Central Wisconsin Outdoor Report
Up and down and up and down, that is how our winter is going so far. The good thing is that the fishing is consistent and very good for almost all species that we are targeting. Walleye and pike are feeding aggressively and we are picking up some really nice fish. The panfish bite has been very good with some very large crappies and gills hitting the ice.
Ice conditions vary across the central part of the state with good ice on most bodies of water, but the flowages and river systems are constantly changing and unstable. You really want to exercise some caution when heading out onto these type of bodies of water because you can literally have 12 inches of ice in one spot and only a short distance away be standing on 2 inches of ice.
The walleyes are starting hunker down and get into that mid-winter habit that they do and we are starting to see more of an early and late in the day type of activity with some good action after dark. We are picking up nice walleyes on tip-ups baited up with golden shiners and medium sucker minnows as well as jigging with Buck Shot Rattle spoons that have been tipped with a minnow head or a couple of spikes.
We ae seeing good action this past week from both bluegills and crappie’s along with a few perch mixed in. Most of our pan-fishing is taking place over deeper mud flats in 10 to 14 FOW with the bluegills and perch holding close to the bottom and the crappies suspended up anywhere from 2 to 4 feet off the bottom. Just this past week we had a really nice crappie caught by Terry Waldvogel that stretched the tape to a solid 16 inches. The Elk River Ice rod really held its own on this one and helped put this big slab on top of the ice.
Have a great week,
Phil Schweik
Hooksetters Guide Service
Web: www.hooksetters.biz
Phone: 715-693-5843