ice would have been even worse. The only folks that had a chance to fish, were the groups that were already out in the larger rental houses located on plowed roads. Even then, many of the rental operators gave up trying to plow because the winds blew roads shut faster than they could keep up.
Now, most of us who want to ice fish will be dependent on plowed roads. I sent out lots of messages last night and I'm sure that it will be much later today beforue I start hearing back from most of them. I'll stay on top of where the best accesses are and update that list tomorrow after folks get moving again.
Hey, for me, the day will be another one spent moving snow and then later, the big event! Kathryn Rose Sundin's 17th Birthday.

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Read Minnesota Fishing Artcicles and get information about my favorite MN Fishing Lakes.