A weekend full of fishing in Northern Minnesota
Being a newer resident to the Itasca County area, it felt so great to get out and explore the area and the lakes that I now call home. The specie goal for the weekend consisted of Crappies, Blue Gills, Perch and Walleye.
While Saturday morning chores and work were completed, it was time to head outside for some time to play in the winter sunshine. It didn’t take us long to get a few holes drilled and the Vexilar’s in place.
On our first lake on Saturday afternoon, we really concentrated on the 16-19 feet of water. Once I found just the right spot to start fishing, it was time to wet a line and see what the fish will like.
I found the Sunrise Mud Bug and a white Doodle Bug Spoon, both made by Northland Tackle, garnished with a wax worm or a crappie minnow head was the flavor of the night.
With a light jigging action or lifting the rod tip up slowly, was the trick to get a good response from the bluegills and crappies, they could not resist the tasty treat. As the sun went down, the fish decided it was time to leave as well.
Figuring we had a big day of fishing ahead, we packed up and headed home to regroup for Sunday’s full day of fishing.
Sunday morning greeted us with a little early chill in the air. With breakfast complete and our Vexilars charged up from the night before, along with our gear reorganized and ready for the new day of fishing, Chris and I were ready to hit the road.
On our way north, we stopped to pick up our teammate Colby Gallagher and our dear friend Brandon to join us again today for what we hope will be another successful day on the ice.
Once we arrived to the first lake of the day, everyone got to work on drilling holes, cleaning the ice out and unpacking the gear, it didn’t take us long to start fishing in the 24-28 feet of water.
I started the day off with the Sunrise Mudbug with a waxworm. With not having a great success with this choice, I decided to change it up to the Silver Shiner Eye Dropper Spoon made by Northland Tackle with 2 wax worm. Well that was the right choice to make, the crappies and perch loved this presentation.
With the morning bite slowing down, it was time to fire up the little grill to have a little lunch on the ice, before heading off to the second lake of the day, which would be the last lake for our weekend fishing adventure.
About 30 minutes later with the back country road tour we arrived. Our goal for the afternoon, jumbo perch and walleye. Excited to try out the new St. Croix Mojo Ice Rod in the medium weight, I could not wait to get to the fishing spot.
With so many choices of Northland Tackle in my box of tricks, I decided to entertain the fish with the UV Forage Minnow Spoon in the color of Fire Tiger. Chris went with the UV Buck Shot Spoon in the color Green Perch, while Colby started his night off with same as Chris but only in the Electric Perch color, everyone dressed their spoons with minnow heads.
Our water depth we focused on went from 25’ -31’ of water. Pulling perch after perch up for a couple of hours, we all were waiting for the magic time of the evening when the perch leave and the walleye swim in.
With having a tricky walleye bite, Chris was able to end our adventure with jigging in a beautiful 20” walleye, after a photo moment she was released to swim another day.
Enjoying The Outdoors, One Adventure At A Time ~ The Upland Huntress
