Ice Trolling

Tony G and I hit Mille Lacs last week and when we embark on a lake we don't hold back. I give the fish and the lake all it can handle. As some would say, "I am mad at the fish"! On this particular evening we had left "base camp"(the wheel house) and opted to run out on the wheeler to a flat. First thing we do when we arrive on a spot is drill lots of holes up and down the edge of the flat and in the area where we expect the fish to be. We cover as much water as fast as we can. Never fishing a hole more than about 10 minutes. The idea is to stay on the fish as them move up and down the flat edges. Sometimes the fish are on top, other times they are on the edge or in the basin. So we "ice troll" for them. We fish and chase them up as they come up to feed and we will follow them back down. The first 2 major keys to success in this run and gun style of fishing are drilling lots of holes and a Ice Armor Extreme Suit. Thanks to the great suits we are able to fish outside in wind and cold for hours and still be warm and comfortable. I can't tell you how important that is. It allows us to be ultra mobile and stay on the move in a instant. The old way of setting up and just waiting them out in one hole is a thing of the past thanks to the great equipment available today. The third thing that is a must is a Lowrance Handheld GPS or fishfinder GPS combo for finding the areas that may hold the fish. The particular unit that I am using on my 4 wheeler is a HDS8. This unit may be over kill for some so don't think you have to have the 8". It is nice, but any of the Lowrance units will work great. Lowrance has done a great job of making the units user friendly and very simple to read. Thanks to Navionics chips, you no longer have to carry a lake map or hope you are on the spot. You can see the detail and lake map right on your GPS and where you are in relevance to the "spot" or structure you are looking for. That allows us to pull up to a reef or flat and drill lots of holes in the area that we think the fish are going to be on the spot. Another key piece to our arsenal is a Vexilar FL-20. As you will see in the video, I am always looking at my Vexilar to see if a fish is coming into the bite zone! It tells you what is going on in your hole instantly! That is a huge key to our success. I can pick up my Vexilar and carry it with me hole to hole and always know what is going on; once again staying mobile and on the fish. We also set-up a set line or tip up in the area we are fishing around. This allows us to move holes often but always have a second line in the water. On this particular outing Tony and I managed to catch 9 gravel lizards in about a hour or two period of time; 4 of which measured in at over 22" with the biggest being 27" If you have any specific questions in regards to how we get on these giant fish not only on Mille Lacs but also on Minnetonka and Waconia please message me. If you are looking to get around, hook, and land more fish try staying mobile and using a few of the great tools that are available to anglers today. Until next time, Fish On!

The Pond

This was one of many giant walleyes we caught on Mille Lacs in a day and half. The fishing was great. Having good warm gear to be able to stay out and fish all day was very crucial to our success. The fish were feeding at many different feeding times throughout the day. Do not leave home without your Ice Armor Extreme Suit and Clam portable house.

Crazy Gravel Lizard Crush

Once again I am here to report that the walleye fishing has been on fire.  It doesn't seem to matter where we go or fish we have been catching lots of fish with many giants mixed in the bunch.  Over the last 2 weeks we have fished Lake Mille Lacs, Lake Waconia, Lake Minnetonka, and Leech Lake.  I am here to report that the ice fishing report is good.  The fishing has been nothing short of amazing every where we go.  This is a picture of a 27" raw rye that I caught and released yesterday on Lake Mille Lacs during our excursion.    

As for ice reports.  I know Waconia has 6-8"of good black ice on it, the Mille Lacs ice report is 8" of good ice every where we have been.  Now I know many of you watch the news and have seen the ice shifting around on Mille Lacs making for a few ice rescues.  The lake has great ice but does have a crack that has been causing the ice to shift.  When the wind changes the ice has shifted a little at times causing for a few people to be left stranded on floating sheets of ice.  It is a serious situation but I want all you readers to know that there is lots of good ice on the lake and you can get out on much of the lake and fish just fine.  

The Leech Lake ice report is also pretty good.  When we were there we were out of Pine Point and had 8" of good ice.  It has been making some ice since then so I would imagine it is in great shape.  As always, check with the local bait store or shop and get the most current ice conditions or report before venturing out.  

Here is a picture of one of many giant walleyes we caught while on Mille Lacs this week.  This fish was caught by Tony and measured in at 25 1/2".  It fell victim to a northland forage minnow jig tipped with a medium golden shiner.  If you want to go on the ice fishing adventure of your life get a hold of me.  Here at fishwithmatt we make fishing dreams reality.  

Here is a picture of a double I did while on Mille Lacs.  Both these nice raw ryes were caught jigging Northland Buck Shot spoons on a medium action 28" Jason Mitchell Elite Seires rod, with a Shimano Symetre 500 FJ reel spooled with power pro ice 8lb and tipped with a 6lb maxima fluorocarbon leader.  We snapped a quick photo and released these two beautiful walleyes back in the lake. 

I have more to come and report, just not enough time to do it all right now.  Stay tuned though, I promise there is tons more to come.  Until next time, Fish On!  

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!