February Morson reports

[Wild Thing]

Fished Friday, Sat and Sunday and some others of our group fished Monday -- all walleyes west of Morson.

Sunday was by far the best day. One other guy and I caught more than 20 walleyes in a couple hours and almost all were 17-19 inches, a great year class.

Saturday and Monday were okay. But Saturday went from a nice warm day to pouring RAIN and 50 mph winds. It was hard to take the shelters down withouth blowing away. I've never experienced anything like that on the ice before. The electricity went out twice that night, lots of branches down etc.

We caught most fish in about 16 feet (from bottom of hole, so 19 feet of water.) There's about 24-30 inches of good ice with 15 inches of snow on top. We found NO slush out there, not a bit. And we got over ice ridges tht had been a roadblock before.

Back up in 15 days... and fyi, the store is indeed closed!

On a more sour note, we were visited by two game wardens Sunday afternoon (first time ever up there) and even though we were totally legal on the ice, we made the mistake of saying we had kept fish the day before. He busted two other guys for having one fish over their two-fish conservation limit, even though he never saw the extra fish! We weren't even over the limit collectively... He never went back to the cabin to confirm... and we offered to take him there to show him but he didn't want to go... That's what we get for being honest... $150 for one fish!!! And we had planned on eating the fish the night before but decided on steaks at the last minute... so we got a ticket for eating steaks... in the end, there was no difference in how many fish left the lake or were eaten... it just seemed so petty...

oh well, first time anyone I've been with has ever been busted by a CO, guess it was due...

[Tman2]

Methinks the CO has forgotten where most of the money in the area coms from. Doesn't make the Canadian CO's look good to the US anglers.

[Wild Thing]

Yes, and I know its his job, but... the other guys were only once a year visitors to LOTW... they knew they had two fish limits, but they didn't realize a fish prepared to eat in the cabin refrigerator still counted as part of their two-fish limit... we never intended to bring any fish home even... just for one meal! It's pretty hard to even have a meal with a two-fish limit, especially if families are along and not everyone is out fishing... it's an odd system.... but I guess they can have whatever laws they want... I talked to a CO i know in the states and he said he could not issue a ticket without seeing the violation or the fruits of the violation...

so it goes, we still had fun!! I'm not going to let a bureacrat ruin my favorite place in the world!!! Next time we eat the fish the first night!!

[Shorelunch]

That's too bad WT. I've seen CO's this past year around the Gov't Dock/Hansen Bay. They've checked cars, load up their boat, go for ice cream at Pier North and they're on there way. Before this year, I haven't seen one for about 10 years (Basil channel).

[Eastwind]

We fished Lakers Saturday and Sunday up in WTB. Had some luck but the fishing wasn't great, even though we hit 8 to 10 spots per day. The weather on saturday was as wierd as it gets. Comfortable with light wind in themorning. A rain shower in the afternoon followed by building winds starting at 3:00. By 5:00 it was gusting up in to the 30s and we started hrading South. By the time we got to Sabaskong Bay the wind seemed to be gusting in to the 40s. I got blown off the sled track by the gusts continuously for the next 10 miles. We had a tree down across the path just North of were you get on to the gravel on the way to Pelican. Luckily, I was able to break off two pieces from the end that got the path clear. The wind blew so hard all evening that it shook the cabin and knocked the power out twice.

We fished Walleyes n Monday and got a bunch. Great fishing trip, in spite of the wind and the Lakers being slow. Could've done without my friend losing the transfer case in his truck 30 miles Northh of Motely. That delayed the trip home considerably.

[welfedted]

Eastwind, thanks for the report. Heading up next week. Wondering how the slush is to WFB? Can I pull an otter? Did you try for any crappies? I'll give a report when I return. Thanks for any info. WFT

[MuskieDowg]

WT, great report. Sorry to hear about the CO ticket. I ran into my only CO about 6 or 7 years ago during the annual Morson ice fishing tournament. Came up and checked us all out and went on his merry way. Even chatted with us about some areas where other people were having luck with the eyes.

