Reets Lake???

[Waleygator]

Heading to Pickrell Lake Friday through Monday, had heard of a "Reets Lake" fairly close by.  Can't locate it on the maps, any ideas?

[ice dawg]

Heading to Pickrell Lake Friday through Monday, had heard of a "Reets Lake" fairly close by.  Can't locate it on the maps, any ideas?

It is probably 5 or 6 miles south of Webster. Look for a correction line on the highway south of Webster and youi have found Reetz Lake. There is a pretty good Walleye bite going at night at this time, but you can't keep Walleyes under 28 inches. Good luck.

[Waleygator]

Thanks, will get it mapped out tonight!  Had heard the eyes were hitting some, we're in to C&R, so love catching anything!

[Waleygator]

I should've asked...assume you meant the dog leg in the highway?

[ice dawg]

That's the place. There will be a curve south of the dogleg. If you have a GPS with a Navionics North card in it, Reetz Lake may be on it.

[Waleygator]

Got it, thanks.  Tried previously to find a map of it, something instead of an aerial shot, something with some depths, etc. but no luck either.  Will just hope the "old holes" aren't all covered over, ha!

[ice dawg]

If you go into Webster there is Sportsmans Cove baitshop to the left of the highway junction and he may have a paper map of Reetz that he could give you. It is also a god place to find out where the bite is. They are very helpful, but remember you will be arriving at the tail end of a cold front. The bite could be pretty tough. The wind factor here is 34 below at this time and it will not be warming up again until Friday. 

[Waleygator]

I'd already talked with the owner, said he didn't have a map, didn't know that it ever had been mapped.  We are stopping there for our liscences, etc., he's always been real helpful.

[ice dawg]

Where are you coming in from?

[Waleygator]

3 of us from Weeping Water, NE, 1 from Lincoln, NE and about 15 more from the Omaha area.

[ice dawg]

I think most people fish Reetz on the West side of the road. I don't really know how deep it is, but about 12' to 15' would probably be a good guess. I checked through my maps and I don't have one of Reetz either. Maybe one doesn't exist at this time. 

[Waleygator]

Thanks for looking, appreciate it!  Art

[ice dawg]

I hope you catch a big un.

[Waleygator]

Thanks, will sure let you know.  Sitting here at work, about fit-to-be-tied, work is all done and still 3.5 hours to quitting time and 48 hours until we get up your way!  I hate days like this...Art

[ice dawg]

A couple of other old coots and I will probably head out to a lake that is about 9 miles from where I live and C&R some Crappies and Gills on Friday or Saturday. I was in the Webster area last week Fri pm and Sat am and we only found three Perch. We didn't feel like getting out of my wheel house and chase Perch in the wind.  Everything was pretty well shut down after the cold front. I decided not to go very far this weekend.

[Waleygator]

Last year we had pretty good luck on Kettle Lake across from Ft. Sisseton on Saturday before the Superbowl.  If you remember it was -23F actual that morning, can't remember what the wind chill was...not that it really mattered!  Imagine we'll hit Reets on Friday, be a concensus vote for Saturday, then somewhere close to Pickerell for Sunday so we can get back in good time for the game!

[sdhusker]

Ice Dawg - you headed out NW of town about 9 miles?  If so, you should have good luck with the crappies in the evening.  I got into the fish on Monday night.  When I got to the shack at 5:00, it was 45 degrees and a little breezy.  By 8:00, wind was howling out of the NW at about 30 mph, the temp had dropped to 7, the wooden door to my buddies' old pop up shack was flying open and closed, and I couldn't bait my hook fast enough!   They aren't very big this year, but the action can't be beat at times.   

[ice dawg]

sdhusker, I figured it would be more fun to head up there and at least catch some and let them go rather than go to the Webster area and not have much action. The Webster area has been a pretty strange bite for me this year. I usually have my drop down house out there and don't spend much time chasing the Perch. Part of being an old geezer I guess. 

[sdhusker]

After visiting with the game warden, I've actually been keeping the ones I catch out there, even if they are a little on the small side.  I cooked up 10 of them last night and they ate just fine....all 20 bites of them!

I finally had a good day of perch fishing last weekend over east, but prior to that, it's been a tough year. 

Four hours on Stink Slough got me a bunch of 5" perch; eight hours on Waubay got me 2 nice perch and 1 keeper eye; and 4 hours on Bitter got me 1 perch...not exactly making a killing!   

[ice dawg]

I think the NW lake needs to be seined again to Get some size back in the Crappie  population. Someone told me that GF&P took 400,000 out of there this summer, but I can't say for sure. My buddies will keep the small Crappies. I usually let them keep the fish anyway. I just enjoy catching a number of fish instead of just a few. We fished the small slough just west of Webster Last Fri and Sat and ended up with 3 nice Perch. That place is really hot one day and nothing the next. There are a bunch of small lakes and sloughs around Webster that I would like to hit with my ATV and portable when it warms up a bit.

[Waleygator]

You guys can leave us "old guys" a couple too, even the small ones!  Sounds like the temp is going to climb a little by the weekend.  Got to be better than last year!  Thanks again for all the advice...Art