DNR reports best winter fishing was on Otter Tail and West Battle

By Matt Bewley | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, April 16, 2007

With the 2006-07 winter fishing season now at an and, the predominant opinion heard around Otter Tail County is that it was another good year.

“Overall I think it was a pretty good year,” Department of Natural Resources Area Assistant Fisheries manager Jim Wolters said. “With the earlier lack of snow, anglers could get out wherever they want to.”

“The hottest lakes were Otter Tail and West Battle Lake,” Deb Macheledt of Ben’s Bait in Battle Lake said. “They did a lot were fishing in shallow water. We fished at 11 feet, and did real well.”

Though many reports tell of an abundance of smaller walleye, there were some big catches, too.

“The biggest walleye I heard about was 14 pounds,” she said, “and a 10-pounder on Blanche Lake.”

The Northern pike were biting on several area lakes, she said.

“I know of a couple 14-pounders taken on Otter Tail, and there were a couple nice muskies taken out of West Battle Lake. Both were right at 41 inches.”

The DNR tracks fishing pressure, related as much to counts as to size, and they do it in a number of ways.

“We rent a plane each year and fly a standardized pattern over the lakes to get an accurate fish house count,” Wolters said. “Our area fish house counts give us numbers which we put into a report each year to show trend data. We’ve got counts from up to 25 years ago, so we can use it to gauge fishing pressure on area lakes, and to tell if there’s an historically high number.”

For instance, one can tell that West Battle Lake saw an increase over the 25-year average of 126 fish houses to 186 in 2007. On all fishing lakes in Otter Tail County, there were 2,809 fish houses this year, compared to the 25-year average of 3,172.

Another, less scientific method of tracking fishing pressures is paying attention to the folks with holes in the ice.

“Generally,” he said, “when you don’t hear anything, that means the fishing is good.”