Fishing Report

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

Good morning, its beginning to look a lot like……..WINTER! A few inches of fresh snow last night and colder temps have been making good ice on the lakes all week. I can’t speak for all of the lakes, but I have heard grumblings that LLL has anywhere from 6-8″ of ice across the entire lake. I drove down to one of the boat launches on Spider Lake and saw four wheeler tracks heading straight out onto the ice there, and had a customer in last night who told me he rode his four wheeler across Moose lake yesterday.

I want to emphasize safety here, and while I would still be cautious about bringing machines onto the lakes, I can say with pretty good certainty that most of the lakes are safely walkable to get to your fishing spots. With not much snow on the lakes, it makes walking out to spots that much easier! Don’t just take my word or any other people you see post or tell you its safe. IF you are heading out on the ice CHECK all of the ice you are planning on going across!!!

From the reports I am getting anglers are doing pretty well on tip-ups right now. Most are catching nice walleye and a few have had some good pike mixed in. Anglers are using pockets in weed beds or using the outside edges of the weeds adjacent to deeper water. Simply a treble hook rigged up with a shiner or a walleye sucker seem to be doing the trick for walleye and pike. I have had quite a few anglers buying crappie minnows, but haven’t heard much of success or locations of any panfish just yet.

There is not many more chances of snow from the forecasts I check, but cold weather looks to stick around so we should keep building up our ice sheets. I dont have any word on the lakes getting staked for snowmobiles, but I would think that could happen soon as long as we keep making ice. We still don’t have enough snow to use the trails, but all the little snows we get will add up.

Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!

Greg