Last week’s column for the Sunday paper on the 25th I wrote on Wednesday the 21st. The 10 day projection at that time was for us not to get above freezing and some overnight lows in the single digits to low teens.
My, have things changed after our snow events and a shorter cold front.
I am glad they got it wrong, as now we easily have a week of more normal weather for this time of the season to fish open water. If the forecast of a week or 10 days ago would have held up, we would probably have been on the ice by the first week of November.
As it is turning out now, we are looking at a more seasonal average of icing over just before Thanksgiving. This is 2020 still, so we will just take it one day at a time. I am grateful for every additional day I get a chance to get on open water this time of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I love first ice and the ice fishing season. I even get excited for it. But I do prefer to be in a boat and like being on the open water as long as I can.
This late in the fall, most of the anglers continuing to get out will be musky anglers, walleye anglers, or crappie chasers.
With water temps now 40 degrees or less, many of the musky anglers will be on the big live sucker bite. Walleye anglers will be on the jig or live bait rig with minnow bite, and the crappie anglers will be on the small jigs tipped with minnows or high action plastic tails.
Most big suckers for musky will be in the 14-18 inch range trolled slowly under bobbers along the edges of the first break off the shore line flats. The big girls will not have a problem eating the big baits.
For walleyes, the best minnows on the jigs will be 3-5 inch range, and on the rigs the 5-8 inch minnows produce consistently.
On the jigs I like the right-sized (in order of preference) red tails, rainbows, creek chubs, suckers, or fat heads.
On the rigs I like (in order of preference) the red tails, creek chub, or sucker minnows. Look for walleyes to also be relating to the first breaks off of shore lines, but the sharper breaks are your best bet to spot fish on your locator.
Crappies will take bigger minnows, so a fathead may serve you better than a crappie minnow as they feed up before first ice. Look for sharper edges that are close to deeper holes in the lake you are fishing. They are schooling more tightly now and the pods of fish will also be more evident on your electronics.
The fish you locate now will be good first ice locations. They will not be far at first ice from where you are finding them now.
Remember to practice catch and release, and selective harvest. Put the big ones and small ones back, and keep a few eating sized fish to have fresh fish dinner. Follow the possession laws. It is not ok to load up the freezer (over legal possession limit) to get ready for winter yourself. That is still happening and being justified by some that know better. Don’t be that person. Like Chris Carter, former Vikings Hall of Fame wide receiver would say…. “C’mon, man!”
(Laabs owns Brad Laabs Guide Service in Detroit Lakes)
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October 30, 2020 at 08:00PM
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Brad Laabs: Where the fish are biting now marks the spot for ice fishing later - Detroit Lakes Tribune
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