Fishing Report by Russ of Babe’s Bait & Tackle

Zach Norlander, Winton, MN caught this beautiful northern pike using a sucker minnow for bait, and jigged up some dandy sunnies while he was at it.
As the ice begins to build, more anglers are starting to venture out. Some of them have been reporting decent catches of panfish oån the local lakes. Armstrong, One Pine, Johnson and Low Lake have been the go-to place for these early ice fishermen. Most of the action has been in the deeper drop-offs adjacent to the still green weed beds. Fall Lake has been turningbout a fewå good size crappies with an occasional walleye in the mix. Shagawa Lake is beginning to show some traffic and the walleyes tend to run small there, but a few sixteen to twenty inch fish have been put on the ice. Some nice northern pike have been reported and anglers have been using sucker minnows to catch their limits of the 30” and under fish. A couple of anglers have caught some lunkers in the 40” inch and up range but they have been returned to fight again.
Please exercise caution as you move about the lakes. Most travel is either by foot or ATV and snowmobile. Driving full size vehicles is not recommended yet as some areas have as little as eight inches of ice.