By Steve Weisman

Well, this last weekend our weather finally turned! On Saturday, I went out for the first time since the cold snap started. Most of the winter I have spent time on Lake Minnewashta and West Okoboji for bluegills and crappies. However, my grandson talked me into going with him to Big Spirit Lake on Saturday morning.

We got there early before 7 a.m., and there were already a lot of people on the lake. There were still quite a few people out off Marble Beach, but the crowd, and I mean crowd, was in the basin from the Foot Bridge all the way east to out in front of Kulp Point. Ice depth seemed to be pretty consistent between 18-20”.

Basin perch are wanderers. They are always on the move. It might be the morning or midday or late afternoon in a particular spot and then move on and come back…or not. The basin is one huge area, and for the most part there is no structure.

Well, our bite was on and off, and I left with nine perch between 8-9.5” in length. It was the right amount for a fresh perch dinner for my wife and me.

I had perch come through intermittently and also caught several 5-7” perch all on a purple Element 74 Tungsten square jig tipped with red wigglers. I also had a dead stick with a plain hook and a minnow on a slip bobber rig. The dead stick was pretty quiet except for a three-pound northern pike that I somehow was able to get on the ice.

By the time I left around 11 that morning, little cities had popped up all over. How many? Well, enough for Kabele’s Trading Post to run out of minnows by mid-afternoon on Saturday. On their Facebook page, they posted that they had gone through 20 gallons of minnows in two days! Thank goodness for red wigglers and wax worms. If I had known, I could have taken the dozen minnows I still had back…oh, well!

From what I learned over the weekend, Saturday’s bite was good in several areas. Lake Minnewashta, East Okoboji, North Bay on West Okoboji and Angler’s Bay on Big Spirit were all producing fish. With the great weather, this week should be awesome fishing! The more you can fish, the easier it is to get a good bite going. It’s when you can only go for a couple of hours, that it’s kind of a shot in the dark!

As what little snow we have on the ice melts, be sure to use your creepers to avoid falls!

Also, there is good ice in many areas, but be careful of approaches and near any areas that have been suspect this winter! As the ice expands and contracts, watch out for new heaves and seams along shore. You might go out with a good approach and come back to see a 3-4 foot heave!

Although I was on good solid ice on Big Spirit, about mid-morning, I heard a loud noise…that came from the south end all the way to the north end. It was the ice shifting making a new crack, and when it came through near me, my shelter shook! Kind of scary, but it wasn’t a big deal.

Perch caught by the author last Saturday morning.

Magnificent sunrise over Big Spirit Lake.