Fishing for fish in Otter Tail Lakes Country
Fishing has come to a stand-still in Otter Tail Lakes Country—literally. It’s very difficult to get around! The weather, for the first part of February, has been brutal around the county with lots of snow, wind, and cold. The lake surfaces are buried under 4 or 5 different layers of frozen snow, loose “greasy” snow, hard snow drifts, and in some cases, water, as a result of flooding. Most of the lakes in the county have about 24 inches of ice which is well insulated from the snow pack. Insulated ice thickens at a very slow rate, therefore, it hasn’t gained much since the holidays—when we had our first snow storm. Because the ice isn’t getting thicker on uninterrupted areas, the weight of the snow causes water to come up when anglers drill holes or if the ice moves and cracks. With all those layers of snow and water it’s pretty easy to get stuck. If you head onto the lakes in the next week or two, be sure to pack tow straps, shovels, and sand bags/shingles or something to help with traction if you need it. The best items for getting around lakes are heavy trucks with v-plows, track vehicles/ snowmobiles, or walking and pulling your gear onto the lake.
Fishing around the county is in mid-season form. I’m always a huge advocate of mobility when it comes to mid-season ice fishing because in a many cases you won’t catch more than a had full of keep-able fish from a single hole or maybe even a single spot. Moving around is challenging right now because of lake conditions—so it won’t be as easy to keep on top of fish. It’s the type of fishing that I actually plan on sweating and getting stuck so I give myself extra time to plan my moves (by doing scouting/recon on foot in a lot of cases).
For panfish, keep your sights on weedy flats in the 9-12 foot range. If that doesn’t work, try deeper basin areas and watch for suspended groups of panfish. If you want northern (which are a great winter catch and table fare), than you’ll want to find panfish or perch and fish a mid-large or large sized minnow on a line or leader that they can’t bite through. Walleye are catchable, but are likely to be decent one day and than “offish” for a day or two. Overall, the walleye tempo is mid-grade so I’d select a different species if you’d rather have action. Good luck fishing Ottertail Lakes Country this week.
By Ross Hagemeister, meisterguideservice.com