Fishing Report

Good morning, that awkward transition didn’t take long as the ice fishing season is upon us!  Had a handful of anglers in the bait shop yesterday buying bait for some early ice tip up action.  With the colder weather we have had and lack of snow, conditions have been great for making ice.  I am hearing 3-4″ of good ice around most shorelines on a lot of lakes in the area.  Even bigger water such as the Chip and Namakagon are iced over.  I don’t have details on depth of ice on those lakes but lakes like the Spider chain, LLL and Teal, and Moose lake are all in the 3-4″ range close to shore.  A slight warm up weather wise with temps in the mid to upper 30s all week, then back down to just below freezing.  It won’t affect the ice much as the high temps dont last long during the day, and we get well below freezing each night.  I’m seeing very little chance of snow until next weekend, and they are only calling for around an inch then.  

I won’t even go into a report by species for a couple of reasons…..this is going to be more of a PSA about being safe on the ice and the best ice fishing to be had right now is using Tip-ups on shallow flats or very near shorelines around dusk when fish are coming in shallow.  No need to push falling through by fishing out on mid lake structure or the basins to find fish.  

Start slow and check ice every 3-5 steps.  It may seem like way too much but ice can change quick.  Always be mindful of lakes that have stream/creek/river inlets and outlets as any kind of moving water can cause ice to have thin spots.  Deep water lakes may also still have open water with just decent ice around the edges.  No need to bring any machines out onto the lakes right now either…shouldn’t even have to say that but I will just put it out there.  Now is the time to go through your ice gear, put new line on reels/tip-ups, stock up on new jigs and plastics and get ready for a great ice season!  We are off to a much better start to this ice season vs last year and with the current weather pattern it looks to continue that trend!  

Greg

Good morning, cold nights are definitely starting to ice up some of the shallow bays and standing water in the area.  It will still be a few weeks before we can even think about setting foot on it, but it will get there.  No snow in the forecast for the seeable future so that should help to make good ice as well.  The last I heard the water temps were around 36-38 degrees.  On bigger lakes anglers could still get out to chase fish in open water and some are still doing that.  I have heard the musky bite has still been pretty good for the folks willing to go out, with anglers having multiple fish days and lots of action in short time.  

Musky–Like I said anglers are still doing well with Musky on most of the lakes around here.  Using suckers is catching most all of the fish from what I am hearing.  Anglers are finding fish off of points, deep edges of weed beds, and mid lake structure.  

Northern pike–No report on a northern pike bite.  

Walleye–I know a few anglers have been after walleye, but have not heard on how they did good or bad.  Fish should be pushing up into shallower water for the first ice bite, look for fish up on shallow points, mid lake humps, and shallow water adjacent to the basins of the lake.

LMB/SMB–No report on bass at all.

Crappie–I have heard nothing on a crappie bite as of late.  They should also be pushing up to shallower water for first ice.  The best bet would be live bait under a bobber or tightlining a jig with live bait next to the boat.  

Bluegill/Perch–Really no report on panfish right now either.  Panfish should be in and around shallow weeds as well as ice season approaches.  Jigs tipped with waxies or plastics under a bobber or straight jigged should work well.  

Grasping at straws right now to put any kind of report together.  Hardly any anglers and definitely into the transition where we wait for ice so we can get back out there.  The woods have seemed pretty quiet for gun season as well from what everyone has told me.  A few doe and some small bucks taken, but not much as far as giants in the woods.  Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.

Greg