Jaws lives up to his name

This was the dandy walleye Jarrett Glanz(Jaws) landed on our most recent fishing adventure.  The fish came on a set line with a rainbow on a plain hook.  

Ice Trolling

Did a day trip to Mille Lacs and spent the day "ice trolling" as we covered tons of spots looking for active feeding walleyes.  We did end up running into the fish about an hour before dark and the action was fast and furious.  Most of our fish came on set lines with small shiners.  We did manage to catch a few fish jigging a northland buck shot spoon and a silver #3 swedish pimple.

The ice conditions on Mille Lacs are great and they do not have as much snow as the metro.  We were able to drive the truck every where we wanted to go.  

The Bite Has been on

As you can see from this picture we have been catching some very nice walleyes as of late.  The bite has been on for the past week and shows no signs of letting up.  This was one of the better fish(6.4lb) caught by Joe Yetzer during a recent evening on Lake Waconia.

Jen was also able to get in on the action and was able to catch this dandy 5.7lb walleye on Lake Waconia.   

The ice conditions have been improving but travel on Lake Waconia is tough due to heavy amounts of snow and slush.  Much of Lake Minnetonka is in better shape for 4 wheelers and travel.  I do have a few houses out between the two lakes and the bite seems to have been best this past week from 10 pm-2am.  Fathead minnows and golden shiners seem to be producing about the same amount of bites.     

Ice Conditions

Lake Waconia ice conditions are not in the best of shape after all this snow.  The problem we are seeing on many metro lakes is the amount of slush and the amount of water that has found it's way up on top of the ice we have.  The ice underneath the slush and mess is still around 6-7" on much of Lake Waconia.  But areas where there are drifts and large amounts of snow the ice is a bit thinner-as thin as 3.5".  The slush and water makes for travel on the ice near impossible.  If you are willing to walk out you can try and hoof it out, only other way we have been able to get around is if you have a vehicle (4-wheeler or side by side) with tracks on it.  A snowmobile is also a good option.  As for getting around on a standard 4-wheeler, it is near impossible.  

Lake Minnetonka ice conditions are in even worse shape then Waconia.  Minnetonka did not have very much ice on it when all this snow got dumped on it.  Many areas of the lake are not safe to be traveling on.  The ice varies a lot.  We have found as much as 6" and as little as 1".  The weight of the snow has lots of water and slush on top of the lake.  The frigid sub-zero temps will help, but it still doesn't seem to be able to freeze with all the snow insulating the slush.   

I fished last night on Bryant Lake and was joined by Travis Frank of trophyencounters.com and Nig (my old roomie).  We had a few marks on the Vexilar and I was able to get one hooked up.  After a short battle with what felt like a decent walleye, I lost the fish.  I never confirmed it was a walleye, but it was a good fight none the less.  

I will be back on the ice today and tomorrow and will post more info as I have it.  Until next time, Fish On!