Ranger Rick
01-19-2010, 04:16 PM
Winter wears on in the Northwoods, the good news is the fish are still biting. The ice conditions have also gotten a little better with some of the slush freezing up as the snow packs down. Vehicles should not consider going on the ice. Only 4 wheelers and snowmobiles should be considered to get around. The ice is about 8 inches on most lakes at this time.
We are getting numbers of reports of walleyes biting consistantly on overcast days, with the best bite starting at 3 to 3:30 just as the sun starts to tilt in the west. They are continuing to bite several hours into the darkness. Tip ups are the best, but some more aggresive fish are hitting jigging Rapalas and Salmo Chubby Darters. The medium shiners and medium sucker minnows are still the preferred bait on the tip-ups. The walleyes are mainly being caught at the weed edges and down the sides of those areas. 8 to 20 feet are the depths depending where you are fishing. Big Muskellunge Lake, and North Twin have been showing anglers numbers of walleye, but under the size limit.
Northern pike are the saving the day on sunny days, hitting large shiners on tip ups mainly. They too are near the weed edges on the lakes.
Panfish are getting fished more, however very few reports of large ones. Thunder Lake was biting this weekend but nothing big. One angler report over 150 panfish caught with only 11 large enough to filet. They are getting action jigging with spikes, waxies and wigglers. Crappies are being caught near the deep weed edges on crappie minnows jigging and tip-downs are working.
You have to use a depth finder to locate the fish if they are not right on the weed edges. This also means drilling alot of holes, and keep moving around until the fish are located.
Good luck to you all, only 102 days until Opening Day of Fishing 2010!!
"Ranger" Rick
We are getting numbers of reports of walleyes biting consistantly on overcast days, with the best bite starting at 3 to 3:30 just as the sun starts to tilt in the west. They are continuing to bite several hours into the darkness. Tip ups are the best, but some more aggresive fish are hitting jigging Rapalas and Salmo Chubby Darters. The medium shiners and medium sucker minnows are still the preferred bait on the tip-ups. The walleyes are mainly being caught at the weed edges and down the sides of those areas. 8 to 20 feet are the depths depending where you are fishing. Big Muskellunge Lake, and North Twin have been showing anglers numbers of walleye, but under the size limit.
Northern pike are the saving the day on sunny days, hitting large shiners on tip ups mainly. They too are near the weed edges on the lakes.
Panfish are getting fished more, however very few reports of large ones. Thunder Lake was biting this weekend but nothing big. One angler report over 150 panfish caught with only 11 large enough to filet. They are getting action jigging with spikes, waxies and wigglers. Crappies are being caught near the deep weed edges on crappie minnows jigging and tip-downs are working.
You have to use a depth finder to locate the fish if they are not right on the weed edges. This also means drilling alot of holes, and keep moving around until the fish are located.
Good luck to you all, only 102 days until Opening Day of Fishing 2010!!
"Ranger" Rick