Minocqua Area Fishing Report 1/27/15
Mild weather last week gave anglers plenty of reason to head out onto the ice. But sloppy conditions kept many from venturing out to far away from the usual haunts.
While ice thickness continues to average in the 14-18" range, some areas of heavy use or early freezes have reports of 22"+. Despite this we have gotten two reports this past week of large lakes (Minocqua and Big Muskellunge) where despite averages in the low to mid teens in terms of thickness, measurements of only 6 & 7" were taken over main lake beds. Caution even this late in January, is still advised!
Yellow Perch: Good. The typical deep water bite at this time of year is starting to show. Anglers able to get out over deep mud of 18-30' of water using Halis, Pimples, Flickers and tumblers tipped with wigglers or red waxies are finding perch. Weed anglers in 8-12" are also catching perch while looking for bluegills. Switching from waxies to medium fatheads help to entice the larger fish from these schools.
Walleyes: Fair-Good. Night bite is improving! As we move away from the new moon period, the after dark bite has picked up. Jigging Raps, Slender Spoons and Tinglers, the later two baited with minnow heads, are producing some nice catches. Off the deep weed edges as well on off shore humps. Shiners along weed edges, suckers the best choice over humps. On size exempt lakes, the more slender lake shiners on a #12 treble has helped tip-up anglers with light biters. Glow trebles have also helped.
Bluegills: Fair-Good. Action picking up, though in most cases sorting necessary to come up with enough keepers for a meal or two. Dark, tungsten jigs tipped with moussees or spikes fished close to the bottom on most days. When active, brighter colored jigs tipped with green, chartreuse or red plastics fished up higher doing the trick.
Northern Pike: Fair-Good. Not a lot of flags but nice pike in the upper 20" to lower 30" range on big suckers and shiners.
Crappies: Fair. Anglers starting to pick up some fish back up in weeds, but action is not consistant. Flowage anglers doing better over mud flats of 16-19' on rosie reds. On natural lakes the last couple hours of light producing along transition zones of 14-22' using minnows on tip-downs or glow jigs tipped with waxies. After dark its minnows on #14 trebles.
Largemouth Bass: Poor-Fair. Despite warming trend last week was rather quiet. One angler reported wrestling a 20"er on a jig and waxie meant for gills. Most catches on tip-ups with medium shiners.
A drop in temperature will hopefully firm up some of the more traveled areas. A couple inches of fresh snow (1/26) will only insulate things further. ATV's are almost done on most lakes due to slush and snow. Snowmobiles are even having trouble with the sticky slush in some areas. Truck travel relegated to trails and plowed roads. be prepared with knee high rubber / neoprene boots, shovel, friend and tow straps.....just in case.
Kurt
Island Sportshop
Minocqua, Wi 54548