Along the Portage

Contributing Writer

Well I guess winter has actually been here for some time now but to me, it has finally arrived and in grand fashion. We had a little cool off and let me tell you, I really wasn’t ready for it and can understand why some of the older folks turn into “snow birds” and head to Arizona or some other warmer state down south. Maybe when I retire? No!

No matter. The recent colder temps have made ice even thicker, on all of our area lakes, and we now have ice fishing lake travel like we’ve never had before, for January that is.

The better part of last weekend was spent on Big Bowstring Lake. How nice it is to be able to drive almost anywhere you please. I say almost because of that big pressure ridge that runs from the Cow Bay peninsula toward the eastern shore. There might be a way around it but I opted to go back toward where I came from, the NW public access.

The NE access has its typical ice heave in front of it but ATV’s and snowmobiles are making it out onto the lake. Trucks? Well, that’s another matter. Don’t call me if you have problems.

Fishing? Well, that’s another matter, as well. On Saturday, my main objective was to find some BIG jumbo perch and I eventually found them but not where I expected them to be, as they were in five and a half feet of water. Oh, I did find fish at almost all levels but my big perch bonanza was way up shallow.

Bunched up tight, right in the weeds, I couldn’t get a lure down to them fast enough. Perch in the 10-11” range were really on the bite, along with some larger, and I was fishing so shallow that...

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Contributing Writer

Wow, what a difference a small change in weather can make. Up until just recently, I was pretty darn gun-shy about driving my truck on the lakes, but now I feel rather comfortable and have been doing a good deal of ice driving, and is it ever nice.

Several of my most recent trips have had me pulling the snowmobile along, just in case. I figured if the ice wasn’t quite up to my standards, I’d unload the snow-cat and go from there and I’ve done just that. However, my very last trips have had me driving my truck practically all over the lakes, sometimes with the snowmobile in tow.

Granted, there are some lakes that have a lot of current and late-forming ice that one still has to be aware of but for the most part it’s “good to go.” Just be careful, as NO ice is 100% safe. Okay, that’s enough preaching. Let’s get down to fishing.

I started out the Minnesota inland trout season, last Saturday, on Nashwauk’s La Rue Pit and it treated me and my guests much like it did last year, which is terrible.

Last year, we struggled and left the lake with one small rainbow, although Chanda, a trout fishing newcomer, did lose a big brown in the hole. From there, we went across the highway to Blue Lake and saved the day by catching a nice bunch of crappies and bluegills.

This year, it was almost the same scenario only...

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Contributing Writer

Wow. What a winter we’re having. Ice fishing travel has been just wonderful BUT there’s not a whole lot of ice to drive on, if you do dare drive.

I was the first to drive my a truck on Balsam Lake and did so three times (and the fishing wasn’t even all that good) but after this warm spell, I’m all done (or else I will be). By the way, I did find 14” of ice but the recent unseasonably warm weather has ice in a very “iffy” condition, in my opinion anyway.

In a nutshell folks, don’t drive on these area lakes until we’ve had a good freeze. It’s just not worth it. At the time of this writing, last Sunday night (Jan. 8), the ice isn’t all that thick and the best, along with safest, mode of transportation is to stick with using snowmobiles, ATV’s, or just plain walking.

I sure wish I had a wheeler because I’ve been abusing the daylights out of my snowmobile by running it all over the North Country with no snow cover. The lakes, for the most part, are bare ice but that doesn’t stop Blake Liend and me from fishing. Actually, when you think about it, nothing does and sometimes that might not be a good thing.

Outings on Pokegama, Trout, Blue, Bass, and a bunch of other local lakes, have found us slipping across the lake with snowmobiles, looking for patches of snow along the way. I haven’t looked at my wear rods in some time (from bare gravel at several accesses, it still steers but not well) and don’t even want to think about taking a peek...

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