Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, warmer temps this weekend will give us some relief from the brutal cold we had from the past few days. It looks like we have some slight chances of snow off and on over the week, with temps up and down as well. We are supposed to get a little bit of snow today, with some light glazing of ice also and we are currently under a Winter Weather Advisory from that. Ice reports are all over the place still, with many smaller/mediums lakes having safe ice in most areas. I have herad reports of anywhere from 5-7″ on those lakes. Larger, deeper lakes were still mostly open from what I was hearing, although they may have iced over with the cold weather of last week. Even if they did, on these lakes (Round, LCO, Grindstone) be sure to check ice frequently as it most likely will vary greatly on thickness across the lake.
There is not a whole to report on the early season ice bite yet, as most anglers were not out dealing with sub zero temps last week. Most anglers are still fishing tip ups rigged with sucker minnows in fairly shallow water. Jigging bigger spoons or baits are producing walleye and small pike right now as well. Panfish can be caught using small jigs tipped with waxies, mostly in and around shallow weeds right now until we can get out into the basins and target crappie.
Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!
Greg