Hay Island

[eyes']

I haven't made it out there yet this year and was wondering how the fishing has been going? Lots of snow? Are people still making it out in trucks or are they taking sleds?

[Eastwind]

I fished out of Nestor Falls the weekend of January 9th. We did not go out to Hay but the people we talked to that did had good luck with the crappies there. Travel everywhere was by snowmobile only unless you were on a plowed road due to snow depth and slush. No road was plowed from Nestor Falls to Hay at that time. Gordy's road was not even out to Cyclone Point yet due to snow and ice conditions.

[WallEYES]

Fishing is always good out there...just don't park and fish in one spot, be on the move. all it takes is a few hundred feet. you will do better than most people out there. There is a lot of snow and slush out there...snowmachine travel only.

[StillH20 Eye]

Gordy was only about 1 mile out (just past Christmas, not to Cyclone) on 1/15-1/16. Off road was still slushy, too deep for trucks, but sleds were fine. Gosh was it cold that weekend, and the fish knew it. A few crappie, perch if you wanted them, and a few 'eyes. One nice (36") northern on a very cold tipup that went back down the hole, and no pictures (you guessed it--too cold for the camera). All in all despite the extreme cold, was nice to be there rather than at my desk at work...

[eyes']

Anybody been out in the last week or so??? Going on a snowmobiling trip this weekend but planning on going up there the following...

[eyes']

Anyone fishing? Think I'll be up on Sat. and was wondering how the snow/slush is and if its still do able with the snow machine and otter sled. We go out of Morson(sp?)....

[Mad Mulcher]

Eyes-

We will be out there as well on friday and saturday with a green skidoo and a black skidoo. What are you guys driving so I can keep an eye out for you?

[eyes']

Well its not for sure yet on if we are going or not but I will know by tommorrow night. If we do go it will probaly be just me and my uncle. We will be on a Polaris XC600 (red) and a XC500 (black) with either 1 or 2 otter sleds... I will post when I know for sure if we are going.

[Mad Mulcher]

Do you stay at Buena Vista and are there any good walleye spots around Morson?

[lumpy]

My fishin buddy was out to Hay the weekend of the 22nd and found crappies there as well as Cyclone point out of Nestor. Watch out for slush on the ice, got the sleds bogged down a few times and is a real bugger to get out. They stayed at Muskie Bay and fished lakers at Crow also.

[eyes']

We did once Last year but usually we just say at the Road Runner right in Fort Frances then get up early and have breakfast in Burklund get our minnows there too and then head on over to Morson... Are you guys going out through there too? If you stop at the cafe in Burklund just pick up some minnows.. Karin will give you the scoop on the eyes... They usually catch some right over by Buena Vista. I still haven't talked to my uncle yet but will post later tonight or tommorrow.

[eyes']

Looks like we will be up there on Sat. My uncle was still debating about just fishing Red but with the fish biting in the evening and night it will work out perfect fishing Hay in the morn. and Red in the eve. If you see us come on over!! We usually fish to the right and in front of the small island on the right hand side coming from Morson.

[eyes']

Mad, Never saw you... Didn't you guys make it up?

[Mad Mulcher]

eyes, we had our crappie limit out there in about 1.5 hours on friday afternoon so we didn't have to go back out there on Saturday. We also got our trout and walleye limit plus had a blast catching lots of nice perch. Not to mention having it be warmer than -20 was an added bonus to the trip! How did you guys make out?

[eyes']

Wow sounds like you guys had a great trip!!! Ours went really well too. We caught them on Hay but had to really sort through them. I think we caught over 100 crappies before we had our limit of keepers. Seems to me that they keep on getting smaller out there every year... We got off the lake around 2 o'clock and then hit up Red on the way home. We got our limit there in one hour!!! How was the size of your craps? I take it that you guys caught the trout on crow but where did you get the perch and eyes at? I would love to fish crow sometime but my dad and uncles are always in such a rush to get back down to Red Lake...

[Mad Mulcher]

Our biggest crappie was 12.5 inches; no monsters and like you said we probably threw back 2 for every one we kept. I heard somewhere that Miles Bay crappies average bigger??? Our perch and walleye spots are mostly in Stevens Bay. So how do you work that out fishing Red on the way home carrying a crappie limit from Hay? Oh by the way, tell your Dad and uncles that 14" crappies are nice, but you havn't enjoyed ice fishing to it's fullest until you've had a 10 lb laker strip half the line off your reel.

[eyes']

All you have to do is keep your minnow recept and if you get checked you just show them that you were in canada fishing and here is the recept for the minnows and here are our licenses. We would have ran over to Miles Bay but we left both of our GPS's at home. They usually are bigger over there because I think there is less fishing pressure... I will see what I can do to get them to fish those lakers. I have never fished for them before in the winter... How do you fish them anyhow???

[Mad Mulcher]

Eyes-

Ok, here is my story explaing why I ask about the crappie transportation. My dad and I were up at Muskie Bay back in January and we left for home Sunday morning with our limit of crappies and trout. Our intention was to hit Red for a few hours on the way home for something new and exciting to try. Well you know the little signs at US customs that say if you possess fish caught in Canada and plan to fish in Minnesota to declare the fish and they will give you some sort of form that is your proof of where they came from? We requested the forms but were denied them because the fish were caught from a border water and counted against our MN limit and our faces looked like this. Recovering quickly from my surprise, I informed the agent that we planned to fish Red, not Lake of the woods but that did not change her mind. Knowing better than to argue with a customs agent, our faces looked like this as we polietly drove away but soon turned to this as our plans for the day were shot. We double checked with a couple guys working at th Holiday station and they confirmed what the agent told us. Now the story does have a happy ending because we then went to Zipple for the day and caught our limit of walleyes and saugers, but I'm wondering if someone like yourself, acting with no ill intention, would get in serious trouble for having more than twice your legal limit out on Red? Mabey some other FMers could weigh in on this issue.

My favorite secret trout lure is a white 5" power jerk shad (looks like a cisco) impaled on a 3/8 oz jig with a big hook. Otherwise keep it real simple and use the white power tubes everyone is always talking about. They will work as good and usually better than anything else.(Exept of course my favorite secret lure!!) Fish off points and islands, drilling 12 holes in each area from 20 to 60 feet deep. Spend no more than 20-30 minutes on each set of holes, and if you you have no fish or hits in that time pack up your gear and move to another spot. Follow this simple procedure and I will guarantee you some fish.

[eyes']

Mad...

Wow thats crazy. About 2 years ago we asked the border person and they told us that we were fine as long as we had our receipts with us. If the Border Waters thing is true why would we need a Canadian liciense??? If the Canadian fish count against us then every person is 5 fish over there limit in MN??? I totally believe you but they always told us different... Any one know more about this?????

[lumpy]

Seems like the answer is to LIE about where you caught the fish in Canada to CYA in case you stop at Red. We caught a bunch at Red Last weekend and they are definitely a step bigger than the ones at Hay Island.