Ice cond most area lakes

[Lee Borgersen]

                         Ice conditions still very good on most area lakes
Feb 5th
 
There is a chance for measurable snow every day through the weekend and into early next week, so an undetermined amount of snow is about to fall on the lakes in the Bemidji area.

Anglers with stationary fish houses on one of the area lakes will want to watch the forecast for snow amounts, especially if they have a fish house in a remote location.

The ice conditions are still very good on most lakes. Anglers will need auger extensions on lakes like Upper Red Lake and Lake of the Woods.

There is at least 24 inches of ice on most of the rest of the lakes, which is close to bottoming out most brands of ice augers without extensions.

Walleyes anglers had a nice uptick in action this past week during the full moon phase. Anglers typically see improved action several days before and after the full moon, for a total of about seven days.

Anglers fishing for crappies and eelpout also had good action in the evenings and after dark with the full moon.

Lures with UV glow are particularly effective during low light and after dark. Anglers may be able to increase the number of bites they get by supercharging the lures with bright light every few minutes.

Some anglers continue to use the UV lures during the day, which can be good on stained lakes, but might be too much of a good thing on lakes with full sunlight and clear water.

Anglers fishing clear lakes may want to consider using metallic colors like gold, silver or bronze or non-glow colors during the day, to give the fish a more natural look.

Walleye anglers often use 4- to 6-pound test line during the winter, but the best panfish anglers consider 4-pound test line to be too heavy for most situations.

Everybody should at least try fishing panfish with a tiny tungsten jig tipped with three eurolarvae, rigged with 2- or 3-pound line on a light rod with a straight line reel.

Anglers fishing light line need to learn to tie good knots and constantly check for worn-out knots after every fish they catch.

Dead lifting fish with light line often results in broken line. It is usually much better to hand land fish at the top of the hole, use an ice scoop as a makeshift landing net or slide the fish out of the hole on its' side, to minimize the pounds of pressure put on the line.

One species of fish anglers can go big on is eelpout. They have limited eyesight, so larger jigs with full glow or big jigging spoons with lots of bait help eelpout locate baits in the dark.

Pounding the lures on the bottom and making some noise and then and holding the lures a few inches off the bottom is usually an effective presentation for eelpout, which primarily feed after dark.

Big pike get progressively more active as spring approaches; with pike one of the earlier spawning species.

Cold water in the winter preserves much of what dies under the ice and turns many larger pike into scavengers as spring approaches and pike are looking for an easy meal.

Tip-ups were made for pike. Many anglers fish for walleyes or panfish with their primary rod, but put out a tip-up with big bait for their second line. It is kind of like ice fishing's version of the "Hail Mary" pass.

Tip-ups usually have a wire leader, with pike as a primary target. If anglers don't use a wire leader, that a heavier pound test of fluorocarbon or mono line are used, which are hopefully tough enough to avoid the pike's sharp teeth.

A live sucker minnow, larger shiner minnow or some sort of larger chub will work well on tip-ups. Anglers can also use oily dead baits like smelt, herring, cisco or some other salted minnows.

A few anglers have even had success with a cheap hot dog hooked horizontally on a hook for pike. The shape and the high fat content presumably look good to savaging pike.

Pike usually feed towards the surface, so anglers should set their tip-up 1 to 3 feet off the bottom at the edges of any standing weeds or along turns in the drop-off.



Paul Nelson runs the Bemidji Area Lakes Guide Service.