Trickier ice & early coho: Chicago fishing

Most of the fish caught that day were small panfish such as bluegill, but this hog hit a waxie on a tungsten jig right before we called it a day. It was quite a fight on a small rod with light line. For a minute we were concerned the hole in the ice was not big enough. The fish was quickly returned to the water after a photo of course.

CLINTON LAKE – REMEMBER an easterly area of Clinton Lake between the DeWitt (CH14) and the 48 bridges is CLOSED FROM OCT. 10th through MARCH 31st to protect fish and wildlife.

only two trips with any success, goose eggs otherwise . it was real simple , a 1/8 oz darter head jig with a 4 inch paddle tail swimbait. fish inflows and slower flows off the main channel . catch more walleye than smallmouth . walleye small to medium sized, smallmouth decent sized fish . slow steady retrieve just off the bottom . the weather was great for late January/ early February . river close to normal flow, some stain , water temps upper 30’s peace norm

Minocqua Area Fishing Report 2/2/16 A second weekend in a row of fishing success not meeting the expectations of us anglers, what with all the great weather we had. Warm temps cresting 40 degrees, a little sunshine, made for a great time to be on the ice., just not as much under the ice. Reports from Fri / Sat were slow, with things picking up by Sun/ Monday as the fishing pressure dropped off. Northern Pike: Fair-Good. Winners of the weekend as pike bit just enough in some areas to keep anglers attention. Actually a few good reports of fish 28-34 with others catching picklers of 20-24. Large shiners, River shiners and Pike suckers under tip-ups. Not much for technique, just put a spread out over a weed flat and its deepest edge till the fish tell you where they’ll eat. Bluegill: Fair –Good. Best on the lakes with 8-12’ of weeds. Flowages seeing better bites in 16-18’. On clear lakes use mousees, spikes on dark tungsten jigs one foot off bottom. Flowage gills responding to 1/16 oz. Flash Champs tipped with 4-5 red spikes. Bright colors, UV colors seem to get best response. Largemouth Bass: Fair to good. Medium shiners on tip – downs. Tingler spoons tipped with a minnow head. Numbers of 14-16 bass this weekend, with a few over 18. They love those warm ups. Yellow Perch: Fair – Good. Some bites over deep sand grass of 22-26’ or over mud flats in 18-28’. Grass bites on natural or brownish jig / plastics tipped with spikes or mousees. Over mud, Hali jigs, #2 pimples and Perch Talkers banged into bottom to stir up mud, tipped with wigglers or red spikes. On lakes where perch found in 10’ or less of weeds, Ratso jigs in motor oil or red tipped with waxie working well. Crappies: Fair. As good as the weather was for tip-down anglers, the crappies just didn’t seem to want a big meal. Best slow working jig and plastics one foot off bottom. Some very nice Crappies reported, fish of 13-14 – most of those from the flowages. Bright colored jigs tipped with waxies or spikes best in the dark water. Walleye: Poor-Fair. Tough bite of late. Late night anglers reporting small windows of activity on smaller sucker minnows. Very little action while jigging. With a snow storm looming our way today, travel on what had become an already messy ( slushy) ice cover will only get worse. The warm temps over the weekend condensed snow, but added to the slush. With a blanket of new snow forecasted, the slush will be insulated as will the ice! Don’t expect to see any more ice for the rest of the season. The 10-14 we have now will probably be it. As of now, snowmobiles and A.T.V. traffic is good. There has been truck traffic on the Flowages, Stacks Bay and the south end of Big Arb. Watch our website for travel updates after the storm passes on Wed. For now wear water proof boots to combat the slush. Kurt Justice Kurt’s Island Sport Shop

The anticipated snowfall should deliver excellent conditions for snowmobilers, cross country skiers and snowshoe enthusiasts. A winter storm is forecast to drop 5 to 6 inches of snow on the Eagle River area Tuesday, with more expected later in the week. For a full trails report, visit eagleriver.org/trailconditions/. With ice depths holding at nearly a foot, local ice fishing conditions have been good. However, the snow will make travel on the lakes more difficult as the surface gets slushier, so caution is advised. The warmer temperatures from last weekend led to lots of people ice fishing. Most anglers reported that the fish are biting. Fishing Report Northern Pike: Finding them in 8 to 14 feet of water. Set tip-ups 1 to 2 feet above the weed tops, tipped with a medium to large golden shiner or a sucker minnow. The bite seems to be good to very good all day long until dark. Walleyes: Set up along the deepest weed edges during the day. In the evening, look to rock humps that have deeper water around them using tip-ups tipped with golden shiners set 1 to 2 foot above the bottom. The bite has been fair. Use rattle spoons tipped with a minnow head for jigging. Crappies: Congregating deep in the main lake basins suspended just a few feet off the bottom. Jigging with tungsten jigs tipped with either plastic tail, spikes or waxies will get you bit. Bite has been fair during the daylight. Perch: Located on deep rock bars. Jigging a tungsten live bait combo of wigglers, spikes, waxies or crappie minnows. Bluegills: Use small ice jigs tipped with spikes or waxies in shallow weed of 4 to 8 feet of water.

Hey Dale, Went out to Shabbona yesterday as ice conditions south on area lakes are not good. Ice at Shab is holding at 7 inches. Hopefully tomorrow’s storm doesn’t deteriorate it too much. Fishing was decent. The bite had windows throughout the day much like the rain. Crappie were better in deep brush plies on wedgies. Bluegill were in cribs on spikes. Perch was the most consistent bite on both structures using spikes. Tungsten jigs was a must fishing deeper water. TTYL — Ken Husker O’Malley Huskeroutdoors Waterworks fishing team