Arvid's Fishing Report

It was grandson, Matt, age 10, first time ice fishing. He hadn’t gone the evening before, but was ready to go after seeing the picture of the walleye his dad caught. I think he had thoughts of getting a bigger one. Well, he didn’t get a bigger one, but he did catch five walleyes; three nice keepers and two small ones to release. His dad caught two nice walleyes and grandpa, fishing outside, caught a walleye and two sauger.

When we returned home Matt’s mother quickly reminded him of the program she had when she was his age. She would get a candy bar for each fish she caught and the program has continued with the grandchildren. Ouch; candy bars are expensive now days.

Matt with a very nice 19″ walleye

Julie, Jonathan and their families have been in Baudette for the Christmas holiday. We haven’t had much of a chance to do any fishing with all the goings on, but on Christmas afternoon, son-in-law, Darlis and I went down on the river for that last hour of fishing before dark. I had fished a few times before Christmas with not much success so I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. I have my little one person shanty with two holes in about 16′ of water. We were both sitting in the shanty fishing with one line each. I had caught three little saugers that were released and a small walleye for the pail and was thinking that it sure would be nice if Darlis would get a bite, when he gets a nice 17″ walleye. There was a hole a few feet from the shanty that I had another line in and when I went out the check on it Darlis gets another nice walleye. It happened again that he caught nice walleye when I went out to check the line. We had four walleyes and two saugers in the pail (Darlis caught the four nice ones) when we decided to call it quits. I went to wrap up the outside line when I heard this commotion in the shanty and a wrap on the window. When I opened the door Darlis was holding this huge fish, a beautiful 29″ walleye. Darlis got quite a Christmas present; what a fish.

Darlis with his 29″ walleye that he released

We have had some winter and ice conditions are getting better. Some areas on the river have 7″-8″ of ice; other places maybe 3″ or less. It’s important that you’re careful and know where the bad spots are.

The Bosch winter test team is in Baudette and it looks like it’s going to be a busy season. Some of the Bosch Boys like playing hockey at the arena during their lunch break; others like to fish for a hour or so before dark if they can get away. On Tuesday Tom and I walked down to the river shortly after 4:00. We barely had an hour of daylight and with the temperature about ten degrees and a light breeze out of the west, it was cool and an hour would be long enough. We chipped some holes through about 8″ of ice in what I would guess would be about 15′ of water. The bite was good; we caught eleven walleyes; kept seven in the 16″ to 17″ range and released four; two little ones and two about 22″- 23″. The catch was evenly divided; Tommy can still catch fish.

Reports are that the Lake has 12″-13″ of ice and that it’s busy out in the resort area. I’ve heard that there is a good bite in about 27′ of water; that seems kind of deep for this time of the year.

Tom with a nice 17″ walleye

Winter has arrived (16 degrees below zero this morning) and it’s making ice. The river has frozen over, but there are still some open spots and many areas where the ice is very thing. Snow cover will hamper making good ice. Nobody should venture out on the river yet. The resort area is gearing up for the winter season and many of them have guests coming for this weekend. The Lake had froze some, then opened up with a strong northwest wind. My neighbor was out by Sandy Shores (norhtwest of Zipple Bay) a few days ago and said “it’s like a train wreck” with ice piled up 8-10 feet. It might be interesting getting around on the lake this winter.

The pictures below are a couple that Wally took the Sunday afternoon he got his buck. He had a good time that day.

A doe & fawn before the buck came

The fawn was close

An old friend, Dr. Charles, stopped by the house on Thursday, just as I was getting the boat ready for an hour of fishing. He was on his way home from his place up on the lake between the Northwest Angle and Kenora. The best way for us to visit for an hour was for him to come with me, so he got his jacket and off we went. We went down river by the airport and anchored in about eleven feet of water. The river is still rising and the current is very strong. A brisk south wind was letting up and it was quite nice out. Charlie promptly caught two nice walleye; one 19-1/2″ that he released and one 17″. We ended up keeping two walleye and a sauger. Fishing should be better for this time of the year, but it wasn’t too bad for the short time we were out.

Charlie with a nice 19-1/2″ walleye