Ice fishing season is among us and the reports are starting to come in! We had a group take a wheel house to Upper Red Lake the last few days out of JRs access for 3 nights! This group traveled all the way from central Illinois putting on around 1300 miles on round trip! The group said fishing was great. Fathead minnows on rattle reels and jigging tingler spoons with a minnow head was the ticket. This group fished the north end of center bar just outside the pressure ridge. As far as travel on the ice the fresh snow made truck travel a little more challenging but 4 X 4 trucks getting around is no problem just dodge the drifts. As far as Ice thickness was around 18 inches of ice on 12/29/2020. They said the Ice Cave wheel house worked out great for the group and they might be back again in January!
As far as Wright and Meeker county lakes go we are finding anywhere from 3 – 11 inches of ice. The big factor is if the lake was locked up prior the winds we had a few weeks ago those lakes are more consistent. We got some fresh snow on the ice so this might insulate the ice a little and slow ice making. Check the ice as you go. The walleye bite has been slow for us but we are getting a few crappies if you put in the time. We did get a Ice Castle out the last few days on a lake that had 7-11 inches of ice. The lure of choice for the crappies was the pink Frosty pictured below. The best depth for the crappies was 22 feet of water. The crappies we have been getting have been nice but not seeing the numbers we would like. We will be working some other lakes and checking ice as the week goes on. My wife caught a nice 13 inch crappie pictured below also!
