Grand Rapids Area Ice Report

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Jeff Sundin Fishing Report December 18, 2017 "Grand Rapids Area Ice Fishing Reports"

Okay, if you checked in early this morning, then you already know about the tragic death that ocurred over the weekend. If you didn't and want to read the original report, it follows this update. For now though, I think it's to share some better news.

Christmas vacation time came early for my daughters this year. So I borrowed some time away from the ice fishing season to spend part of the holiday with them and their two strapping young lads.

Part of the festivities included a pheasant hunt at Bader’s Pheasant Run in Federal Dam. Wade and Deb Huotari run a first class operation and always make us feel welcome, this was no exception. The dogs got a nice workout, I think putting up almost every single bird that was placed in the field for us.

We bagged 80% of the birds and left the field with a pretty good idea of the areas to which the rest had escaped. So I think it’s safe to say that for us, it was a “bang up” celebration.

By the time we wrapped up our hunt, I still had a couple of daylight hours and since Ice fishing was on my mind, I toured some of the lakes along my route back home.

There wasn’t a single lake that didn’t have some ice fishing activity. On some, there were only a couple of groups, but on others, the crowds were large. Most of the folks I spotted were travelling on foot and some of them were using ATV’s. Whether it was smart or not, a pickup truck was parked, apparently safely on one the smallest lakes located just west of Grand Rapids.

Talking with anglers, the ice thickness on most lakes averaged about 10 inches. One estimate of 8 inches and another of 14 inches represented the two extremes.

Of the species targeted locally, crappies have been the most cooperative; Northern Pike have been somewhat active too. Barring a trip to Upper Red Lake or Lake of the Woods, Walleye fishermen in the Itasca Region might be interested to know that Leech Lake has been producing some good evening walleye action.

The ice on Leech Lake is not uniform though, so if you’re thinking about heading that way, plan on fishing the shallow water bays for now. I have asked for updates from the resorts and rental operators over there and should have more info on Tuesday morning.

One of the neatest stories from the weekend was about a tiny lake where the crappies were both cooperative and large. One good part of that story is that the fish were admired and released. It’s not that some of them won’t eventually wind up in a frying pan, a portion probably will. But I like the idea of selective harvest and the notion that taking them out of the lake isn’t the only way to enjoy the experience. So my hat’s off to the young couple who shared the story.

A conversation with one of the Walleye fisherman I ran into was interesting. Based on experience, he’s observed that walleyes frequently have a starting date that does not necessarily coincide with the earliest available ice.

He shared with me that his group has had no trouble catching crappies; perch haven’t been hard to find either. Their main pursuit is and always has been walleyes though and so far, they’ve been scarce.

Interestingly, he wasn’t worried in the least about the slow action because based on his experience; the walleye bite never gets really good until closer to Christmas. “We never start catching good numbers of walleyes until about December 20th. Even during years like this one, when we can get on the ice much sooner than that, the walleyes drag their feet for the first couple of weeks”.

Speculation about why that happens might revolve around the walleyes propensity for being active when the weather is stable. Maybe the moaning and groaning sounds of early ice throw them off, who knows? It’s an interesting subject and an optimistic observation for folks who prefer to wait for thicker ice before venturing onto area lakes.

 "Today’s report isn’t an easy one to write for me. Knowing that most anglers in the Grand Rapids area are travelling safely and having loads of fun on the ice, I am reluctant to bring this up. But while I’ve been looking at dozens of photos of folks showing off smiling faces and flopping fish, another tragedy struck the Grand Rapids area this weekend.

On their way out to the Crappie hole on Rice Lake this Saturday, Michael Gibbons and Bernice Kane broke through the ice using a side-by-side ATV. Gibbons managed to get out of the water and call the Itasca County Sheriff’s Office. But, by the time authorities responded, Kane was believed to have drowned. Her body was recovered from the icy water on Sunday afternoon. 

There’s no way for me to know exactly what happened, but I do know that lake. There are areas of current, other areas of very deep water and lots of ways for the ice to have frozen to different thicknesses in different areas.

The lack of uniformity is the pitfall on a lot of these deep water lakes right now. The ice may be good over shallower water, near the shoreline where it froze early. In those areas the ice may already be up to a foot thick right now. The problem is that on a lot of lakes, the early ice that formed over deep water never got more than an inch or two thick before a warming trend set in and opened up the midsections of these lakes.

Now we have snowmobiles and ATV’s travelling into uncharted territory and finding these thin spots the hard way.

There are plenty of places to fish right now that we can easily walk too. There is also a lot of smaller size, shallow water lakes where the ice thickness is a lot more uniform. I’m not going to dwell on it any longer, but please take some advice. Stick to the smaller, shallower lakes and travel light, you will be around a lot longer that way. - Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL