Ice one day, Open water the Next, First Multi species open water trip 2025

Got out to the launch for 7am, had to clear trees as the storm hit this spot pretty bad and we were the first and only ones there. Pulled the bow saw out and got to work. Got my boat launched and hit the fishing grounds by 8am. Target species: crappie, herring, lakers, whitefish.

Started off in 15-18fow marked a stack of fish and tried our luck. No bites. Moved onto the main lake, which had frozen back over overnight with about 1/4” of fresh ice. Broke a spot open made a circle in 60-70fow where we had marks in bottom. Sluggish marks. No bites, but a school of herring came through suspended so we each had some hits and Stefan managed one nice herring top side. Played with another school but no commitments. Moved in shallower, 35fow, some big marks Mike lost one, I hooked one for a second and my rod doubled over and fish popped off. Heavy whatever it was. Moved around some more marking some slow sluggish fish 30-50fow, no takers. Worked our way to the shallows by a creek I know holds crappie, no luck. Went to the dam, no luck. Back to the depths we go. Slightly easier going the ice starting to break up and melt away. By noon most of the lake was open. Fishing the depths again, 65fow on the bottom. I switch to a heavy meegz and tip with a plastic shrimp maggot. Bouncing bottom, determined to get one of these stubborn buggers. Tap tap BaNg!! Fish on! Finally. Bringing it up it’s heavy but not fighting to much. I get a glimpse. “Holy crap it’s a huge whitefish!!”….”wait no… it’s a giant sucker?!?” Yup. Big old lips come up for a visit. Tangled in Mikes line we net the fish unhook it. What a fatty.

Now we know what at least some of the sluggish marks are… wow that’s deep for a sucker. Moving into 50fow came across some great structure, like square boulders, we joked they were multiple seasons worth of ice fishing huts haha I always see one hut in the middle of this lake every year and nobody ever fishes it. Also appears to be fish around. So we try. Stefan hooks into a nice heavy fish, not really fighting again, turns out to be a nice Tournament grade OOS smallie. Promptly released and took off like a rocket. Mike managed a nice smallie as well. We moved around some more, tried some different depths and structures, no luck. Marked lots on bottom but fish seemed negative for the most part. Smelts seemed to be schooled up shallow, likely spawn time now, I see reports starting from as far north as Sudbury guys getting smelts and lakes still frozen well.

All in all a fantastic opener for soft water season. Sunburned to the max.
Now I need the good lakes to melt! Haha. Cheers.

She just wants a kiss…

Tank hit the high hook.

Ice breaker

Awesome day out for you!
I would have just settled for the sunburn!

Nice variety pack of fish. I am wondering about that first stack of fish you saw at 15 to 18 feet. So your lake that you were fishing is much deeper than my two lakes. I am wondering if those fish you saw were crappie. That's where I found my first big school of crappie at ice out last year in March. The crappie were at 15 feet the first day out in the canoe. Do you think the marks you saw were crappie? I do, but know nothing about your lake up there. Very curious to hear what you think.

I suspect they were crappie we saw in shallower. Lots of deep holes in this lake up to 80ft deep, but also lots of shallow flats 10-20fow. Lake itself is very small. This know the crappie are there but have t caught one yet. I have a friend who has caught many here, they get big 14” which is big around my area. I just cast out tiny offerings and slowly work them back. I probably should have slip floated it to hit the suspended depth. Tough to locate on new lake with no experience in crappie.

I’d need one heck of an ice breaker to start fishing now. Still waiting….

Great report and pictures. Love seeing pictures of open water. It’s been a long winter.

It was a successful ice-break trip out! Always fun to pull up some surprise species and we all landed fish.

Note the skim ice in the background:



Most of the main lake was open by mid-day:



Nick's trophy white sucker: (just shy of 4lbs. possible PB?)

Nick

How will you be preparing that Beautiful Sucker?

Ask Stefan lol
Likely delicious once the mud line is thoroughly removed. I’ve eaten Algonquin suckers before and they’re really good fried if you remove all the bones… which are just thick, not to hard to actually clean. Electric knife would be ideal.

Beautiful and variety of fish. Well done.

I suspect they were crappie we saw in shallower. Lots of deep holes in this lake up to 80ft deep, but also lots of shallow flats 10-20fow. Lake itself is very small. This know the crappie are there but have t caught one yet. I have a friend who has caught many here, they get big 14” which is big around my area. I just cast out tiny offerings and slowly work them back. I probably should have slip floated it to hit the suspended depth. Tough to locate on new lake with no experience in crappie.

When you go back there if the crappie are say 5 feet off the bottom in 15 feet of water, dont drop your bait down to them. Just use a slip bobber and cast past the school and reel in the bait slowly above the school. If you stay 4 or 5 feet above the crappie, they will come up one by one to hit your bait. This way you don't spook the school. If the school does separate, throw a few quick casts past the spot and the action in the water will bring the crappie back together. I usually do not sit right above the school. I try to draw one fish at a time away from the others. Also there is no such thing as too slow in retrieving your bait. Good luck next time.