It's On! (Ice & Fishing Report 12/27/2012)

Finally made it back out on to the ice again today for some real fishing, and found a good 6"+ almost everywhere I went.

I stuck pretty close to home, so I didn't venture out past Wayzata Bay, but both Wayzata and Grays seemed to be solid. Wayzata had more than a couple pressure ridges that I was a bit skeptical of crossing, but luckily we didn't have any issues. The spot we fished probably had a solid 8", and as said, the smallest amount of ice we've seen so far (And this was as of 2 days ago) was 6". I'm sure there are some channels to watch out for, but some of the main bays are shaping up a lot nicer than I expected.

The fishing wasn't really even worth mentioning. Over the course of two hours I landed 3 perch, and missed probably 10 more. I'm pretty certain all the fish I missed were perch as well, due to how quickly they'd dart back to the bottom (I rarely, if ever, see walleyes do that). We were in just over 20 feet of water, and fished the hours around sundown.

It wasn't until about mid-January last year that the specific spot I was on today started producing, so I'll try back in a week or two, but I'll definitely have more updates to come within the next week. It sounds like my father wants to make a trip up to Mille Lacs this weekend, and I'll be sure to have another Minnetonka update by this weekend, if for no other reason than to report current ice conditions.

Good luck out there, and stay safe!

Oh, and try to have better luck than I did ;)

First Ice!

As of today, 11/12/12, we've got ice in some of the back areas of the lake. With an expected low of ~20 tonight, I'd be surprised if we didn't see a little more in the morning.

That said, forecasted 40s this week aren't going to help, but either way, it's always good to see ice before Thanksgiving!

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).