Fishing Report

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, we hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying this slightly warmer weather while it lasts! The little ice storm we received Christmas night into yesterday sure made a mess of things and this morning did not seem much better. Lots of moisture in the air that froze to the roads. Tomorrow looks to bring a winter storm and I am seeing anywhere from 5-8″ of snow tomorrow through Monday. Looks like we are going to have some NW winds anywhere from 15-25 mph with gusts up to 35-40 mph which would support us getting more snow than not. The rest of the end of the year looks to be COLD in the Northwoods, with highs in the teens and lows in the single digits all week.

Ice conditions are favorable andI think all but the big lakes are staked for snowmobiles. I was out on Clear Lake yesterday on the Spider chain and we saw 11″ of ice everywhere we drilled. We only got out for a couple of hours and unfortunately we got skunked. We had tip-ups set on the deep edge that dropped off into 20+ FOW, although some folks close to us had a few flags go off in shallow water and it sounded like they saw some small pike on their setups. A friend of mine got a few eater walleye right at dark and if I had to guess he was set up on a steep breaking shoreline adjacent to deep water. For walleye set tip-ups in 10-15 FOW and rig a walleye sucker or shiner underneath it. For pike it is best to set up shallower near weeds or on top of reefs, all while using the same baits to catch aggressive pike. We looked for some panfish in and around the weed edges, but had no luck. If I was a better fisherman something would have clicked and I would have checked the basin to look for schools of crappie or perch, but I am not a very good fisherman so that did not happen! Looking back crappie and perch are most likely out in the basins and using slightly bigger spoons tipped with plastics or waxies are a good choice. Some anglers are going away from plastics and live bait for panfish all together and just using spoons with small blades for some extra flash.

That is all I have for this week’s report. It’s looking like a pretty wild weather week to close out the year, but it is pretty fitting as our weather for the entire year was very unpredictable and all over the place! Have a great weekend, Happy New Year and we will talk soon!

Greg

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, it looks like we got maybe an inch and a half of snow overnight, which actually may help with the slick roads as it will cover the ice up a little bit.  This past week we saw some above freezing temps and some rain on Thursday which made a mess of roads and driveways but actually may have helped the ice a bit!  It knocked down some of the insulating snow and then froze hard as we dropped into negative temps overnight and had a high well below freezing yesterday.  It sounds like the lakes that had decent ice already gained a couple of inches from the rain and freeze.  The Spider chain is varying in ice depth and I have heard reports of anywhere from 5-8″.  I know that LLL got staked for the snowmobile trail yesterday, as did the Tiger Cat flowage so that tells me those bodies of water have around 8″ on them as well.  It sounds like the bigger lakes (Round, LCO, Grindstone) and parts of the Chip are not ready and are not staked yet.  We are supposed to see another warm up around Christmas and potential rain, but I don’t think it will be significant enough to affect the ice.  

If anglers are venturing out onto bigger water, just use common sense and check ice as you go.  Even on smaller lakes that seem safe, since we have had some temperature swings and rain, it would be a good idea to check ice as you go.  NO fish is worth falling through the ice!  Most anglers have stayed fairly close to shorelines and have been finding fish on shallower structure such as weed beds, rocky points, and reefs or shorelines with steep breaks.  Tip-ups rigged with walleye suckers or shiners in anywhere from 6-15 FOW around these structures are good places to start for walleye, pike, bass, and even musky.  Panfish may be out in basins, in which case dropping jigs or spoons down to their level with waxies, or minnows is a great choice.  These same choices work for fish in weeds as well, and working edges is key.

That is all I have for a report for this week.  Still not a lot of anglers out fishing, hopefully that changes now that lakes are getting safer, and there is more people up for the holidays! We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and we will talk soon.

Greg