Ice Fishing Excursion

[Walleye #1]

well the past 5 years I have taken my annual ice fishing excursion (4 days of ice fishing) to somewhere in northern MN. We typically have done Big Winnie, but last year we did Cass. We say near Backus, and then road trip each day to some places. What would you reccomend for this years trip. We usually go in Mid January or early Feb. and are willing to chase any specie, but normally we target panfish, perch, and eyes, but have been known to throw the tipups out for some Pike.

How do the ice fishing forecasts looking for Winnie, Cass, Mille Lacs etc.?

If we go in mid January what species are typically going well at these times?

Just trying to get my trip all planned out here.

Thanks

Walleye #1

[otis]

The Park Rapids area is not a bad area if you want to travel around some. Not nearly as any people as the Brainerd area and quite a few lakes. I have fished Mantrap a few times for Pike and it was a blast every time.

[WalleyeWacker10]

I would say rainy Lake out of International Falls(not the River)if you have not been there.

[irishjigs]

The Leech Lake area isn't bad either. You can even hit Red in about a 45 minute drive. Did that area a few years back on a long weekend with some friends and had a blast.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Well A group of us started the annual ice fishing trip up north just last year. We were lucky and made it up twice last year. We went to Winnie early and Upper Red latter in the season. For the 3 days we were at Winnie, all we caught were small perch and one small walleye. Wasn't to impressed with Winnie, but a front did come through on the first day. So that might have effected it. Our trip to Upper Red was awsome. Catching walleye at URL was like panfishing on ponds back home. One after another. In the 2 days we fished URL we were catching 80 or more walleye a day.Plus we iced a couple of the huge 14in crappie & a few large northerns with a 37in being the biggest. Couldn't have asked for a better trip in my mind.

So if I was in your position I'd take a strong look at Upper Red lake. Our group is going to try to go twice again this year and the lakes we are looking at besides URL lake are.

1.Mille Lacs

2.Lake of the Woods

3.Devils Lake ND

4.Otter Tail

5.Leech Lake

6.Rainy Lake

7.Wauy bay SD (If we need to stay close)

Where not to sure about which one to hit for our second trip, but according to all the mags and people I don't think we could go wrong with any of them.

Hope you get a great trip, and catch that 30in walleye everyone shoots for.

[Bandit]

URL and LOW. you can make them both on the same day. Fish LOW during the day, and URL after dark. Both have excellent places to stay and great people. Oh..... and the fishin is good too.

[hanson]

What if I like URL during the day though?

My experience doing the LOW/URL 1 day combo trip has always been a fire drill. You usually have to pullout of LOW when the bite is going good to arrive at URL in time for the sundown bite. At that point, its a crapshoot, you either land on top of fish or you don't.

I've done this more than a few times and always feel like I have a better time on the ice if I concentrate on one of those lakes per day. Some of my best URL fishing the last couple years has been during the very early afternoon, sometimes morning even.

Anyways... back to the list. Those 2 lakes are at the very top of mine but I devote separate days to them.

For me...

#1 - Upper Red Lake

#2 - Lake of the Woods

#3 - Winni has always been a fun lake

#4 - Mille Lacs

Alot of guys are forgetting Leech. Leech's walleyes have really been taking off the last year.