Otter Tail Lakes Country Fishing Report 1/10/2022

Provided by CHill Fishing, chillguideservice.com

Winter has shown us this past weekend that Mother Nature is not to be taken lightly.  Ice fishing is my favorite time of the year to fish but this past weekend it was downright deadly at times and I had to help rescue people on the lake that had gotten themselves into a bad situation.  A lot of the lakes in the area have some roads plowed but there is a lot of slush forming from the extra weight of the snowbanks which can make it treacherous trying to get off the road and away from the crowds.

Fishing this past weekend was mixed results.  You either did amazing or it was poor depending on if the fish were under you or not.  Due to the weather, the fish were very lethargic so if you could get on top of a school they didn’t move far and produced amazing fishing activity.  The weather this upcoming week looks promising, and I have a feeling the bite will be amazing.

The walleye bite was surprisingly better in some deeper basins or holes than some fishing sharp breaks near shorelines.  The typical One-Two punch of a spoon tipped with a minnow head jigging near the bottom teamed with a bobber rod with a small sucker or shiner near the bottom was working great.  Due to the snow cover, anything with glow and a rattle will not hurt you for attracting fish to your lures. If you are venturing out focus on your February spots and I would start searching those areas first.  Night bite was good for those willing to stay out past dark and hunker down for the late night.  Eyes were roaming a lot of mud flats.

Crappie bite this weekend was either amazing or was tough.  Crappies were in the beginning of the week were weed edges and flats shallower, but some are hitting the basins on the lakes I heard from, but they didn’t want to move.  We watched a school for almost 5 hours sitting in a spot we couldn’t fish and would not leave the spot.  If you got on top of those schools, you had an amazing day because they didn’t want to swim too far off from their original location.  In one situation nothing was on the graph but drilled a new hole 10 feet away and the hole was loaded when the transducer was dropped down.  Glow tungsten’s tipped with a soft plastic and a wax worm for scent seemed to do well for neutral to aggressive fish.  A small jigging Rap style lure worked great for calling fish into your area and would get the aggressive fish to commit.  Having a bobber rod with a vertical jig or a small glow hook tipped with a fathead minnow hooked behind the dorsal fin set 4-7 feet above bottom is a great second line option.

Good luck and stay safe out there.  For those venturing out and concerned about lake travel don’t be afraid to talk to your local bait shop they will have a great feel for what travel is like on most lakes and will have fresh bait to entice the fish!

Cody Hill
CHill Guide Service
www.chillguideservice.com