Good evening from the Quiet Lakes, another early report as we are heading out of town for a volleyball tournament this weekend. COLD is in the forecast for this weekend with lows of 20 below zero until Monday night. We do get gradually warmer during the week with a daytime high of 13 by next Friday! If anglers aren’t driving vehicles out on the ice yet, my guess is they may be able to after this weekend. I know we had around 13″ of ice last weekend and surely it has built since then. I honestly have not heard much on a report as there just have not been many anglers out fishing lately, but I will give some suggestions where fish may be located.
Walleye–Walleye should be suspended deep or holding tight to bottom near rocks/sand. Look for mid lake reefs/humps or rocky steep breaking shorelines or points. While tip-ups can be very effective, when it’s this cold the holes freeze up and make setting the line on fish much harder. Even with thermal tip-ups or the thermal hole covers we have had issues with holes freezing up. Set lines/dead sticks/or rattle reels inside an ice house or shanty would be a better option. Minnows or small suckers or shiners on those setups can help catch finicky fish, while jigging spoons or bigger jig/minnow combos can call fish in and help ice aggressive fish.
Northern pike–Tip-ups are usually the most effective way to catch pike through the ice, but as stated above, when it’s this cold tip-ups just become a hassle. Not to mention hands/fingers easily freeze while handlining fish on tip-ups. Jigging with spoons in and around shallow weeds or weed edges can be great ways to catch pike and fighting pike on lighter tackle is a blast.
LMB–Largemouth can also be caught jigging spoons or even bigger jig/minnow or plastic combos. Look for bass also in and around shallower weeds or where weed beds are prominent in the open water months. Anything that is holding more oxygen this time of year as ice builds and we lose light penetration should get anglers focus.
SMB–I don’t really hear of anglers catching many smallies through the ice, which is odd because they should most likely be relating to a lot of the same structure as walleye, but they just don’t seem to get caught all that much. Maybe working baits all the way on bottom would catch more!? I would think baits such as jigs/minnows or plastics will get eaten by smallies if they are in the area anglers are fishing.
Crappie–On most lakes crappie will be suspended in the basins and smaller tungsten jigs tipped with plastics or minnows are staple choices to catch crappie. For basin related fish, target anywhere from 12-25 FOW depending on how deep the basin goes. On other lakes crappie will stay related to weeds, more specifically the deeper weed edges which in most lakes up here is in the 10-14 FOW range. The same baits will work to catch these fish as well.
Perch–Anglers should look for perch in basins or deep edges as well as they will school up and hold tighter to bottom. I tend to fish perch more aggressively than crappie and favor small spoons with lots of noise or flash over a jig/minnow or plastic. Look for perch anywhere from 8-20 FOW depending on the lake.
Bluegill–Gills will generally hold shallower than other panfish and anglers will have better luck in weedy bays or shallow weed beds vs basins. For gills, jigs tipped with waxies/spikes/plastics seem to work best. If anglers can find any green left on weeds, they should focus there, otherwise look for pockets of weeds or edges where gills will hide.
As stated above there is not a whole lot of fishing pressure right now as the bite is probably getting a little bit tougher and conditions are certainly tough with these cold temps. If fishing is not your thing, the snowmobile trails are in excellent shape and I would have to think the ski trails are as well. Have a great weekend, stay warm and we will talk soon.
Greg