Another Walleye season in the books for OTC

Another Minnesota walleye season (inland waters) has ended. Basically, Minnesota’s “larger” fish species like large mouth bass, northern pike, walleye and sauger closed Sunday Feb 25th. It’s time to move forward and fish panfish until the ice comes off. If you’re not into panfishing it’s a good time to check into your summer-fishing gear and get it in order. The incoming “spring/late ice” panfishing outlook for Otter Tail Lakes Country looks good. We ended the walleye season in Lakes Country with lots of ice (about 30–35 inches, depending what lake you’re on) and about 15 inches of new snow. Needless to say, we’ll have ice around here for quite a while. My early prediction for the 2018 ice out is May 1st.

For now, panfishing while wading in the snowbank is the thing. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, as the days grow longer fish change locations and also change feeding habits (they go hand in hand). It’s very normal to head to your favorite mid-winter fishing spot right now, only to find it void of panfish. Look at mid-depth zones, if you’re having trouble. If you’ve been fishing suspended fish over deep water you should try shallower areas near weeds. And as usual, always take a stab directly over the weeds on mid-sized weedy flats. I tend to find a lot of smaller panfish directly in the weeds, so I do a lot of searching around taller weed stands in the same zone. Keep your lures small and mid-sized, as the fish still haven’t settled in to their late-ice free for all.

Good luck fishing in Otter Tail Lakes Country this week, and be sure to bring a shovel and a tow strap with, because there is plenty of snow on the lakes to cause some travel troubles!

By Ross Hagemeister, meisterguideservice.com