Fishing Report

Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, we surely closed out the week on a high note as far as weather is concerned! Low 40s on Thursday and right around 32 yesterday made for a nice change. We may see Sunday get into the 30s after some snow today/tonight, but then we get back to winter with high temps all next week in the teens and twenties, and lows mostly in the single digits. Shovels or snowblowers might be necessary after tonight, originally I was seeing 2-5″ although now I am only seeing about an inch of accumulation today and 1-3″ overnight. Lets hope they are wrong and its more for a change!? The whole area could use snow as many winter outdoor enthusiasts are less than pleased with winter so far this year. Ice anglers are not in that group however, as we have some of the best ice we have seen in years–20″+ on most lakes, and just enough snow cover to get around everywhere easily. The fishing has been pretty good too.

Walleye–The walleye bite has been mostly predictable lately with most anglers catching them on tip-ups rigged with suckers or shiners right around dusk. Look for fish in 12-18 FOW along breaks from shallow to deep water. Jigging with spoons or minnow style baits should work as well, but I have not heard of many anglers in this area fishing that style with much luck.

Pike–Pike action has been solid all winter long, and these fish are mostly all being caught on tip-ups rigged with suckers and shiners as well. I was on an area lake Wednesday and we caught a handful of pike in a shallow weedy bay. Look for green shallow weeds and fish just above the weeds for pike. One thing to note is pike are active almost all day vs walleye which we have seen more activity only during short windows of time, mainly the last couple of hours before dark.

Crappie/Perch–Anglers have had good luck catching numbers of crappie suspended or near bottom on basins in 15-20 FOW. Smaller jigs or spoons tipped with waxies or crappie minnows seem to be the best options for bait.

Bluegill–I honestly don’t have much on a bluegill bite, although I did hear of one being caught mixed in with crappie and perch in a deeper hole. Maybe that’s an anomaly or maybe some gills are schooling up in deeper water adjacent to weeds. Anglers just have to get out there and find them!

Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.

Greg

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