Spring Ice Conditions - Grand Rapids, MN

Tioga Landing on Pokegama Lake, March 27, 2023

This week’s report is brought to you by Jeff Johnson. Jeff is a local fishing guide during the winter, spring, summer, and fall. If you are interested in a guided fishing trip around the Grand Rapids, MN area or the Lake Winnie area check out Jeff’s Page for more information.

Most anglers are highly anticipating open water fishing opportunities in Northern Minnesota. However, there are some anglers who love the ice just as much. They know this time of year can produce some of the best fishing of the entire winter season. One key thing I have noticed over the years is when the downspout on the gutter begins to run hard, there are panfish biting. Might be one more reason or excuse to leave a little extra snow on the roof next winter. 

This weekend for me personally, was dedicated to my daughter Winnie. She has been actively waiting for the father daughter dance that takes place at the IRA Civic Center in Grand Rapids, MN every spring. Saturday was all about her. The fishing would have to be put on hold. Along with this, the arrival of my new boat also created a list of chores that needed to be done in the garage that has accumulated way too much ice fishing gear, even for a winter ice fishing guide. Time to organize! 

Winnie and I did get a chance on Saturday before the dance to take a drive and check out some of the ice conditions on our local lakes around the Grand Rapids area. Our first stop was Bass Lake near Cohasset. My family has enjoyed many days ice fishing on this body of water this time of year. From our view of the lake, we noticed a few anglers out and about. One interesting thing I noticed was that I didn’t see any type of vehicle, snowmobile, or atv on the ice. Did everyone walk out? I can’t answer that for sure, but it sure seemed that way. 

Our next stop was Tioga Landing on Pokegama Lake. Here we noticed a few anglers out, not a lot, but once again there was no vehicle, snowmobile, or atv traffic happening on the lake. Everyone that I saw out, was walking. I don’t have the boots on the ground information to be able to say for sure, but maybe, finally this winter, traffic on the lakes is not so great. From the landing and the picture posted above you can see that there has been some recent traffic. I know one thing for sure, if you are planning to get out this week I would make sure to have the snowmobile ready to go. Vehicle traffic was non-existent. With the absence of wheel houses and permanents, people are not keeping up on roads that had been maintained all winter long. The snowpack is definitely receding, so I can't imagine it will be too long before the conditions will improve and give anglers a little more flexibility before all is said and done. 

The landings this time of year are what take a beating and can often create dangers or limit anglers' abilities to have access to the lake. As we drove a little farther past the landing we noticed a very interesting site. Open water along shore! Once these open areas begin, they spread out in size very quickly. The movement of water caused by wind and currents can eat away at the ice pack pretty fast. I wouldn’t expect it to be too long before the access at Tioga starts showing signs of weakening ice.

I plan to get out on the ice a few more times yet. However, with the new boat needing to be rigged I have a feeling I am going to be pretty tied up over the next month. We will do our best to keep posting weekly updates on ice conditions for the Grand Rapids area and the Lake Winnie area this spring. 

Ice Fishing Report Northern Minnesota

As a kid I remember March being a lot warmer. I used to kind of put it into the category of spring. Maybe I was too young to notice the cold, or I never really understood the difference between actual temp and windchill. This March in my opinion falls way more into the category of winter than spring. Snow continues to fall and temps are remaining pretty cold.

Traffic on most of our area lakes remains good. I can always judge travel conditions for a wide variety of lakes based on my view of Trout Lake in Coleraine each day. If things look like they are going well out there, then I can almost bet travel on most of our area lakes is good as well. Trucks were making their way around on Trout this weekend to my surprise. The snow didn’t have too much of an impact. The warm parts of our days are cutting back on the extra snowfall we have received, and the top layer then has an opportunity to freeze hard at night, making for a nice hard pack on the lakes. When I’m out with my young boys however, they enjoy the snowmobile ride just as much as the fishing. I also like to limit the chances of getting stuck and making the day way less enjoyable for the young ones. So snowmobile it is.

My oldest son Duncan pictured with the nice perch above, got to play the role of guide for our latest adventure. He chose species to target, location, and jigs. Trout Lake offers young ice anglers and opportunity at lots of bites, especially when targeting perch. Duncan knows this. Him and I have spent many days on this body of water during the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Many of the shallow flats on Trout during the winter months can provide tons and tons of bites for small perch. The kids love it though! Vexilars are not needed, but these tiny perch are what taught both my sons, even Decker, now age 2 how to recognize fish on the vexilar. and where to have your bait. 

