Request: ATV Rack?

Wondering if anyone out there knows of a rear-mounted ATV rack that's capable of carrying a portable fish house?

I've got a runner kit, but with all the running around I've been doing (Including a decent bit of driving on asphalt to avoid thin ice in channels) it's still taking it's toll on both the runners and the sled.

So, if anyone's got any recommendations, or thinks they know what I'm looking for, please leave a comment or shoot me an email!

The pictures to the right seem to be what I'm looking for, but the website that sells these racks have very few details about them. I shot the guy an email, but haven't heard back quite yet.

Ideally, it would be something that carries the house off the ice while moving (See Picture 1), but can quickly be lowered to the ice so you can flip the top over and get to fishing (See Picture 2). If it were a perfect world, I'd also love it if you didn't have to disconnect the fish house from the ATV rack (Aside from maybe undoing a few bungie cords or something of that nature).

Little summary of what I've heard from this weekend. Fishing seems to be okay still. Could've just been my spots that weren't producing (As I said, Wayzata bay was pretty heavily pressured).

Some things that you may want to consider:

• The bite seems to be for a longer time period. I've heard fish coming in as early as 4:00 and as late as 8:00.
• Fish (may) have moved deeper. Had two reports come in of finding fish in water that was significantly deeper than 20'.
• As far as I can tell, avoid the crowds. Stick close to them and you'll undoubtedly catch fish, but you'll be weeding through 20 small fish for every 1 that's worth keeping. 

Looking to get out this week and put those theories to the test. Will report back as soon as possible!

Fishing Report - Wayzata Bay (1/28/2012 @ 4:00-6:30)

Slow night. Wayzata was seeing a good deal of pressure this weekend with all the cars and wheelers. With all the reports of cars going through the ice on Metro lakes, and Minnetonka's record still being clean this year, I can't say I'm too surprised.

Managed three walleyes over the course of a couple hours. All three went back.

Don't think I'll be out tomorrow, but check back Monday for some new updates.

Another day, another fish! (1/27/2012)

Got some eaters tonight while out with my brother. Should have some more detailed reports coming in this weekend, stay tuned!

Fishing Report - Wayzata Bay (1/26/2011 @ 4:00 - 7:00)

Got out again today. Another quick update since there's fish being fried right this second (Ended up holding off last time).

Not many new developments for you, unfortunately, but I can say that the bite is definitely still going.

(Almost forgot to take a picture, but I did snap one of my dad filleting the fish. If you want to see it, click here, but I'm going to refrain from putting it up on the page since it's not quite as nice to look at fillets as it is to see some fish.)

Still ~20' (19' exactly, this time). Tried to get onto a bit of a shelf this time as opposed to being on the transition, did just as well as I've been doing.

Got to bring my Dad out today, which was really nice. He's the one who got me interested in fishing way back when I was about 5 years old. He bought a house on Minnetonka specifically for that reason (As well as a boat, obviously). He's put more money and effort into this hobby then I ever could have, but has never had squat for luck with Walleyes on Minnetonka. Hearing "Oh man, this is awesome!" and "WOW, that was cool!" a couple times tonight made it all worth it. Walleye are, by far, his favorite fish to catch, but as I said, his walleye count on Minnetonka was at 2 (In a total of 17 years living on the lake) and one of which was a fluke (Caught it while targetting pike). After tonight, he's up to 5. Still no incredible feat, but to double your count in one night after 17 years, I think it meant a lot to him.

We totaled 5 fish, 3 kept (One was a little small, but it was the first of the night and my Dad was pretty excited about it), 2 went back, and a handful of perch like usual.

One thing that was different is that I stayed out a quite a bit later then usual due to a recommendation from a reader (Thanks Nate!) who said he was having luck from 6-7, and it seemed to pay off! We caught 4 from 5-6, then managed 2 more around 6:30. There was a quiet spell in between the two bites though.

I'll also advise to avoid days like today where the ice was noisy as heck. I know the fish count doesn't do that claim justice, but it's hard not to notice that the fishing shuts down when the ice starts talking.

The other two nights that I've been out have been conveniently timed with a rising barometer, and I've caught fish, today wasn't too much different: Pressure 29.74 in (Rising) (From WeatherUnderground)

Oh, one more bit of good news, bringing my Dad out to catch some fish finally convinced him it's about time to go get the wheel house, so I'm really hoping we'll have that on the ice by this weekend. For those interested, we also saw three pickups all around 1 house that was easily 8x16 (Looked like an ice castle), so if that doesn't convince you that people are out on Wayzata in "full force" then I don't know what will. 

