Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, we surely closed out the week on a high note as far as weather is concerned! Low 40s on Thursday and right around 32 yesterday made for a nice change. We may see Sunday get into the 30s after some snow today/tonight, but then we get back to winter with high temps all next week in the teens and twenties, and lows mostly in the single digits. Shovels or snowblowers might be necessary after tonight, originally I was seeing 2-5″ although now I am only seeing about an inch of accumulation today and 1-3″ overnight. Lets hope they are wrong and its more for a change!? The whole area could use snow as many winter outdoor enthusiasts are less than pleased with winter so far this year. Ice anglers are not in that group however, as we have some of the best ice we have seen in years–20″+ on most lakes, and just enough snow cover to get around everywhere easily. The fishing has been pretty good too.
Walleye–The walleye bite has been mostly predictable lately with most anglers catching them on tip-ups rigged with suckers or shiners right around dusk. Look for fish in 12-18 FOW along breaks from shallow to deep water. Jigging with spoons or minnow style baits should work as well, but I have not heard of many anglers in this area fishing that style with much luck.
Pike–Pike action has been solid all winter long, and these fish are mostly all being caught on tip-ups rigged with suckers and shiners as well. I was on an area lake Wednesday and we caught a handful of pike in a shallow weedy bay. Look for green shallow weeds and fish just above the weeds for pike. One thing to note is pike are active almost all day vs walleye which we have seen more activity only during short windows of time, mainly the last couple of hours before dark.
Crappie/Perch–Anglers have had good luck catching numbers of crappie suspended or near bottom on basins in 15-20 FOW. Smaller jigs or spoons tipped with waxies or crappie minnows seem to be the best options for bait.
Bluegill–I honestly don’t have much on a bluegill bite, although I did hear of one being caught mixed in with crappie and perch in a deeper hole. Maybe that’s an anomaly or maybe some gills are schooling up in deeper water adjacent to weeds. Anglers just have to get out there and find them!
Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.
Greg