Fishing Report

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, a warm weekend and possible rain tomorrow may slow down the ice-making for a day or two, but mid-week temps look to drop down into the teens with overnight lows around 0.  That should get us right back on track to keep building ice.  Reports on ice thickness are all over the place and vary greatly (even on the same body of water).  I know on the Spider chain some spots have 4-6″ while other spots have open water.  It does sound like most back bays, and smaller shallow lakes are safe to fish, but ALWAYS use caution and common sense when ice fishing.  CHECK ice every few steps this time of year no matter how safe you “think” the ice is.  And if it looks sketchy—it probably is!!  That’s where common sense comes in, trust your judgment and if it doesn’t feel right just don’t go.  No fish is worth losing all of your gear or possibly your life through the ice.

Okay, getting the friendly PSA out of the way for the year…….anglers are mainly using tip-ups right now and doing pretty well on them.  It really is a mixed-bag tip-up fishing this time of year and no real “target” fishing for any species.  Walleye, northern pike, bass, and even musky will hit either suckers or shiners under a tip-up and all of those predators can be found off of weed lines right now.  Anglers may also have some success for panfish with jigs and waxies.  Look for those fish in pockets of the weed beds right now.

We do have some snow (at least out by the Quiet Lakes) but not enough to groom trails yet and not enough to snowmobile on.  I have heard people are skiing, if that’s the recreation you prefer.
That is all I have for this week’s report.  Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!

Greg

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, winter has arrived quickly and with force!  Current temperatures are 2 degrees fahrenheit and topping out at 15 degrees today.  I don’t see temps getting above the 20s for at least the extended forecast, and lows look to be in single digits or the teens.  We have very little chances of significant snow at this time as well, which is actually a good thing for the short term as it is going to allow ice to build quickly on the lakes!