Questions/Comments/Concerns, shoot me an email (holland.joe@gmail.com) or leave a comment.

Tight Lines!

Quick Thanks

Just wanted to post a quick thank you to those of you who have been actively following the site.

At this point, I'm receiving at least an email or five a day about where others are having luck, what they're using, what they're catching, etc. I've promised people that I won't share their spots (And I won't!) but it's always awesome to have other sources coming in with similar information to reinforce my own luck (For instance, I've had about 4 people in the last week saying that ~20' has been great for Walleyes all over the lake).

It's always great to hear that the work you do is appreciated, and just about every message I receive has a nice "Thanks!" attached to it, so in return, Thank you all. Admittedly, these past couple of weeks, this site and the emails I've received have been what have pressured me to get out on the ice as much as possible, the response from you all is what makes it worth it.

This site at first was more or less just an experiment to see if something like this was even remotely possible, but two months later I've already got about 50 unique weekly visitors, over 5000 total views, and I'd say it's right where I wanted it to be. I've always been somewhat annoyed by the websites with a strong bias towards their sponsors, so here's to the free-flow of good information between fisherman, and to rest with the days of intentionally sending people in the wrong direction so they stay away from "your spot."

PS, I'm planning on going out on Wayzata Bay tomorrow evening around 3:30-4:00. I'll be out in a Fish Trap Scout TC with a red Honda Rubicon sitting nearby, so if anyone wants to head my way, feel free! On top of that, if anyone wants to coordinate something, feel free to shoot me a text at 952-393-9718 (Note: I'm really bad at answering phone calls from numbers I don't recognize, so texts are preferred).

Fishing Report - Wayzata Bay (1/24/2012 @ 4:00-5:45)

Got out to Wayzata again today, in the process of frying up some fish now so I'm gonna keep this one a bit shorter.

Got to my spot around 4:30 (This spot is a little further away then the last spot, but still very similar structure), sun was already on it's way down. Quickly drilled about 3 holes all of which were between 17-22'. Marked fish on all three holes but stuck with the 19' hole (Mainly because the ATV was close by, and I usually setup near it to block wind).

About an hour of pulling up nothing but perch (Again though, these perch were really nice sizes. Even bigger than the ones from the last outing. Biggest was probably 9". Still not much of a keeper, but nice to see.)

Then, just like the last time I was out, the instant that sun hit the horizon (Not that it was very visible in the first place, though..) the walleyes moved in. There was a good 10-15 minute period between the perch bite and the walleye bite, but stick through it and you might have some luck. 19 feet of water, on a hump rather then a hole, and using a Northland Tackle Moxie Minnow tipped with minnow heads (All the sponsor-hype about this jigging spoon aside, I've been having some really, really great luck with it. Lift it up 4-5 feet then let it flutter down and you'll usually get at least one fish that's somewhat interested).

The walleyes were both bigger and smaller then last time. Biggest one came in at 18", smallest was 9", with a couple between 9"-12". Didn't keep the smaller guys this time, got enough from the last outing for a meal, so I figured it'd be better for them to go back and grow a bit.

So again, similar things that have provided luck both outings now.

•  20 feet of water (Despite the guy at Wayzata Bait telling me people were finding fish out deeper)
•  Humps / Sunken Islands / Spines seem to be preferred to holes / bowls
•  SUNDOWN. SUNDOWN. SUNDOWN. Can't stress this enough. Again, my window of good fishing was a mere 30-45 minutes long.
• Stick around. Perch can be a good sign.

Lastly, I saw about 8 full sized pickups out there, as well as at least two wheel houses. So I'd say it's a pretty safe bet to drive out there. I was on about 14" of ice myself.

If you've got any questions, comments, or are even just looking to be pointed in the right direction, feel free to leave a comment below, or shoot me an email @ holland.joe@gmail.com.

Tight Lines!

Walleyes! (1/19/2012 @ 12:00 - 5:00)

Got out on the ice today and did a good bit of live streaming. Had a request from a reader as far as some walleye spots on Tonka. Unfortunately, he asked for spots "other then Wayzata bay" and the spot I ended up at was on Wayzata bay, but either way, fish on!

