Fishing Report

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, mild temps this week hovering right around 32 degrees aside from Wednesday’s high of 16.  We got 1-2″ of snow last night and they are calling for more snow showers today and Tuesday.  Not sure if that will amount to much, but every little bit helps.  The ice is in great shape and this little bit of snow cover makes traveling on it excellent for any type of machine.  I was out on an area lake yesterday and we saw right around 18″ of ice everywhere we drilled holes.  The fishing has been decent lately from everything I have heard.

Walleye–Anglers are still finding walleye on edges of structure such as points, flats, or mid lake humps.  Tip-ups or jigging anywhere from 12-16′ off of those areas will produce fish.  We had some luck on both shiners and suckers rigged under our tip-ups yesterday.  

Northern pike–Anglers will find good action on pike on weed flats or big weed beds in shallow bays.  Tip-ups are the way to go for pike as well, rigged the same way you would for walleye.  Set up in big pockets of weeds, on weed edges, and inside or outside turns in the weed beds.  A good target area for pike is anywhere from 6-12′.

LMB–I know some anglers pick up some decent largemouth on tip-ups fishing in these same weedy areas for pike.  That has not been the case for me, but that is what makes tip-up fishing so fun, is that it’s always a mystery until you see the fish in the hole!

Crappie–I don’t have much of a report on crappie action, as I have struggled to find any on the lakes that I have fished.  I have not tried deep basins, and stuck mostly to fishing on top of or around structure so maybe that’s my problem!  All lakes are different but on most lakes my guess is they are schooled up in 20-30′ FOW and roaming out there most of the time.  Small tungsten jigs tipped with waxies or minnow heads would be great options for tackle choices.  Small jigging spoons would work as well.

Perch–We did not find any perch yesterday, however last week we caught some in that 15-20′ depth range and caught all of them on jigs and waxies.  My guess is they haven’t moved much off of those areas. 

Bluegill–I set up camp on kind of the top of a mid lake hump with one side of the shelter and the other side was on a sharp drop to deep water.  We had great weeds and I thought for sure we would get into some gills and crappies and I was completely wrong.  We did not see any kind of panfish in the 6 hours we fished, which was beyond frustrating, but that’s fishing.  I would have to think bluegills are still relating to shallow weeds, just not where we were yesterday.

That is all I have for this week’s report.  This warm up will be welcomed after the brutal cold we had earlier this past week.  Have a great one and we will talk soon!

Greg

Good evening from the Quiet Lakes, sending you guys another report early as we will be leaving town tomorrow morning for hockey. A wonderful reprieve from the bitter cold we had experienced this past week with temps yesterday and today topping out in the mid 30s. It will be short lived however as we are under an “Extreme cold warning” from 6pm tomorrow until noon Tuesday. Highs top out at -4 Tuesday and the low Monday night is saying -23 with wind chills reaching -40 or better. With very little snow cover we will certainly be making more ice at those temps. We saw anywhere from 15-18″ today and plenty of snowmobiles racing across the lake. I would say it’s safe to take most vehicles out on all of the lakes in the area however, no ice is safe ice so be sure to check as you go or read all of the reports available to you. We have had some major ice heaves in the area with weather we have had lately. The fishing has been decent although this cold front may slow things down a bit.

Walleye–Walleye action has been good on tip-ups on both walleye suckers and shiners anywhere from 12-20 FOW on those weeds to basin, or rock to basin bottoms. Run those rigs 12-18″ off of bottom and fish in low light conditions. The last hour of the day seems best.

PIke–Pike can also be caught on tip-ups with both walleye suckers and shiners, however you want to set up for pike slightly shallower and closer to weed beds. Pike will generally stage up shallower and pick off any bait swimming in and out of weeds. I would run these rigs anywhere from 7-15 FOW as most deep weed edges are right around 12′ on our lakes.

Crappie–My goal was to catch a bunch of crappie today and have a nice fish fry this weekend…..well those dreams got quickly dashed as all I found were a bunch of little perch. I was fishing mostly near the basin in 10-14 FOW, but I think I should have pushed deeper. I can’t say for sure but my guess is crappie are anywhere from 20-30 FOW depending on the lake and structure. I was trying small jigs and spoons with both waxies and parts of crappie minnows to no avail.

Perch–As stated above, I did manage to find a big school of perch, catching 15-20 in the 5-7″ range and getting a handful above that. Those fish were found right around the 12′ mark on the deep weed edge and all of them were caught on a small tungsten jig tipped with waxies. I tried switching to a minnow to target the biggest perch of the school but they wanted nothing to do with that. Waxies were the ticket.

Bluegill–I have no report on bluegill as we did not find any in the weeds where we were fishing. I would have guessed we would have had a few strikes from gills in the weed bed we fished but nothing. We fished as shallow as 5 FOW and still nothing doing for bluegill. Small jigs and waxies or plastics in those areas should produce fish, but I have no clue as to why we didn’t see any. That’s fishing.

That is all I have for this week. Brutal cold looks to return and things will be quiet. Even the most hardcore anglers (myself included) don’t have any fun at -20!! Have a great weekend, stay warm and we will talk soon!

Greg