Fishing Report

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, the weather does not look favorable for the ice situation moving forward.  The next 15 days all look to be well above freezing with highs at the end of this week reaching the mid 50s. Current ice conditions have reports anywhere from 8-11″ but we will lose it fast if the temps hold up as forecasted.  Fishing has been pretty good overall with folks still doing well on tips-ups and jigging.

For walleye, pike, and bass anglers are using walleye suckers or shiners underneath tip-up rigs.  Set rigs in shallow weeds for bass and pike and try to get right on the transition from shallow to deep water for walleye. In most lakes, shallow weeds would be in the 5-8′ range and the deep transition will be in the 10-12′ range.  Most times you will pick up a pike or two on that transition as well. 

I am hearing reports of anglers doing well for panfish in the deep basins.  Dropping small tungsten jigs or small jigging spoons down to 20-25′ FOW can find some nice crappie right now.  Some lakes may fish shallower than that depending on the depth of the lake.  Waxies on jigs or chunks of crappie minnows on the treble hook of a spoon can be great options for aggressive crappie, perch and bull bluegill. 

This may be some of the last good ice we have of the season. It’s definitely been a strange winter with very little to no snow and moderate ice at best.  My guess is that the shorelines may start to get thin if this weather holds up. The only upside is we may be able to get the boats in the water by March!! Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!

Greg

Hello from the Northwoods, late report tonight as we are in New Richmond for a hockey tournament this weekend. We still have decent ice as of now, but this week could really screw things up. I am hearing pretty consistent reports of +/- 8″ of ice on most lakes, but I have noticed most of the creeks and rivers are back open and flowing water. Not a good sign on any lakes that have current moving through them. Temps this week look to top out in the upper 40s with a chance of rain on Thursday. The snowmobile and ski trails are both shot and only time will tell what happens to the ice.

Fishing has been decent as of late with most anglers still targeting shallow fish on tip-ups. The catch has been mostly pike and walleye and a few inadvertent musky. I got my first ski’ of the season last weekend on a tip-up, a beautiful marked fish that went about 22″. Thats pretty good for me as I usually don’t catch a musky of any size until October of the year!! The walleye and pike have almost all been on suckers or shiners under a tip-up in anywhere from 8-12 FOW. Look for weed edges that drop off into deeper water and focus on those transitions. I know of one angler that landed an absolute gator of a pike jigging,(Tim if you are reading this you know who you are!😉) but that one was a fluke for sure! I have not heard much else on a basin or panfish bite as those fish have just not been targeted much this year.

I really wish I had a better report for you, but there just has not been many anglers targeting panfish or venturing out into deep water on this ice. It seems like there are still decent weeds to focus on in shallower water and i don’t think the fish have moved off of those weeds yet. All 4 of our tip-ups that produced fish last weekend were in or around weeds and the one walleye we got was in that transition from weeds/rock to deep water. Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!

Greg