SARATOGA LAKE BS THREAD

[jflood]

many successful walleye trips last year on the ice .... this year has been terrible.... I'm wondering if the lake saw more pressure this year during open water.

[reddog11]

many successful walleye trips last year on the ice .... this year has been terrible.... I'm wondering if the lake saw more pressure this year during open water.

You should try the North end. Brown`s is hit and miss. Last year and this year the North end has produced walleye`s for us quite a bit. We are using small suckers on tip up`s 2-4 feet off bottom in deep water. Can`t tell you my spot though...

[reddog11]

Well, my homemade tipup lights have been much more successful than my fishing.
After 6 or so trips, I can say 8-10' seems too shallow and 20-23' seems too deep. Or I'm missing something.

We fish in 35-47 fow. Seems to work.

[Stka]

Thanks reddog11, I'll give it a shot.
The one day I went to 41ft on the north end I forgot to bring jigging rods,  and never fished.

[Iceman12020]

Is there parking at Fitch after the recent snow we got?  Ty

[IcefisherSteve]

I saw 1 hub off fitch today out a ways. I didnt fish off fitch personally today but the plows always have made room on side of rd since I have been goin there. I cant i.agine that has changed as of recently. We fished north end today. Pretty slow jigging. Good crust and now slush under snow in spots. Sink when step. Drag is definitely not as easy now.

[Iceman12020]

Fished out from fitch yesterday from 3pm til dark.. Only managed 3 perch and 1 slime dart on tips-ups.  Only lookers while jigging.

Couldn't find the deep water, went out a ways and still only managed to get into depths of 16ft. 

Plenty of ice everywhere I drilled.

[JayDub]

Deeper water easy 1/4 to 1/2 mile out from fitch.

Still breaking through snow to slush to ice?

[Iceman12020]

Slush seemed to be contained towards the middle of the lake.

Maybe an ice of slush with 3-4 inches of snow

[JayDub]

Thanks Iceman

Took a ride up today check things out. No slush south end and off fitch. Certainly not like earlier in the week.

Not many out.

[IcefisherSteve]

Sunday prob get a sloppy again. Little warm up. Im sure last night buttoned up some slush. I was surprised by the lack of ice near state launch. Most of it was junk white ice. Safe but I thought be thicker for. Shows how snow can insulate ice  pretty good. Caught this pigster

[xxxbeer247]

Any trucks going out of browns or not thick enough yet? I know the lot fills up quick especially with trailer combos.

[IcefisherSteve]

Any trucks going out of browns or not thick enough yet? I know the lot fills up quick especially with trailer combos.

Someone sent me this pic and said toga from few days ago. I never heard a word about it and didn't see it for myself so not sure if it was accurate. Looks like toga. I dont want to spread misinfo so take it for whats its worth. Maybe someone can confirm or deny.

[SSmokinn SS]

Someone sent me this pic and said toga from few days ago. I never heard a word about it and didn't see it for myself so not sure if it was accurate. Looks like toga. I dont want to spread misinfo so take it for whats its worth. Maybe someone can confirm or deny.

That was 3 years ago and was a 19 year old kid that drove his dads dodge 3500 Cummins with a stainless v plow over a ice break. That was the result.

[IcefisherSteve]

That was 3 years ago and was a 19 year old kid that drove his dads dodge 3500 Cummins with a stainless v plow over a ice break. That was the result.

Ok that makes sense. I fish toga a bit and live close by and didnt hear anything about it. I dont have  Facebook to look for myself. Looked expensive. Thank you for confirming. 

[WICTNY1712]

Anyone have info on access and ice off of Fitch?

[ActiveTrapChecker]

Fished off Browns yesterday, 2/13. Ice was solid 8” + everywhere I punched holes. Caught some perch but still can’t find walleye. Someday, someday I will figure it out ...

[jflood]

Just a general walleye bait question. Has anyone had success catching them consistently with small suckers? Are you generally doing better with fatheads or md shiners?

[ActiveTrapChecker]

If you recently fished browns beach and “little Joe” means something to you PM me with a description

[SSmokinn SS]

Ok that makes sense. I fish toga a bit and live close by and didnt hear anything about it. I dont have  Facebook to look for myself. Looked expensive. Thank you for confirming.

Yeah,  no problem. My wife actually showed me the pic going around on fb.

The complete story is entertaining tho. This kid and his friends drove his own Silverado out there. Tried to cross the ice break with it. This was in the dark. Front end dropped down. Half the truck was in the lake. Instead of Calling for help, the genius kid thought it would be a good idea to go back to his house, and take his fathers truck in the middle of the night without him knowing, to drive it out there to pull his own truck. I’m telling ya, the mindset of some people I just don’t get... so a lighter truck (his own) went in the lake, so he thought it would be a good idea to grab his dads truck that was a thousand pounds heavier or so, to get his truck out... well as you can see in the pic, his dads truck went right to the bottom of the lake. Sat there for almost 2 weeks before they would get it out..... if you do a google search you can probably find the whole news report on it. It’s very entertaining. They had a mini excavator out there and everything to get it out.

[Ngillen1989]

Someone sent me this pic and said toga from few days ago. I never heard a word about it and didn't see it for myself so not sure if it was accurate. Looks like toga. I dont want to spread misinfo so take it for whats its worth. Maybe someone can confirm or deny.

My buddy lives by Toga lake and said a truck went in recently off Browns Beach.....guy decided to drive from the parking lot down the beach and onto the ice and went through maybe 15 - 20 ft off shore. Series of cones marking off the area frozen the ground. Also said trucks were on the lake going from Browns to Snake Hill up until that point but he hasn't seen a truck since.

[iceangler442]

Is that where the big blue giant tarp is right now off of browns?

[Ngillen1989]

Is that where the big blue giant tarp is right now off of browns?

If your standing in the parking lot facing the lake....right hand side directly in front of the beach portion of Browns....they decided to just drive over the beach and onto the lake and then took the polar plunge. Driving out from the beach.....I was told there is a spring or a culvert in that area and he got too close to it.

[Ford317]

Does anyone know if there is public access on the western side of the lake ? Thanks for the input.

[Adironzach]

Does anyone know if there is public access on the western side of the lake ? Thanks for the input.

I do not believe there is. You have browns beach to the south but no public access on the western side of that lower basin. The only access on that side of the lake would be on the northern end at the beginning of fish creek. That would be waterfront park off Crescent st.

[reddog11]

Just a general walleye bait question. Has anyone had success catching them consistently with small suckers? Are you generally doing better with fatheads or md shiners?

Small suckers work well on bottom.They swim right to the bottom and won`t mess up your leader. Even small walleye can eat them.

[delay18]

I've never fished the western side of the lower basin. I normally stick to the eastern side. That said I have thought of taking the wheeler off at browns and shooting across to the west. Never been that far on that lake on the ice. Is there anything I should know? Pressure cracks, bad ice, etc in the middle of the lake?

[run320083]

I've never fished the western side of the lower basin. I normally stick to the eastern side. That said I have thought of taking the wheeler off at browns and shooting across to the west. Never been that far on that lake on the ice. Is there anything I should know? Pressure cracks, bad ice, etc in the middle of the lake?

Middle of the lake off browns looked ok. As u get on the west side I saw some spring pockets bubble up and had open water pockets.

[Lundpredator]

I had the same experience.  I was on the lake a few days a go and found a hole of open water about 10 feet in diameter.  It was south of where kaydeross enters, but north of mannings cove.  Along the drop off on the western side. 

[JTrottaNY]

Results from the tournament last weekend if anyone is interested. Fishing was incredibly tough, congrats to anyone who caught fish let alone let alone the winners;