After an hour of taking off perch after perch after perch, I kind of geared the boys up to try a new spot that I have been wanting to try. Thinking we might run into some bigger perch possibly, bluegills or even crappies. Many of the shorelines on Trout lake have broken trees that have fallen into the water. Some of these spots where these trees lay also have deep water. You might only be 20 ft from shore, but in certain locations you can be in 16-20 ft of water with flooded timber. Sounds cool right. The bite was not on fire, but what we did find was a much better class of perch. Most of the fish were 8-9 inches with a few pressing that 10 inch mark. Put it this way, I think we will be giving this spot a try again in the very near future.

Northern Drift Outfitters Tullibee Rigs

So no tullibee this weekend, or eelpout for dad. However, lots of smiles and hook sets were had. If you read last week’s post I mentioned that I would post some pictures of my Tullibee rig that I have grown to love. Here are three examples or variations that have worked well for me.

This week’s report is brought to you by Jeff Johnson. Jeff provides guided fishing trips on Lake Winnie, Pokegama Lake, Trout Lake, Leech Lake, Red Lake, and many more. If you are interested in an open water or ice fishing trip you can reach Jeff at 218-259-8893.

Tullibee Fishing Report

Tullibee season is on. Tullibee season for me, marks the end of winter guiding, warm spring days on the ice, family, friends, and a chance to clean up the smoker. It has been a tradition for me for quite some time. I can remember floating a boat out of Tioga beach a few years back just to get to the ice pack. How could one fish, make one person, want to go through so much effort this late in the ice season? Well, after a winter of chasing sometimes finicky crappies and bluegills, the rush of watching a school of tullibee chase you 40 ft in the water column on your flasher is as close to ice fishing therapy as you can get. They are electric when they are on, but tricky enough to make you stay focused. 

My tullibee ice fishing rig has changed over the past few years, and I am sure it will continue to change and evolve. I could go on for days about the different tactics I have used over the years, but for today’s article we are going to focus on my new favorite. A tactic that at this point in time I trust more than any other when targeting Tullibee.It all starts with the rod. St.Croix’s custom pan dancer has the perfect amount of backbone and a light enough tip for detecting bites. I like 4lb test monofilament tied directly to a UV colored buck shot rattle spoon. The color and size of the rattle spoon can change depending on the tip of your rod. You don’t want it to be too loaded when working the rig in the water column. I then proceed to take off the treble hook, and replace it with a dropper chain with quick change clips. You can find different length dropper chains. Personally, I think the longer the better. Simply clip one end to the bottom of your spoon, and the other end clips onto a tungsten jig. The bottom of this rig needs to be heavy, or it will be prone to twisting as you jig through the water column. Another consideration to keep in mind is the size of the line tie on your tungsten. It needs to be big enough to accommodate the quick change clip on the chain. Unless you are going with extremely micro tungstens you will be fine. Bait up the tungsten with wax worms or euro larvae and your rig is ready to rock and roll. You can substitute the dropper chain with a 6, 8, or even 10 lb test fluorocarbon, or monofilament line. It will eventually twist up on you, but it has worked for me in the past quite well when I didn’t have a chain dropper.

Check back next week, for a detailed report on locations for targeting March tullibee. I will also be posting some detailed photos of my tullibee ice fishing rig.

- Jeff Johnson (Fishing Guide)

Fishing Report - Lake Winnie and Surrounding Areas

Jumbo Perch

Today’s report is brought to you by ice fishing guide Jeff Johnson. Jeff provides ice fishing guide services on Lake Winnie and surrounding areas. 

Jumbo, decent, small, gone. These four words can plague any perch angler throughout the winter months. Schools of perch and the mingling of year classes can sometimes leave anglers feeling lost and confused. Use a camera and you will find that you were around the big ones, they just didn’t choose to be more aggressive than their younger brothers and sisters during the time you were there. Now it is not necessarily like this every time. Jumbo perch anglers who don't like to play the sorting game know there are certain locations where the true jumbos live and operate. For anglers who specifically like to catch larger jumbos, targeting some of these areas might be your best bet. I think of the humps and shallow shoreline flats on Lake Winnie. The humps on Winnie in the evenings routinely kick out large jumbo perch, along with walleyes. Very rarely have I had to sort any of the perch I have caught on evening excursions to the humps.I also think of the large shallow flats on Leech Lake, the backwater areas on the Mississippi River, in and around Lake Winnie, and heading south towards Grand Rapids. Spots like these continue to routinely produce that larger, more robust class of perch. The jumbos that everyone seems to crave. Round Lake near Squaw Lake, Lake Bemidji, Bowstring, and Sand Lake are great as well. Jumbo perch  are without a doubt my favorite species of fish to target during the winter months. More often than not, the areas that I listed up above are always my considerations when targeting true jumbo perch.

