Balsam and Deer Lake reports

[Smallmouth]

Has anyone tried the smaller lakes Poplar or Sand just south of Hwy 8 in SCF?

[steve schmidt]

I was gone fishin Friday, Saturday and part of today. Boy, most of those lakes were right under my nose. Have fished em all.

As for Protrapper talking about East Balsam or the stumps it is the stumps. Gotta sort but can end up with nice gills...12 to 13 feet of water. As for your comment about people getting 11-12" gills...well ya gotta show me. Most gills I catch that are one pound are about 10 1/4 inches to 10/1/2. That limit I referred to, most were just shy of 10/1/2 inches.

Fished Clam Flowage and it did okay if you consider fishing most of the day for a limit. Nice fish...but lots of dead time between action. Learned a trick a few weeks back from a young "fellar" that moved to the Danbury area from Michigan. We were catching a few of those nicer gills on the Flowage, but he was "honkin" em in...
What was strange was we found you could hardly move the bait and had to watch for the slightest movement while he was jigging the heck out of his. I went over and talked to him and he was using a size 14 black fly. It was tied on a regular hook, used lead wire and black thread. They were very small bodied. Above that about 15 inches he had a small sinker. He would jig the heck out of it and the fly must have jumped and would settle back and jump. The nicer gills could not resist. He also tipped it with one spike/wiggler. I since have used that and outfish my friends 3 to 1.

Discovered a technique for first ice out fly fishing that has worked wonders...When you have boats troll up with their electrics and say..what the "H" are you doing. I will always share my "secret"..course as you know, thats 50% of it..then there's the experience etc.

[protrapper]

We fished Deer today, 2 of us got out limit all the slabs were 10 inches or better. Caught a few nice sunnies too.

[protrapper]

Anybody been fishin these lakes?
Thinking about fishing Deer during the day and Balsam at night on Saturday.

[Guest]

How is the ice on Deer Lake?
I heard that the lake is full of springs and to watch where you drive?

[protrapper]

You will be ok dont drive out the access area you drive out through a guys yard to the left of the access.

[steve schmidt]

Yes...when you see the boat landing stay to the left. Every year some one-who-thinks-I-am-silly dumps his vehicle in the lake

[Guest]

Thanks guys I was there today and saw the trail you were talking about.
Thank You for the info

[protrapper]

Fished Balasam tonight 1 small crappie and 1 jumbo perch. Funny thing I marked alot of fish as green marks on my vexilar but they would not stay long enough to be orange or red, just passing through I guess. The fishing has been terrible the last month.

[Little Worm]

Has anybody fished Loveless? I sometimes fish that in June but have never been in there in the winter.

[Guest]

I fished Loveless alot last year and did quite well was going to go out there yesterday but only one vehicle track and to the left of the landing there was a big circle of posts with reflectors on them like they were marking a hole in the ice or something.
Not want to fish for 1/2 ton truck so did not go out went to Long Lake insted.

Buckybadger

[Little Worm]

How did you do in Long. My dad has a cabin on a lake next to Bone. I fish this area every weekend in the summer but am new to ice fishing. I will be up this weekend and another lake I was considering was Halfmoon.

Thanks for the info.

[Guest]

I did real good on Long Lake a couple of weeks ago but was real slow last time I was out.
You can fish Bone Lake and catch all kinds of small perch they are not real big but fun to catch.
Good Luck

[steve schmidt]

Went to Balsam Tuesday in those 40 mile an hour winds...GEEEEEEZZZ! Saw a permanent shack take a dive while we were there. Got there about 11:00 a.m and the fish were biting right away. Couldnt get your line down the hole. Had to sort but had about 15 nice gills and they shut down to a crawl. The three of us each had between 15 and 20 when we left at 2:00pm. Cant wait for warmer weather and NO WIND!!!!

[Coach]

I am thinking about Wapogasset this weekend, just wondering if anyone would know how much snow is on this lake? Any reports of northern/walleye would be great also. I have not fished this lake for at least five years. Thanks.

[Coach]

One more thing, I would like to know if anyone knows of any bait shops in Osceola or Dresser, thanks again.

[Sinker]

Coach, I don't know about Dresser or Oceola but I know on Highway 8 in St. Croix Falls there is a good bait and tackle shop called St. Croix Outdoors.South side of the road,maybe a 1/2 mile west of Highway 35.Good Luck Fishing!!! Oh yeah,if your going to Wappo you could go north of Amery to Gen's bait on Highway 46 for reports or info.