Ice ice baby

Finally got to ice fish so let’s dive into info.

Long Creek: I finally know how to fish that place. The old river channel runs just past the opening and you want to line up along it for walleye. Pike move into the 14 foot flats at the opening of the bay. Got some fish to boot!

Trenton: annoyingly slow. Talked to peeps who have been doing well, apparently I need to fish a plain hook and minnow on bobber just above bottom. Will try it later and find out.

Skunk Hollow: ice is not good at deep area and is shallow otherwise, so not really an option right now.

Tldr just getting going with ice fishing and more info will come with hopefully good pics.

Kota-ray: not me but people have got some really nice bass there lately and big gills, fishing the flats in the open part on edge of weed bed.

7/16 Kota-Ray

Great day bass fishing today. Went out about 4 in the Jackson Kayak and got to do some awesome casting for bass. Spinnerbaits did well as did a Texas rig worm. For whatever reason I didn’t get a hit on a chatterbait. However as dusk moved in I switched to a large perch like minnow bait and fishes the weed edge facing the deep main body of water and got a 19.5 inch 4 lb largemouth, my best ND to date!

Kota Ray 8/17/17

Well went out in rooke’s boat to Kota-Ray again today to mixed success. We did managed some nice perch off of the weed edge across from the back fishing dock and got a few small walleye there as well but no big bass. Weather was odd with cooler temps, cloudy, and a storm passed that seemed to shut them down. The smaller spinner jig bait worked well as did minnows on slip bobber and dead stick jigging. Overall not a bad day but not great. Also manged a trout and a nice bluegill.

Kota-Ray on Fire

Had another amazing day at Kota-Ray for bass. Ended up catching more bass than I can count, most being in the 1\2 to 1 lb range. But did end up with 3 nice ones at 15, 16, and 17 inches long. Also caught some nice bluegills at 9 inches long! Overall the fishing for the smaller fish was great on a little spinner rig with a small jig head and a small powerbait minnow. The big bass were deep, right off the weed edge and all caught on bass jigs tipped with soft plastics. The blue black jig was the ticket however I did not try another one. Also manged some good sized yellow perch on the spinner rig, might be time to bring some home again!

Kayak Bassin Kota-Ray 

Had a great day out on Kota Ray today. Went out in the yak looking for bass and I found some, eventually. Started in the usual spots throwing a chatter bait and got one small one. Then switched to a buzz bait and got an almost identical fish. Then switched to a spinner bait and got another one of the same. However I switched to a Texas rig black worm with red sparkles and that was the ticket, got 2 nice bass at 16 and 17 inches back to back and decided to call it there! Weather was nice, cool but warming after the last two days of cold and rain so that’s a thing. Little wind from the east but less than 10 mph. Had Sam with so got some great pictures! Yellow perch were all over in the bay areas and some were of good size. 


Fishing for bass

Went out to Kota-Ray for some post spawn bass. As expected they were hanging under the cattail shelf that surrounds that lake.  Did well using a Texas rig firetiger colored soft plastic crawfish.  Also tried to catch some perch.  Marked a bunch over the main lake flats but all I could catch were less than 6 inches.  They may be eating mayfly hatches since they seem to be avoiding structure.  Next time I will have to try minnows for the bigger ones.  Have a minnow colored gulp bait a try, got a few hits but wasn’t able to hook one.  I was using a surf style rig with the weight on the bottom and 2 hooks off the main line.  Water temp was upper 60s but not crazy warm. 

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Summer UPdate

It has been awhile since I have posted anything so I need to record an update of what has happened.

Went out a few times on the lake since last post and did pretty good late summer for walleyes all around the west end here using crawler haulers or trolling raps.

First thing, walleyes do indeed move up into the river in fall. I have been out to the confluence and managed some walleyes (actually sawger) using a three way swivel rig or bottom bouncer pulling a floating jig head with a minnow or slow rolling rattletraps. This was during the month of October mostly.
Second thing, I went out to Kota-Ray today (11-1-2015) in a boat. Yes on the first of November! The water temp was 43 degrees and the air temp was mid 50s with a West/Northwest wind at about 15 mph. It was really hard to find any perch. We found a few small ones sitting in about 6 feet of water across from the second pier on the west end of the lake. They were hitting worms on a double hook ocean rig. Also managed two good sized Large Mouth bass using a Jighead with spinner and a small minnow bait on the end. They seemed to be hold up right on the edge of the weeds in the 8 foot of water zone. Jigged slow and paused in some spots seemed to do the trick.
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Fishing for bass

Went fishing at Kota-Ray for walleye but didn’t see any. Water was 55 degrees and the bass were beginning to bed so went for them. Only caught them if you landed right on their nests. Got a good 3 lb fish though. Also caught some yellow perch and rainbows. Trolling flickershad worked well for trout if windy. If calm better try fly fishing.

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Temperature
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Avg. Wind Speed: mph
Avg. Visibility: miles

Posted from Williston, North Dakota, United States.