I am going to head up to upper Red for early ice this year. Know a few people that limited out on early ice.
Yep.
The best bite is early ice. Also, for early ice you are better off going out of the south side resorts. The reason is that during early ice the fish tend to follow and hold on the depth breaks and transition areas. On the south side the depth breaks tend to come faster and closer to shore. So durring early ice you are more likely to be able to reach the depth that fish will be biting at. Plus there are a lot of transition areas from rock to sand/muck. Find the depth they are biting at and a transition area to rocks and you are set. With early ice on upper red, I expect to limit out easy, and expect to catch a few limits that a guy throws back every day.
If you have your own wheel house JR's is ok to go out of for finding good spots. However, it tends to be a crazy town outta the place. Also, you never know if the place will have things on hand like fuel or propane early in the season. Rogers is a pretty decent setup and keeps the stuff you'd need on hand. We usually go outta one of those places, and if the ice sucks in those areas we will go out of west winds.
I know plenty of guys that just go out on the public Acess points and don't pay the road fees if the snow isn't deep enough that they plowed roads yet. I never do, because I figure a road pass is cheap & worth it to use the resort facilities if needed & help from them if something is wrong.
If your looking for a guide and wheel house rental look up Chad Benson.
