What a difference a week can make with warm weather, longer daylight hours, above freezing nights and sunny days!
The snow pack on the lakes is gone, but slush is an issue now, especially along shoreline areas.
The ice thickness remains good for this time of the year and will support sled, wheeler, and side-by-side travel for about another week.
No truck travel is recommended now — several trucks broke through the ice on several different lakes this past weekend. Even though ice thickness remains pretty good on main lake areas, the quality of the ice, and its weight-supporting qualities, have diminished significantly (and will continue to every day).
Shoreline areas can be a mess before getting to better ice. The areas close to shore get bad first as the ground leeches the heat to the lake and breaks down the ice. The lake will “pull away” from the shoreline, making access to the lake challenging even when the main lake ice can still support some activity.
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Not as many anglers are getting out at this time of the ice season, but the hardcore ice anglers that continue to get out on the lakes are having success with crappies and gils in shallower water, and tullibee continue to bite in the deeper water over soft bottom areas. Pan fish will continue to gather in groups in areas that still have some green weeds present. They will also stage at the mouths of bays, or areas of the lake that are traditional spawning areas. They can get spooked easier in the shallower water, so less noise can help keep fish in an area longer. If spooked, move in, out, or along the edge to re-locate the schools of fish.
My recommendation is that the prudent thing to do now is to make this the last week of your ice angling season here on our local lakes. It is best to error on the side of caution, and common sense and safety need to trump your addiction to late ice angling.
We will be entering the “tweener time” between ice fishing and open water fishing. This gives you time to put away your ice gear and get prepped for your open water season.
There are also other options for those who want to continue on the ice (like Lake of the Woods or Devils Lake) or travel to open water on the major rivers that are now all open and have active fishing (like the Fox in Wisconsin, the Missouri in North and South Dakota, Pools 4 and 5 on the Mississippi, and it look like we might get a week on The Rainy River).
Open water will also be available early at Big Stone and Traverse on the Minnesota/Dakotas border. Make good decisions and live to fish another day.
Brad Laabs owns Brad Laabs Guide Service in Detroit Lakes.
