Here is what I am finding on lakes that we are fishing on. 8 – 13 inches of ice. I have heard reports that other lakes still have some open pockets of water on them. I was up on Suak lake up by Sauk Centre and the fish did not want to cooperate on Tuesday. Sauk Lake had some decent ice on the north end of the lake. Some guys started driving trucks out and saw a handful of 8 x 16 Ice Castle Fish houses out. We did find some crappies on Sauk Lake using the Garmin Panoptix but they would not bite. They were suspended out in 25-35 Feet of Water.
Wednesday I set up the guide shack for a father son outing on a lake in Meeker county and they ended up with 13 keeper crappies and had some fun hole hopping and caught 6 Small Mouth Bass and a large mouth bass. They fished 21 Feet of water on the Rocks and hole hoped out to 24-25 feet of water. Plastics and wax worms small tungsten jigs seem to be working for the crappies. The crappies are starting to moving out off the rocks into a little deeper water.
Thursday I spent all day getting the bigger ice castle fish houses ready. Friday I have two hook and go rentals one group is going to Devils lake and the other group is going to Mille Lacs. Friday Afternoon I am getting out in the Sno Bear to pre fish a few lakes. I look forward to hearing the reports that the hook and go rentals come back with. In the Annandale area over the next few days we should be making about 1/4 – 1/2 inch of ice a day. So I anticipate the day after Christmas we will be setting up Ice houses on a few local lakes if they are not rented for hook and go rentals. Saturday I have a guided outing in the Sno Bear. I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and stay tuned because the bite is about to heat up as we will be running the fleet of ice house rentals and the Sno Bear in full force starting the day after Christmas!
