Mike Frisch
12-29-2001, 10:16 PM
Just returned from a day on the ice on Otter Tail Lake in western Minnesota. A small group and I fished a remanant weedline area from 13-20 feet where we had very good success last fall. Spent the mid-day trying to locate jumbo perch. Found lots of perch, but all small. Late afternoon and evening we switched to walleye presentations. We ended up with a half-dozen keepers between 14-18 inches and we lost one 20-22" class walleye. Did catch lots of small walleyes, but didn't find the number of quality fish we'd caught in the area last fall. Our best presentations were Fire-eye Minnow spoons and small sucker minnows beneath bobbers. Found ice from 6-9" thick and it appeared like anglers were moving to most spots on the lake. I would still be careful, however, if I were traveling to mid-lake structure areas.