My winter guide season is wrapped up and deposits are already being taken for next winter. Don’t be afraid to inquire about this spring, summer, and fall as well. If all goes as planned, I will have a Tulibee report up by next week. The new boat has come in as well. Lots do, little time to get it all done. Fishing opener is right around the corner. Check back next week!

Panfish Report Lake Winnie, Cutfoot Sioux, Grand Rapids Area

Our winter guided ice fishing trips are nearing an end. There is only a few weeks left and hopefully more bluegills like the one above continue to want to play. Lake Winnie, Cutfoot Sioux, and surrounding bodies of water have seen their fair share of fishing pressure this winter. Skittish schools of fish are becoming aware of the new technology that is facing them. Finding fish isn’t the tough part. Keeping them underneath you, now that's a whole different story.

One tactic that I have employed this winter is using more of my 1 man fish houses. I currently run the Clam Kenai because of the ease of use. Flip and go, no extending of poles.  I also like the dark fabric on the inside of the house. It keeps everything dark, and I am noticing more and more how important that is to help keep spooky schools of crappies and bluegills below you. 

Utilizing forward facing sonar this weekend to help us locate schools of bluegills and crappies definitely helped us find general areas that the fish were congregating. However, trying to get your house or yourself positioned right on top of these schools proved to be a difficult task. It was, find an area, move your 1 man there, not marking, don't move! Wait it out. It took on average 20-30 minutes for those schools of fish to move back into position. I am a firm believer that these fish are becoming accustomed to being drilled right on top of. This happens consistently now, over the course of the winter. It used to be kind of accidental when you would land on the large schools. Now targeted holes can be placed right on top of them each and every time. We are educating a lot of fish, and we as anglers will need to continue to adapt and educate ourselves. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.

As our winter guide season winds down, please continue to check each week for updated fishing reports from the Lake Winnie and Grand Rapids area. Eelpout and Tullibee season is upon us. Warm days on the ice, with family and friends sounds pretty exciting. I know my son Duncan is itching for some smoked fish soon.

-Jeff Johnson

Perch Fishing ReportLake Winnie and Surrounding Areas

Lake Winnie fishing guide Jeff Johnson with a group ice fishing outing targeting perch

Perch fishing around the Grand Rapids and Deer River areas has been improving over the past couple weeks. The fish are starting to feel the oncoming spawn. We are also experiencing more daylight which helps reduce the midwinter doldrums. Both perch and perch fisherman were out in full force this weekend. Being mobile was key to having success. Ice conditions on Lake Winnie and other local lakes remain great. Anglers are able to access most areas without the need for tracked machines or plowed roads. Keep in mind there are some slushy areas mixed in. Watching for discoloration in the snow can help keep you from running into these areas. 

I’ve said it before, but this time of the year for me, I have the most success fishing shallow flats when targeting perch. The bigger the better. I like 6-8 ft flats, large in size, and deep water nearby. Your deep water could be a sharp break line leading into a deeper basin, or a deepwater hole. Start on top of the flat and be mobile. You will know pretty quickly if there are perch nearby. The first few biters are usually the most active, and often the biggest fish of the day. You can move around and continue finding active biters throughout the day. Cycling back into some of your holes later on, can also be effective, and it will reduce arm fatigue from continued drilling. Drilling too much can also have a negative impact on your bite, so keep that in mind as well. It is important to check those deeper areas as well. Perch will often congregate in these deeper areas at different points during the day. It can lead into the nursery effect, however. Smaller fish that use this deeper water as a sanctuary will often be more in abundance. Fishing through them becomes the challenge.

We do have 1 open slot on March 5th to fill this winter for a guided ice fishing trip on Lake Winnie or surrounding areas. If you are interested you can reach out to us at 218-259-8893.