Ice Fish Baby Cont....

I know many of you fishwithmatt "regulars" are wondering where my ice reports are and where my recent ice fishing updates are.  Never fear, although this is a bit late for my standards. We are only a week into the ice fishing season here in MN and I have lots to report.

First let's start with a metro ice report.  Lake Waconia has 6" of good ice on almost the entire lake.  We have found areas with more and a few areas with a bit less, but for the most part it is in good shape for people to venture out with their Clam portables.  Lake Minnetonka on the other hand is not in as good of shape.  Heck, much of the lake is stil open water.  The big lake (east side) is for the most part wide open.  There are some areas out west guys are getting out on 4-6" of ice and even a few bays to the east.  With talking to a few of my guys that have been hitting the areas they can get out, the walleye fishing has been fantastic.  Which is expected and brings me to where I have been spending my time on the ice.

I returned  home from a week of bow hunting in WI on Dec 9th and rushed out on a new lake that I wanted to try.  We hit a little 300 acre gem and found about 3-5" of ice and were able to land a few walleyes jigging the Northland Macho Minnow and Live Forage Minnow tipped with a minnow head.  Our best bite was before dark 2:30-4 in the evening.  

 

On Monday we jumped in the truck and headed for the big pond-Lake Mille Lacs; equipped with a fully charged vexilar fl-20, our clam shacks, and a four wheeler just ready to attack the big water.  We hit the ice early (6am) and ventured out to a rock reef and set-up in 15-16 feet of water and immediately started catching walleyes and jumbo perch.  Since we figured we were on a pretty good bite we didn't even move.  We stayed put all day(not like me) and finished the night off with Tony landing this giant 29" raw rye!  He fell victim to a Northland Eye Dropper on a tip up with a big shiner.  It was sooooo fat it looked like a Minnetonka walleye.  I have been apart of many big walleyes being caught and caught my own fair share and this fish pushed the double digit mark of 10lbs.  Typically the so called big walleyes at Mille Lacs are skinny.  Needless to say this giant walleye was released to fight another battle. Made for a great way to end our trip on Monday.  

We had a good 8" of ice on the east side of Mille lacs.  We only fished about 1/2 mile out from shore but every where we drove with the wheeler we found about 8".  Since then I have been on more of a tear.....  But that story, photo's, and report is going to have to wait for another day.  

As expected, early ice raw rye (walleye) action has been on fire!  I am once again back in action on a full court press of giant walleyes, lots of walleyes, and anything else having to do with ice fishing!  I will do my best to get to a computer and keep the info and reports coming.  You aren't going to want to miss what happens next....  Fish On!