WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
March 13, 2008

The final cold snap of the season, followed by that Spring warmth that so many have been waiting for. A few Canadian geese flying the skies sounding with those lonesome honks, it sure seems like another Minnesota Winter has come and gone. A little later than I would like, but as every year has a change of season, we are in the final days of Winter and it sure is nice.

With open water season 2008 only 50 some days out, those last season ice fishing trips are in full swing and the activity on many area lakes have again seen added anglers, due to fish activity and the warmth.

Every year Winnie finds angler traffic in pursuit of those magnum Perch and most anglers start finding better success in those shallow water haunts. Keying in on long emerging points that range in depths from 15-20 foot are key areas for us for the next couple of weeks. Most of these areas will be holding areas before the Perch make there big push to that shallow 6-12 foot of water.

Most days when the fish are feeding heavily, the bite will extend through most of the daylight hours and the schooling Perch are found more times than not on the shallowest part of the point. Allowing yourself to hole hop and stay aggressive with a minnow head and jigging spoon will add more bites and fish on the ice.

The Crappies continue to be a main target and many of the area lakes are seeing the bite activity increasing as the Spring warmth fills the Northland. Keying in on deep water pockets outside of major spawning areas will allow for more consistency from now until ice out and again with those first few weeks of open water.

Spring warmth leads to changing ice conditions and please keep your safety top priority as the ice changes to water again this Spring. All ice can turn from safe to not safe this time of the year in a matter of minutes.

Stay safe!

Sean Colter
member of NMGL
seancolter@seancolter.com