Fishing Report

Good evening, sending the report out a little early as we have hockey early tomorrow morning and then I plan on hitting the hard water to chase after some fish!  It appears the cold snap we have had since last weekend finally will end at the beginning of next week.  High temps in the 30s pretty much all week with lows down into the 20s every night.  It looks like any chances of rain are gone and I am not seeing much for any kind of precipitation.  That is not good news for the snowmobile crowds as there is very little snow on the trails now.  This week has made some significant ice and I am hearing most lakes are seeing at least 8″ of good ice with some spots closer to 10″.  I would think by the end of the weekend we could be pretty consistent in the 10-12″ range, so I don’t think the warm up next week will hurt us too much there.  We probably won’t make a whole lot during the warm up, but we shouldn’t lose much either.  Most of the lakes have been staked for the snowmobile trails, I know for sure LLL, Spider chain, Tiger cat, and most if not all of the Chip.  I am not sure about Round, LCO, Grindstone, or Whitefish and to be honest Im not sure how many of the snowmobile trails go across those lakes. The Sawyer County Snowmobile ATV Alliance has been posting on conditions and are a very reliable source!

We got out fishing last weekend and we did ok on tip-ups going 3 for 3, catching two small northern and a sizeable 20″ walleye.  We caught those fish on both suckers and shiners under the tip-ups.  Missed a few fish jigging and we caught all of our fish on the edges of flats that headed to deep water.  I still haven’t got any intel on a panfish bite and we didn’t catch any to verify if they are basin related or still around shallow weeds/structure.  My guess is with these warm temps and good ice, next week and weekend will be busy ones with anglers getting out safely and comfortably.  Next week I should really be able to get a better breakdown by species, this week was pretty slow yet as it was just too cold to get out. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend and we will talk soon!

Greg

Good morning, another round of snow last night dropped about +/- 3″ of snow.  Hard to tell a total as the wind was howling and created some drifting.  Bitter cold temps will hang around for this week, with most temps in the single digits during the day and below zero at night.  With not a lot of snow cover on the lakes, we should make some great ice this week.  I am hearing reports of 6-8″ of solid good ice on some of the local lakes, but not quite that much on the bigger lakes in the area.  Namakagon from what I am hearing is around 4″ and I have no reports of Round, LCO, or Grindstone, but my guess would be they are around the same amount as Namakagon.  As always, check check check ice as you go, as ice conditions can change daily.  It sounds like some of the lakes may get staked this week for snowmobile traffic and there may be enough in the woods to start grooming, although I have not seen any groomers yet.

Most anglers that are coming in to the bait shop are still doing well on tip-ups for walleye and pike and still finding those fish pretty shallow.  Anywhere from the 6-10 FOW range is what I am hearing.  Look for weed edges that drop off to basins and start there.  I’m not hearing much on a panfish bite of any species but with better ice forming anglers should be able to work basins for crappie and perch.  

Thats about all I got for this week, I don’t feel we are into the ice season enough yet to breakdown individual species but could probably start next week.  Have a great weekend, stay warm and we will talk soon.

Greg