It's 2024, Let's Fish!

Ice fishing is drawing to a close so I hit my favorite spot for end of season fishing.

Fish were plenty interested but my inability to get a good hook set meant the fish won this round. Can’t believe how many fish I lost on the way up, should have been able to get at least a couple up through the hole. Oh well, just being able to take in this scene is a reward in itself.

Might not be quite done yet though, 20” of ice in this channel and probably a foot more in the open water. Thinking of making one last dash on Sunday.

awesome pic
I have a 01 classic 700 for hard water fishing
the rear trunk set up u have is very nice
I need to do this mod to mine
good luck if u get out again

hybrid said:

awesome pic
I have a 01 classic 700 for hard water fishing
the rear trunk set up u have is very nice
I need to do this mod to mine
good luck if u get out again

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Thanks, I have a score to settle with those fish.

The rack is something I put together fairly quickly a few years ago because I needed some way to carry more gear on this sled and it’s worked quite well. When I built it, the idea was to refine it later by adding more bracing and replacing the wood with aluminum tubing but you know how that goes.

The Polaris sleds of the early 2000’s are great ice fishing sleds, durable and reliable. I picked up the (used) 2000 XC Deluxe specifically for ice fishing. It’s comfortable and has electric start and reverse, which are a real bonus.

skiroule said:

KInd of a strange scene in Baudette right now. Ice is out of the Rainy quite a ways downstream from International Falls and at least one boat ramp is open. So now you see boats and wheelhouses parked side by side at the local restaurants.

A friend sent me the attached article regarding some studies done on the effects of ice out dates and Walleye spawn.

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Our ice went out on March 16, the earliest I can ever remember. It skimmed over and refroze about a week later, still have and inch of ice but it should go out this coming week. Exactly 4 weeks until opening day by us.

pclark said:

Our ice went out on March 16, the earliest I can ever remember. It skimmed over and refroze about a week later, still have and inch of ice but it should go out this coming week. Exactly 4 weeks until opening day by us.

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Hit the ice yesterday to haul a little more rock for the cabin foundation. Couldn’t believe how much the ice has deteriorated in just a few days. Ice thickness around the islands/reefs and in the channels is very uneven now, anything from 30” in some spots to open water in others.

Because of the ice conditions, I decided to finish up the season fishing a spot close to the cabin yesterday. It paid off, I finally hit an honest to goodness Walleye spring feeding frenzy. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve hit one but when they happen, it’s crazy. If there wasn’t a fish grabbing the bait when it hit the bottom, it was never more than 3 -4 minutes before there was a pull on the line. After a couple of hours, I packed it in but who knows how long it might have continued.

Our region of Ontario made pretty dramatic change in Walleye size regulations this year. Legal Walleyes now must be under 17” or over 27.5”. All those 18 – 20” fish we might have kept last year now have to go back. I released a lot of fish yesterday to get a nice limit of 16’s.

Guess it’s on to boat season, Ontario Walleye season closes Apr. 14th and re-opens May 18Th.

That 17" slot is sure a tough one. I can relate as it's the same/similar on a lot of lakes in MN. I'd love to see the science around the age or sex of a 17" vs. 18" fish. I catch soooo many walleyes that touch or are just over the 17" slot and get a free pass. Maybe that in itself is the reason. LOL. I could sure keep a lot more fish if it went to 18".

On our chain in Vilas County, we have a 15” minimum up 20” (3 fish limit), slot of 20”-24” none allowed, one walleye over 24” can taken. It’s been that way for sometime now. A little over 3weeks until the opener. Our ice is completely gone now, I started putting the piers in yesterday, it was 64 today.

pclark said:

On our chain in Vilas County, we have a 15” minimum up 20” (3 fish limit), slot of 20”-24” none allowed, one walleye over 24” can taken. It’s been that way for sometime now. A little over 3weeks until the opener. Our ice is completely gone now, I started putting the piers in yesterday, it was 64 today.

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My wife is really turning up the pressure to get the cabin fully up and running. Still about a foot of ice around the dock. Last year I drilled a hole in the ice and dropped the water line in, would prefer to avoid that this year. Things could change in a hurry though but we do have another cool-down coming with lows in the 20's.

mike1970 said:

That 17" slot is sure a tough one. I can relate as it's the same/similar on a lot of lakes in MN. I'd love to see the science around the age or sex of a 17" vs. 18" fish. I catch soooo many walleyes that touch or are just over the 17" slot and get a free pass. Maybe that in itself is the reason. LOL. I could sure keep a lot more fish if it went to 18".

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Yeah, you wouldn’t think an inch would make as much difference as it does. The kicker on the Ontario side of the lake is that with the sport fishing license you used to be able to have one over 18” in possession and three 18" and under with no other restrictions.

The new Ontario Walleye slot is technically 43 – 70 cm, which on the low end is just under 17”. I can pretty much guarantee that they will take a hard line on this and enforcement will be beefed up considerably. If you have a fish that a conservation officer measures at 44 cm, you probably will get busted.

I guess it’s an honest effort to improve the Walleye population but the recreational fishing harvest on the Ontario side of the lake is a tiny fraction of that on the MN side. Until Minnesota makes some kind of similar move (either a change in the MN slot or limit), I’m not sure how much impact it will have.

We will start netting for the females very soon for the Walleyes for Tomorrow Program. We take some males as well. Eggs and milk are taken and they are released. Starting Much earlier than last year. We are seeing a lot of 14” that are results of years of work in this project. It’s a slow process but hopefully we are helping grow the population. My hope is we’ll see consistent 15”-16” fish soon.