Minnesota Ice Fishing – Bass Lake Bluegill!

Bass Lake Bluegill Anyone??

Ice fishermen have flocked to Bass Lake in search of  big bluegill!

The winter of 2015 has been a big downer so far for those of us who enjoy snowmobiling in Minnesota. Our snow accumulation has dwindled to a measly 3-4 inches which is a long way from establishing good snowmobile trail conditions. 🙁 The only positive to a “no snow winter” is that ice fishing is easy when you can travel anywhere on the lake by vehicle. And I’m not just talking about trucks and SUVs – we’ve seen some folks on the lake in tiny sedans! We have our access open and marked for our guests (no public access!) and everyone has been able to drive directly from their cabin to their favorite fishing spot. When the fishing slows it’s a quick trip back to the cabin for a good movie or a nap. Who says you have to wait until summer to enjoy some hard-earned downtime?

After 16 years we finally got a portable ice house for ourselves and we have enjoyed some good family time on Bass Lake. Ice fishing has been a good trade-off for us this winter since we can’t ride our snowmobiles. The girls get a little antsy when the fish aren’t biting but we found an underwater camera for them so now they enjoy watching the fish “stare at our bait.” (There’s been a lot of staring but not a lot of biting so far) It’s fun to see what is going on under the ice and entertaining to see a northern you know is only 20 inches long swim by our bait. They look alligator-size on that little camera! Over the weekend the girls and I caught some bluegill and a few northern. Katie caught a nice 7″ bluegill on wax worms but we’ve also had guests catch them on minnows. Ice depth is around 28″ and reports have people catching fish in anywhere from 6 to 16 feet of water.

Guests have reported catching nice sunfish, northern and even some crappie so far this year. It’s been interesting to see the bite switch from one day to the next. Some days we’ve seen good action just before dark and other days it’s morning and early afternoon. I guess we have to remember that it’s called fishing not catching! We still enjoy hearing the excitement from new guests who have caught their first Bass Lake bluegill and they all say the same thing: “I can’t get over how big they are in Bass Lake!” The average size structure of the bluegill still amazes us, too!  (Remember that there is a special 5 fish bag limit on the sunfish in our lake!) We invite all of you to get away this winter and take advantage of great MN ice fishing and some well-deserved relaxation in one of our warm, comfortable cabins. Our winter rate is still just $39 per person per night (based on 2 people per bedroom) and we’ll give you 1 night free when you stay 2 nights or more.

See ya on the ice!
Jay
Today’s blog is courtesy of guest blogger, Jay Jamtgaard. (I’m calling him a guest blogger because he’s usually a man of few words…and certainly a man of no words when it comes to social media!)