Some of my best ice fishing memories are from fishing over the holidays while I was still in high school. It was during that time when we first started using GPS and mapping to find our spots as well as sonar to watch our baits and find fish. The part that stands out to me now is that we almost always drove out on the ice in our trucks over the holiday season most years, which seems extraordinary after the mild start to winter that we’ve had this year.
The lack of snow and cold weather really has been unusual this year. You’re not going to hear me complaining to much because it isn’t cold enough but it would be nice if we got a good shot of the cold stuff to really lock up our area lakes. It looks like the cooler weather is on the way and with the lack of snow on the ice, it should build things up pretty quick.
I have been ice fishing a few times over the past couple of weeks, for crappies and walleyes. As it usually is early in the season, the fishing was good. My pal Jamie Bruce and I hit a known crappie hole just before Christmas and had a good session catching crappies on small jigs tipped with plastics.
Over the past weekend I finally got out on Lake of the Woods with an ATV and caught a number of walleye and perch. The goal here was to catch some fish for dinner, which we accomplished, so that was good. My wife Shelby was fortunate to hook up with a big pike, her biggest, on a small Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon tipped with a minnow head. Because the ice wasn’t too thick yet, she was able to get it near the hole where I was able to direct its head in the right direction and we got it up for a quick photo.
Because of the mild weather, the ice conditions are behind where they typically are for this time of year. All I can say to that is to be careful if you head out. I think every night now that it’s cooling down, we’re building ice but it’s behind where we normally would be. Extra caution should be taken if you want to venture out on the deeper trout lakes, many of which still had open water this past week. A friend posted drone photos to social media over the weekend of open water in Whitefish Bay on Lake of the Woods on New Year’s Eve. It is the deepest section of Lake of the Woods, and it was still open. So even though the lake trout season opened on January 1, it might be wise to wait a couple weeks before hitting the bigger trout lakes. The good news on the ice building front is that there is no snow on the ice, so that really helps with ice formation. I’m sure the snow will find us sooner than later as well.
With the start of the new year, there are new walleye regulations in effect on Lake of the Woods. The limit remained at four fish per day for resident anglers but there is now a size limit in effect. All fish between 43 cm and 70 cm must be released. 43 cm is slightly under 17 inches, while 70 cm is around 27.5 inches. Overall, this is a good regulation for Lake of the Woods, where a lot of angler’s target walleye to eat. This regulation is going to save a lot of the best spawning fish and will allow anglers to catch more bigger walleye in the future. Just be sure to mark your measuring devices at around 16.9 inches so you have that new mark that the fish have to be under.
All the best fishing in 2024!
