Fishing Report, Ice Fishing

DLFR Monday Ice Fishing Report #2

Cold Front Fishing Is Not All Its Cracked Up To Be

When cold fronts come in, the onset often marks the shut down of all or most fish activity.  That seemed to be the case this weekend as two out of three of our early ice target areas were pretty docile.

We drilled the ice on Creel Bay in front of Woodland Resort and Pros Lakeside at the Cove Restaurant on Friday evening to check ice depth and we registered two and a quarter inches.  We had hoped for a little more but with night time lows in the negative teens, we were confident we would be ok.

fullsizer
The rough 1st freeze was 6 and a half inches and the smooth 2nd freeze was 4 as of Saturday morning.

Our speculation was correct as when we drilled in another location on Creel Bay Saturday morning, we found the first cut at six and a half inches and the 2nd cut at four inches.

Extreme cold makes ice, extreme cold fronts shut down fish.  

This seemed to be the case as, while we marked many fish, getting them to bite was a whole different matter.  We targeted a sunken road structure with a depressed flat below it.  The top of the road was in that 16-18 foot range and the flat was in 21-23 feet.

 

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Not the mother load but with bottoming out temps, we will take anything willing to bite.

 

Saturday night the decision was made to dedicate the majority of the day, Sunday, to a favorite early ice spot and drill the crap out of it.

On our way to our chosen destination we stopped at a sunken road in 11-13 feet of water to investigate and after ice trolling the road we found it barren.

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We troll roadbeds in the summer, why not the winter.

We continued on about a mile and a quarter to our early ice hot spot and proceeded to empty our augers of gasoline on our way to a big goose egg!

We drilled anywhere from 16 feet out to 26 feet and had a solid 5 inches of ice all the way out.  It is my opinion that we will be on four-wheelers by this next weekend.

Goose eggs don’t sit well with me.  Especially after the laborious march through 5 inch snow on top of slick ice.  The trek back in took me 36 minutes and I was exhausted.

I was also determined to not take a goose egg and confident that my next hole would be THE hole.

I made a pit stop for coffee, restocked my auger gas, and proceeded to a favorite early ice night bite walleye location.

This next location is a hump structure with sunken runways between the humps.

The humps come up to 16 feet and the runaways are in that 20-22 foot range.  I attacked it with a perch jigging rap tipped with a minnow head and 3 slip bobbers with plain hooks and minnows.

Perseverance would be rewarded.  

The first three eyes were of the ‘Sandwich eye’ variety.  It was early for this particular spot and I knew better fish were yet to come but after a long day of nothing it felt good to get on the board.

About 4:00, someone hit a light switch and the bigger eyes were on the prowl and I was marking monster marks constantly.  A 20-incher got frisky and I added him to the total and was one short of a limit.

I had a dead time of about twenty minutes to half an hour and my hands were starting to freeze up.  The Heat Works Hand Warmers were working but temperatures were falling and having to get my hands wet was zapping them.

I was then given the shot of adrenaline I needed.

A MONSTER MARK, the double flasher variety.

I got that mark up 5 feet and then he was just gone.

He, or should I say she, did this three more times, following me up almost off of the Vexilar zoom.  Just as I was losing all light and my hands were popsicles, she aggressively came up and whacked it.

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Early Ice Devils Lake FAT Walleye

 

I fought her slowly and she got wrapped up in my line.  Once I got her out of the hole it was apparent that she had engulfed the hook, was bleeding, and was wrapped in the line pretty good.

After finally untangling and removing the hook, she was pretty well froze.  I debated trying to release her but she was a goner.

We cooked her up and made Walleye Fettuccine Alfredo (Recipe Coming Soon) out of her.  It was surprisingly good.

I slept like a baby after a long day in the cold and a triumphant, exhilarating finish to the weekend.

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Makes the ‘Sandwich Eyes’ look embarrassing until you realize, ‘that’s a 14 inch cutting board’.

Until next time,

Hold On To Your Rods….

and…

CATCH MORE FISH

About Travis E

Just a Devils Lake outdoor junkie. This is my blog. Follow me for fishing reports, waypoints, and other information that can help make your day on the lake a success! Connect via Facebook, Instagram, or email. Read on for the latest fishing reports. I also offer limited guided day trips and up-to-date waypoints where I’ve recently caught fish. See you on the lake or in the field!
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3 thoughts on “DLFR Monday Ice Fishing Report #2

  1. We have a 21 foot ice castle. How thick do you recommend the ice to be and where would be a good place to put it.

    1. I am always leery of big fish houses on early ice. I had an episode 4 years ago with an 8 by 10 fish house where I put it on a spot on early ice and it got locked in and it took me 2 weeks to unthaw it in march and it was not a fun experience. There will be adventurous types driving on the northern feeder lakes by this weekend but I wouldn’t recommend it. Four Wheelers for sure though. I would at least wait until after Christmas and AT LEAST 15 inches for a vehicle AND a fish house that big. I am a little crazy about walking on thin ice but am VERY conservative about driving on anything less than 15-18.

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