Good morning from the Quiet Lakes, things are looking up (at least as far as the weather is concerned!) as we are supposed to have temps in the teens, twenties, and I am even seeing a 33 degree high temp on Thursday! Lows still get pretty low with -3 Tuesday night, but even that should feel warm compared to what we have been dealing with. It looks like we have chances of snow Sunday and Thursday but the forecast is saying only around an inch each day. I expect to see more people around whether they are up skiing, snowmobiling, or fishing! The weather will be fantastic for all winter recreation this week. I have not been out on any lake lately, but with the cold we had, I would have to think we have 16-18″ of ice or more, and travel on all of the lakes should be excellent.
Walleye–Walleye should be suspended deep or holding tight to bottom near rocks/sand. Look for mid lake reefs/humps or rocky steep breaking shorelines. Set tip-ups rigged with walleye suckers or shiners around these areas and work the water column. Set one close to bottom, run one a few feet off bottom, and run one up higher on the shallow side of the break. Jigging spoons or bigger jig/minnow combos can call fish in and help ice aggressive fish.
Northern pike–Tip-ups rigged with suckers and shiners fished in and around shallow weeds can ice nice gators. Jigging with spoons in and around shallow weeds or weed edges can be great ways to catch pike and fighting pike on lighter tackle is a blast.
LMB–Largemouth can also be caught jigging spoons or even bigger jig/minnow or plastic combos. Look for bass also in and around shallower weeds or where weed beds are prominent in the open water months. Anything that is holding more oxygen this time of year as ice builds and we lose light penetration should get anglers focus.
SMB–No report on a smallie bite.
Crappie–On most lakes crappie will be suspended in the basins and smaller tungsten jigs tipped with plastics or minnows are staple choices to catch crappie. For basin related fish, target anywhere from 12-25 FOW depending on how deep the basin goes. On other lakes crappie will stay related to weeds, more specifically the deeper weed edges which in most lakes up here is in the 10-14 FOW range. The same baits will work to catch these fish as well.
Perch–Anglers should look for perch in basins or deep edges as well as they will school up and hold tighter to bottom. I tend to fish perch more aggressively than crappie and favor small spoons with lots of noise or flash over a jig/minnow or plastic. Look for perch anywhere from 8-20 FOW depending on the lake.
Bluegill–Gills will generally hold shallower than other panfish and anglers will have better luck in weedy bays or shallow weed beds vs basins. For gills, jigs tipped with waxies/spikes/plastics seem to work best. If anglers can find any green left on weeds, they should focus there, otherwise look for pockets of weeds or edges where gills will hide.
That is all I have for this week’s report. Have a great weekend and we will talk soon.
Greg