Good morning, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. A decent warm up the last few days will continue today and tomorrow and start to drop off after that with some snow possible on Tuesday. I don’t believe this warm up is hurting the ice thickness too much as I have been hearing pretty consistent reports of 3-4″ of ice on most of the spots anglers are hitting around and on the quiet lakes. Not to sound like a broken record, but CHECK any of the ice you are walking on….Even in a few steps it can change if there is any kind of current or springs or just a section that didn’t freeze the same. To the fishing, nothing crazy targeting wise but we will run through it quick.
Northern Pike–Pike action has been good on tip-ups rigged with shiners or walleye suckers. Nothing fancy, find the edges of weeds both shallow and deep and set up there.
Walleye–Use the exact same spots and same set ups to target walleye that you would with the pike right now. Everything is in shallow and on edges of weeds preying on baitfish that are still hiding in them.
Crappie/Bluegill/Perch–Panfish will be hiding in these same weed beds where you find walleye and pike on the edges of. Work small jigs/spoons tipped with waxies/plastics in open pockets of the weeds to pull panfish up onto the ice.
Here is a quick report for current ice fishing. No need to be fancy and searching all over the lake. First, it’s not safe to do so as all the lakes vary with ice thickness/quality and second, fish have not been targeted heavily for a month now and they are ready to eat. Find shallow weeds, drop some live bait in their face and catch fish! Have a great weekend and we will go over it again next week!
Greg