[Eastwind]

Ted,

We stayed on the packed down sled track all the way up to the potage in to WFB and only found one scary spot. When you go through the gap on the South side of Buff Island be sure to stay in the tracks that are as far away from the South side (stay right going out and left coming back) of Buff Island. I got in the slush there coming back on the first day we went up and just about stopped before I finally got traction. Out of six sleds three were pulling Otters ( including me the one time I did get in to the bad slush), so I wouldn't hesitate to bring them along. When we got in to WFB on the first day the packed sled trail followed the boat channel until the channel turns West near Calvert Island and then stayed Northbound rather than turning West and staying with the channel. We were nervous about blazing our own trail so we stayed on the packed sled trail on the first day and went up as far as Annie Island. Unfortunately, the packed trail didn't lead us to many spots that we wanted to fish. The second day we followed the boat channel, sending a sled out in the lead with no Otter and had no problems. We did run through some areas of slush but it didn't cause any problem. Wherever you park, though, do a quick check down in to the snow cover to ensure that there is not a lot of slush underneath. Good luck and have fun!

[dnoz]

Fishing was slow for our group last weekend - fished Thurs - Sat for walleyes. Thurs was slow and cold Friday was better caught more keeper crappies that walleyes which was a surprise. Lots of small walleyes. Saturday was the best day until the hurricane level winds started. Never went out after crappies since we caught some walleye fishing. We fished mostly west of Morson in 17-22 feet of water.

[Wild Thing]

DNOz,

You went home a day too early! That's what usually happens to me! They really hit on Sunday for 3-4 hours... and nicest walleyes of the winter so far...

We also did "okay' before the winds hit Saturday, but we were fishing too deep. Everyone was saying 22-23 feet off the edge, but we did better Sunday moving up more on the reef...

Take care

[dnoz]

Wild Thing -

Exactly I figured the bite would be good Sunday when the weather got nicer. We found the same thing we fished deeper Friday Saturday one group stayed deep another group moved up to 17 feet and did much better.

[fishnut2]

Fished with Senior this afternoon in search of crappies. Found four of them, 5 tulibees(they are going into the smoker tomorrow), 6 perch from 10-12 inches, and two walleyes. Lots of suspended fish. Sometimes tulibees, sometimes not. Not very fast but a great trip none the less. Fished 35 feet most of the day.

[benelli_dude2002]

Went over and tried Hay island. Fished there for less than 2 hours. got a few perch and 1 crappie. Talked to one other group at Hay and they only had a few crappies. there is little current there so there wasnt as much ice as there is where we fished walleyes west of Morson. Almost need that extension and it probably wouldn't hurt to have it on cuz that power head is getting down there before you cut thru. We did good on walleyes on a reef west of Morson and I think Wildthing knows which one I am talking about. Caught most fish on a glow jig with a rattle. mainly minnows and few with Gulp. threw back a few small ones. 6pm we were heading for home with a nice mess of fish. most likely head up at the end of the month. I actually got 2 days of fishing in on my loooong weekend, one day here on the MN side and up there. back to work wednesday night. be safe! Dude

[Wild Thing]

Thanks for the report B-dude.

Heading up with the family Wednesday night so we'll give those secret reefs a workout!

BTW, were you casting or trolling? Leeches or crawlers?

[benelli_dude2002]

surface baits. and just hit them with the ice scoop when they come to the top. ha. only thing with using Gulp minnows is they stink worse than live bait. maybe the fish like that.

[Wild Thing]

Fished Thursday, Friday and Saturday a few hours each day...

Friday was the best day by far... got several 16-inchers for keeping and my 11-year old caught a fat 19-incher... even had the 3-year old out and my wife caught some fish!

Best fishing was in 14-16 feet

Conditions are PERFECT for snowmachines on the lake. Totally smooth! The bumpy snow really settled during the rain and warm spell and a few inches of powder on top of that has made it fun... no moguls... no slush.... about 30 inches of ice and maybe 8 inches of hard pack snow on top of that...

Soem guys were driving pickups out on the ice, the snow is that packed down...

Back up in 10 days!

[Outdoorsman142]

so are you able to drive a truck out on the lake? me and my buddy are thinkin about going to his cabin and if we didnt have to bring the sleds that would be really nice