Minnesota Fishing Opener: Ice! Ice! Maybe?

Otter Tail Lakes Country looks like Christmas–white and cold.

I realize that this is a fishing report, but in a year where we are setting cold records in April, I can’t help but look forward. I’m going to make a guess that most of me hopes doesn’t happen. It’s beginning to look like our lakes will still be froze over on the opener of walleye fishing! It will be something that I’ve never seen.  I’ve seen ice chunks floating on lakes on the opener (2013), but I’ve never seen a lake in mid-Minnesota sheeted over in ice in the middle of May.

To add another challenge to my prediction, I’m making a bold guess that we may even be able to ice fish (on some lakes) on the opener. Yes, that’s a gutsy guess, but things are not moving very fast this spring. We have 3 feet of ice to melt, and the forecast for the next week, does not support a thaw. I hope I’m wrong, but it might an April that a lot of us talk about for many years. I’ll make more discussion of our long winter in the next few reports. For now, we still have plenty of ice for ice fishing.

There hasn’t been a lot of activity on the ice lately. I think most folks are gearing up for summer fishing?  Or they are simply on strike? As I mentioned last week, when the snow melts off the surface of the lake and the ice begins to decay, panfish go on a late-ice biting frenzy. Unfortunately, our April ice has not reached that point yet. If you’ve packed your ice fishing gear away, and are hungry for some panfish, you might be waiting another month for a meal. You might want to get your Vexlar and fishing poles back out and give it another try in Lakes Country. Enjoy ice fishing this week. The temps will be nice for fishing, and the sunfish are biting—at least time spent on the ice will pass our winter blues away.

Good Luck fishing this week in Otter Tail Lakes Country.

By Ross Hagemeister, meisterguideservice.com