Fishing Report

We are getting well into the ice season and I am starting to hear some encouraging reports.  The crappies in the deeper water have been active.  There is not a lot of huge ones being caught, but plenty of eaters.  The bluegills are still pretty finicky.  You will have not problems catching the little ones though!  Just in the last few days the perch bite has started to pick up.  The are moving in over by the airport lights, and I expect it to continue to improve.  I haven’t heard any good reports yet, but I expect the northerns to start biting soon as well.  I have heard all sorts of theories about why people haven’t been catching any, but I am very confident that the second half of the season you will see lots of flags.  Stop in for the latest report!

It seems as though we are entering that mid season bite where the fish get really picky.  Outside of bite windows that have varied from mornings to afternoon, you will need to dial in your presentation to what they want that day.  I have found that a lot of times smaller jigs with smaller plastics are the ticket.  As far as where to go the dredged area by the shop down to Marge’s Island has plenty of bluegills and crappies.  There was also a school of perch that were pretty active this last week.  Over by the lights has been unusually slow so far this year.  The tip-up bite has been below average, but I think the second half of the season is going to really pick up for the northerns.  The big perch schools have yet to show up, it doesn’t hurt to try, if you are one of the first ones to find the perch you will have some amazing fishing.  Stop in for the latest report.

We have had plenty of cold weather recently which has gotten the ice thickness up to 10″ average.  I have seen one car out so far and no trucks.  I expect the vehicle traffic to pick up next weekend.

The early ice bite overall was slower this year.  The fish do not seem to be in their normal winter pattern, and a lot of guys are having trouble dialing in to them.  There are some guys that have figured out the bite and are doing well.  The bluegill bite has been decent and crappies have been biting early and late, with a few throughout the day.  The perch continue to be scarce out at the lights, in the dredged areas some guys are able to scrape together a limit.  The northern bite continues to be good by the lights.  I really expect the fishing to improve over the next week or two if we can get some consistent weather.