Got to my spot around 12:30 after having some trouble starting the ATV in this cold weather. As if that wasn't enough trouble, on my way out I had the fish house jackknife out to the side due to so much clear ice and almost ran over it. In an attempt to stop, I actually did run over it a little bit, but no damage was done. To make it even worse, as I tried to shift gears from drive into neutral, it went an extra gear past neutral and went into reverse. Luckily the hitch that I have on my house released rather then staying attached, or else I would've been going backwards right on top of my portable. Lastly, once I finally did get to my spot, after drilling only 3 holes I ran out of gas mid-way through the 4th. At this point I was almost ready to head home.

Figured I'd give it some time and after hole hopping a bit I settled on the one that seemed to have the biggest perch. Not that I was too happy about that, but it's not a bad sight pulling 6-7-8" through the ice one after the next. I wouldn't be too sad to have Minnetonka turn into a good perch fishing lake if nothing else. It was about 3 hours of on and off fish, for 20 minutes you'd catch them one after the next, 20 minutes later it'd be dead silent, them's the breaks on Minnetonka.

Right before sundown (Literally, about 2 minutes after the sun went past the horizon) was when the fishing finally turned on. Walleye after walleye for a solid 20 minutes, in total I pulled 6 of them through the ice and kept 5. The last one was a bit small, and I figured I'd give him a couple more years before he makes it to the table. Was fishing in about 20 feet of water, and pulled every fish right up off the bottom. Had a Northland Tackle Moxie Minnow tied on with minnow heads as a kicker.

For those of you who stuck it out with me on the live stream, thanks a bunch! You can watch the video I took after the break. The action starts at about 5:00 and is pretty constant for about 15 minutes, then the last fish come up right near the end of the video. 

 

P.S. Forgot to mention I was seeing cars and SUVs out on Wayzata Bay. I won't say it's safe yet (Saw 11" of ice myself) but after this week I'd say it's probably safe to say otherwise.

Livestreaming on Wayzata Bay (12:00-Now)

Quick Update (1//15/2012)

Was out today, but only for a couple hours. Got turned away at a few landings by multiple bad reports and found the same things myself in three places. Perch, perch, perch.

Hoping the wind is a bit less brutal tomorrow, as I plan on getting out during the afternoon again. I've yet to get on good fish on Minnetonka this year, as I've been giving myself the excuse that I don't need to find them until the wheel house comes out. At this point, I don't even know if it's going to this year!

Saw a couple cars and trucks out on the lake today, not sure I agree with that decision, but I plan on bringing the new ATV out tomorrow.

Mille Lacs Fishing Report (1/6/2012 @ 7:00AM - 7:00PM)

Update: Apparently certain message boards no longer think that my content is suitable for their websites. I won't mention any names. Just a heads up for those of you who've been linked to this site from another, and want to keep following the blog. I appreciate everyone who's been sending emails and supporting the blog, as I've been having a great time (attempting!) to keep it up to date, and help people get on some fish themselves. As I've said before, I'd love for this to be somewhat of a "hub" for Minnetonka info, so if people have some reports they want to share, let me know!

Another update is that we're currently in the process of converting our old ATV into an ice machine. Think Lake of the Woods IceFox style ice machine. Oh yes.

Just got back from a pretty darn good day out on the ice. We headed up to Mille Lacs (I know, I know, it's a Minnetonka blog, but it's also a fishing blog ;) ) and rented a house through Lyback's fishing resort. Going to Lyback's has always been somewhat of a tradition for my family. My father and all his brothers have been going out there for going on 40 years now and despite having the capability of using our own house (As seen on the right sidebar) we still like to try to go out of Lyback's at the very least once every couple years. These guys go through hell and back just so you can have a smooth and worry free day on the ice even if you're not renting from them, so we figure it's always good to pay it back once and a while.

And with that being said, THANKS to Eddy (And his staff, I apologize for forgetting the guy's name who helped us out). Not only did you make the trip seamless, but you also managed to put us on fish, and point us in the right direction of fish when the bite turns off.

Got to the house at 7:00am, and I didn't last longer than about 30-45 minutes before I took to the portable. Drilled a good 10 holes in the Pope's Reef area and wasn't having much luck. Marked a fish here and there, and not many takers. Decided to head out towards the Graveyard since that's always kind of been our favorite spot out of Lybacks. Found about 20-22 feet of water and was hammering the perch one after another, but they were even smaller then the perch we get on Tonka! Couldn't stand losing that much bait for nothing, so I started back towards the house to see if my father and uncle were having much luck. Stopped at one last spot just south of the Graveyard and managed to find exactly what I was looking for. Got about 8 real nice jumbo's within roughly an hour window. I'd say from 9:30-11:00am, about 16 feet of water, and the structure that I was looking for was sort of an "underwater channel" so to speak. Eurolarvae were the ticket for me today. A Northland Tackle Moxie Minnow, tipped with a few larvae, and the perch would SLAM that thing. Minnows and minnow heads would get some real light bites, but as I said, larvae were the hot bite (All walleye came on fatheads, though).

