Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, Happy Valentines Day!! We have a warm weekend in store and I am seeing mid 40s until Wednesday. We look to get back to winter on Wednesday with temps dropping back to freezing or below and hopefully we get some much needed snow. The snowmobile trails and Birkie will surely benefit from whatever snow we get throughout next week and colder temps back down into the 20s. Even with the warm up, travel on lakes seems to be good with not much slush being reported yet. That may change if we do get as warm as they say over the next couple of days. The snowmobile trails are thin along the North side of roads, and in open areas but the woods are still in great shape. I would guess the ski/bike trails share the same fate. We still have plenty of ice, anywhere between 18-22″ and that should not change. Fishing is getting a bit tougher as lakes are losing oxygen and fish are getting finicky.
Walleye–Anglers have been having some luck with tip-ups for walleye. This weekend would be the weekend to move around and jig–no shanty required! Look for walleye around rocks/sand or any sharp breaking contour lines. Suckers and shiners are still working under tip ups, and bigger jigging spoons or minnow baits should call walleye in from a distance.
Pike–Pike have been hanging slightly shallower and sticking around typical summertime weed beds or flats. Tip-ups are anglers best bet for catching pike although the occasional inadvertent pike catch has happened. Suckers or shiners rigged under the tip-up in anywhere from 6-12 FOW should be a good choice.
Crappie–The crappie bite has been okay lately but fish are starting to get finicky and some anglers are finding they can only catch a few out of each school before they scatter. In almost all of the lakes crappie are setting up in basins and are hanging towards the middle of the water column, generally in that 15-25 FOW range. Tungsten jigs or small spoons seem to be the hot ticket for crappie right now.
Bluegill/Perch–Gills and perch also seem to be schooling up and relating to the basins more so than shallow weeds. With no light penetration due to ice thickness and snow cover, weeds are no longer holding oxygen and fish are moving. Small jigs tipped with waxies or plastics can get down to suspended fish quickly. Look for areas of softer bottoms where larvae and other small offerings are coming up out of the muck.
That is all we have for this week’s report. Have a great weekend everyone and we will talk soon.
Greg