Strong Fish Activity Periods Observed In Mornings & Late Afternoons!
Happy New Year fishing enthusiasts everywhere!
It’s ice fishing season in Otter Tail County! The ice is coming into shape. I’ve been frequenting several lakes in the county and have found good ice. However, because Otter Tail County has over 1,000 lakes, I haven’t had a chance to visit them all. Exercising caution when going out on the ice is always advisable—check the ice and activity on the lake that you’d like to fish before you go out.
That being said, the week of Christmas was a great fishing week! I saw many nice catches of fish—panfish, walleye and northern especially. It seems the most advantageous fishing method for walleye, currently, is to pick a spot—do a little localized fishing on your spot and once you find a fish or two set up camp and stay put. My fish houses have been catching occasional walleye throughout the day with strong activity periods in the morning and late afternoons. By dark, the walleye have slowed a lot. I personally like to move around and keep actively searching for walleye—but it hasn’t been as productive as just staying over fish for a long period.
Northern pike are on the prowl. Fish for then near weeds and weedy flats near steep breaks, and, of course, use a good sized sucker minnow or large shiner. If there are a bunch of you in your fishing party—place tip-ups up and down drop-offs and wait for the flags to fly – It’s a ton of fun! Winter-time northern are great eating!
Panfish are grouping on weedy flats in 10-13 feet of water, or in deep-basin areas—and are suspending. Locating panfish can be a challenge, mostly, just plan on drilling a bunch of holes and fishing them at a good pace until you get a bite. Of course, flasher units like Vexlars and Marcum units are very beneficial for finding sunfish—especially when there’re suspended. I better get to the lake!
Have a great week ice fishing Otter Tail Lakes Country!
Ross Hagemeister
