The Bite!

The walleye bite continues to be pretty good.  We are still catching fish in 14-16 feet of water from about 4-6 p.m.  The key to the bite has been finding a small turn on the weed line and setting up just outside of the weeds.  If you can find any rock on the outside edge of the weeds I would recommend to start there.  A jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head has been very productive.  

 

One thing that is amazing is how slow the ice is growing.  The ice where we are fishing on Lake Minnetonka is still hovering around 3-4".  Even with temps in the single digits to below zero the metro lakes have not been making that much ice.  It just goes to show how well snow can insulate.  The snow that we have on top of the ice is the culprit.  Make sure and check the ice you are traveling on often.  Areas where the snow has drifted on the lake may have less ice then areas where there is no snow.  I will continue to keep the reports coming.  Until next time, Fish On!    

.Com Squared!

Excuse the quality of this picture.  I had to crop out the finger that was on the lens.

After many months of soft water it is finally time to hit the hard water in search of some walleyes and panfish.    Travis of Trophy Encounters and myself had been trying to get on some early ice eyes and had been struggling.  When first ice comes it makes it hard because many areas you want to fish are not safe to venture out onto.  With that in mind we had been dabbling on some metro lakes that were "safe" and had limited success.  We finally said, "enough is enough", and headed to Minnetonka for an evening.  We fished from 4-6 p.m. and were able to catch 6 nice walleyes, with the largest fish coming in around 24" caught by Travis (pictured above).  I heard "fish on" numerous times before I even had my first fish come in looking.  I was starting to get jealous of the hoot'n and holler'n coming from the house next door when finally a fish decided to come in and eat my spoon.  Something must have been wrong with it to be eating my bait!

 

By the time the smoke cleared we had five nice eater walleyes.  I caught two fish and Travis and Bails had put three on ice.  I have to admit this was a great time with great company.  

As many of you know, Travis and I both guide and both pursue fishing to the fullest extent.  We are always able to put that aside to enjoy time on the water together.  For years I have been fortunate enough to fish with Travis and watched this kid really come into his own.  With both of us having busy fishing schedules it is hard for us to get together as much as we would like.  The one thing consistent with every time we get together to fish whether in a boat or on the ice is we always seem to have very successful outings.  In other words, we are kind of dangerous on any body of water.  I think the fish get a bit of a chill every time they sense us on the water together.  I learn something every time I am on the water, and this trip was no different. 

I want to remind everyone to be safe when venturing on the ice.  The ice we were on was about 3-4".  I was comfortable on that.  With the snow pack insulating the ice, the ice making process right now is very sloooowww.  Waconia has as much as 8" of ice and as little as 2".  So use caution please.  Even my years of experience and years of dealings on ice doesn't make me invincible.  (Did I really just say that out loud?!)  If you asked Travis or Bails they would tell you I have kahoonas the size of an elephant to take my four wheeler across the lake.  Many of the fishing ventures we take are risky and this one was no different.  The risk is something I have become comfortable with (at times to comfortable), but I can not emphasize enough that mother nature has a mind of her own.  I did go through the ice last year, and am taking extra precaution to stay on top of the ice this year.  Check back here for more info and reports to come.     

Call Me Crazy!

The start of the metro ice report.  Many more lakes and ice conditions for metro lakes will be coming. 

As you can see Scott and I hit the ice last night for the first time this winter.  We ventured out on Waconia and found pretty good ice.  The snow on the top of the ice is starting to make things a bit messy.  The ice ranged from as much as 7" to as little as 4".  Being that it is about impossible to drag portables in this much snow we risked it with the four wheeler and had no problems.  It looked as though we were the first to venture out as far as we did.  There were some tracks in the snow in and around shore but nothing out on the main lake.  We set-up in 16 feet of water off the edge of a reef hoping to coax a few walleyes into biting at dark.  We had a great evening on the lake but had no takers. 

The snow is very heavy and is weighing down the ice causing water to seep through and make a slushy mess in areas.  You will want to be very careful heading out on any ice this weekend.  The drifted snow makes ice conditions vary quite a bit.  We will be at it every day from here on out.  Many reports and updates will be coming.  If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.  Until next time please be careful and good luck.            

Happy Thanksgiving!

This time of year gives us a chance to reflect back and realize how fortunate we truly are.  I want to give thanks to everyone that has been apart of my life and helped me do what I do so well.  I want to take this time and thank all of my clients that have jumped aboard with me this past year.  Without you this would still just be a dream.  Thank you for making it a memorable year and I look forward to a busy ice fishing season as well as a great 08 open water season.  Hope to see many of you this winter.  Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! 

This is right around the corner!  We will be leaving for Lake of the Woods on Dec. 6th!