The guys at the house (on Pope's) managed a few smaller perch, and some small eater eye's, as well as the biggun' of the day that came in around 5:00pm (Although, we'd swear this fish had been cruising around our spot for a couple hours because we'd seen him swim by a couple times). We didn't want to bother measuring and being disappointed that it wasn't keepable, so we didn't grab an exact length, but I'd guess around 24". The bite at the house, other than the one walleye, had almost shut off completely by about 3:00. Ice conditions were... strange, but for the most part, safe.

By no means a record breaking day on Mille Lacs, but seeing as we were told when we got up there that the bite hadn't been very good the past couple days, and that we "just missed" it, I'll take what I got!

Tight lines.

(Pardon my french :P - Also, I stop saying much of anything around 14:00, until the last few minutes of the second video. Unfortunately, as soon as I got around to re-rigging the camera mount and starting up the live stream, everything had quieted down.)

Quick Update

Quick update since it's almost 1:00am and I'm headed up to Mille Lacs tomorrow morning at about 4:30.

Got out on Cooks bay the other night. Still a slow night, but I did manage a walleye. Nothing worth bragging about seeing as he was only about 8", but I was marking fish and it at least let me know I was in the right spot. I got off the ice a little earlier then I would've liked (6ish), so I think I'll try to go out again soon, home down my spot, and give it a good 5-6 hours from sundown on.

Another new update is that we just purchased a new Honda Rubicon TRX500 about 5 hours ago. Can't wait to take it out on Mille Lacs for a good test run tomorrow! Got it so 1) I could be more mobile in the portable fish house, 2) our old ATV was a piece of junk, 3) to pull the big wheel house during those times before you can drive out there with a bigger truck.

We've already got an auger rack, GPS mount (Albeit unneeded since this baby has built in GPS-nav), and a rack for all your gear, so once I get those mounted I'll get some new pictures.

Here's to a good day out on the ice tomorrow! We'll be headed out of Lybacks as we rented a house from them, but I'll most likely be out and about in the portable the entire day. Check back tomorrow as I'll very likely have the live stream going a good part of the day provided I can get cell service out on Mille Lacs.

So Many Snakes

Well, I've gotten in a good bit of fishing lately. Not nearly as much as I would like, but I've been out probably 4-5 times already. Most of which thus far has been pretty strictly on Gray's and Wayzata Bay. I checked out a small local lake with no access the other day, but a local told me they had some pretty bad winter kill a couple years prior, and after walking the entire distance of the lake and marking no fish, I had no choice but to believe her.

When I've been out on Tonka, I've been on pretty steady pike action the entire time, whether I want to or not. I've pulled in a total of at least 12 northerns so far, most of which have been anywhere 20"-30", with the majority being on the lower end. Can't complain too much, but just like the perch problem, these aren't the fish I'm looking for at all.

First break, 12-15 feet of water, as close to a weedline as you can get. Drop a sucker and I'll almost guarantee a couple pike within an hour.

Been on the search for some crappies, but I don't think Gray's is gonna be worth my time too much longer. Planning on heading over to North Arm today if the wind dies down a bit and I can catch an early break from work.


Was out on Wayzata Bay last night at sundown and had absolutely zero luck. Didn't even mark more than a couple fish. By the time I got out there, there were a solid 15 people on the ice and the landing was bumper-to-bumper. By the time I left (Less than an hour or so later) there were 2 remaining guys out there. Sometimes it's a little comforting to know you're not the only one doing something wrong..

Every report I've gotten from Gray's thus far has been pretty equally as bad. Some of us manage to get some pike, but other then that, it's been perch and small sunnies. Not exactly sure the cause of it all, but it's definitely inspired my desire to try out some other bays. I'd also like to hit Gray's later in the evening one of these nights.

On another note, it sounds as though my father wants to take a couple days off work and head up to Mille Lacs for a night or two, so expect an update from up there in the near future as well.

Should have another report within the next day or so.