Yesterday, we moved rentals we had on North Popes and Gull Reef in across the crack that had been and still is moving.  This morning it opened more and now is 20″ wide in spots.  We will maintain the ramps across it on the Graveyard Road and Tullibee Road for ATV traffic only. We repositioned six rentals  SW of Spider Island in more stable ice for the last weekend.

This morning, we checked ice out as far as 2 miles on our roads to the pressure ridge that is out there, and so far, there hasn’t been much movement or any major cracks. There are Perch fishermen out NW of the Graveyard on ATVs and Walleye fishermen on the north side of the Banana Reef on ATVs also.  The ice depths average about 16″, so there is plenty of ice, but with the fluctuating temps and sun during the day heating up the ice with no snow cover, it’s unpredictable, so we are going to keep things light to be safe.

Yesterday, the bite was slower than it has been, but Walleyes were caught on the Graveyard Reef, and Perch was found in some of the late spring Perch areas as shallow as 12 ft.

We will have six rentals out for this weekend.  There are two open yet as of today.  Travel will be limited to vehicles under 5000lb curb weight.  If you have an ATV and trailer to haul your gear or portable it is recommend.  Single axle wheelhouses pulled by UTV or ATV only to limited areas.  Portable fishermen we recommend ATV and a small trailer also.

Keep a Tight Line!

Over the weekend, most anglers did very well. We had all our smaller “basic” houses rented. Many pictures were sent in that I will eventually be posting on our Facebook page; please “like” and “follow”  if you do the “Facebook” thing.  Some anglers in pursuit of Perch started looking in the late spring shallow spots we go to and found them. The Walleye bite was mostly at night and many Walleye in slot fish were reported. The bite was also good for those fishing the deep rock/mud lines on some of our deeper reefs.

With the up and down temps, sunshine during the day, and freezing at night, the ice with no snow cover is moving regularly.   We have a crack running from Popes Point to Spider-Island and west from there that varies from  8″ to 16″ wide, and we have ramps across the two main roads it crosses.  Out 2 miles, there is a pressure ridge running east and west north of the Banana Reef headed Northeast towards Hennepin Island and headed west north of the Tundra and west from there. There are numerous reports of pressure ridges on the North End and some pretty good-sized cracks running up the East Side of the lake, so it is important you contact the resort that you are planning to fish out of to find out their ice conditions. We drilled and checked the ice in the areas we go to on the main lake, and the ice depths are a consistent 16″-17″ with a few areas where rough ice piled that is a little thicker, but very few. So we have good ice, but with the cracks and ridges and temp changes daily it’s time to be cautious for us.

We will be moving some of our rentals to areas inside of the crack this week, and pull some to shore.  We will maintain the ramps for ATV access beyond them as long as we can.  We have plenty of parking for Rigs on shore and light vehicle traffic under 5000lbs will be allowed inside of the first set of cracks,  Wheelhouses pulled with UTV or ATV can go out in limited areas.

Keep a Tight LIne!

Eddy

Saturday, for some, was good fishing.  I received many pictures throughout the afternoon of nice-sized Walleye, quite a few in the slot, and one angler sent in a pic of a C/R 27″. Perch activity was ok, but a lot of throwbacks were reported.

In the morning, when the sun came out, and the warmer winds started.  By noon, the ice had started “pushing,” and a new pressure ridge formed, running east and west north of the Banana Reef headed towards the SE side of Hennepin Island and ran west staying north of the Tundra. It stayed just south of the Tullibee Hole and cut it off, so that might not be accessible for a while. As afternoon went on some new cracks formed from Pope’s to Spider Island. and going west from there. Fortunately, they were small, 2″ to 4″. We filled them with snow, and they healed some overnight but cracked open a little this morning when the guys checked at 6:00 am this morning.

With the big variations of temps from above freezing and sun and then dropping into the teens at night, the ice, with no snow cover, is constantly going to be expanding and contracting every 24 hrs., creating cracks or moving pressure ridges.  And by the looks of the weather forecast for this last week of the season it will continue to do that.

For that reason we are going back to single axle wheelhouses pulled only by ATV, UTV’s.  Weight limits for individual vehicle going out to rentals or portables will be dropped to 5000lbs.  Travel some some areas will be limited.  Running 10,000lb plus rigs on 16″ of ice is borderline in a “normal” year if there isn’t any cracks, and it’s cold enough to freeze them right away, but with forecasted weather this coming week we are going have we are not going to have our customers take that chance.

Keep a Tight Line!!

Eddy