Rice Lake Fishing Report 1-08-13
It's always a great sight to be able to drive by local lakes and see the small "villages" taking place on the ice. Several more ice shacks made it out on a variety of lakes over the weekend, but I still would say, keep all full sized vehicles off of the lake and stick with ATV's and Snowmobiles for travel on all ice. One just never knows where the one weak area is on a lake, and it would not be fun to be the one who finds out where that is. This next week we are going to see some above freezing temperatures during the day, but we will still drop below freezing at night to keep adding to the ice we already have.
The panfish bite has been red hot the past week. Many good sized fish are being caught in several different areas, as well as many different lakes. Crappies are being crappies and are becoming active at low light conditions. In order to catch these mid day fish, drop into the deeper water areas. These schools of fish are not moving to far off of their structures. When targeting crappies in low light periods, they are concentrating on drop offs and flats around the lake. After they finish feeding, they will suspended over the adjacent deeper water areas. Drill some holes off of the structures and start searching. This is a great way to catch crappies all day long. The gills are being found in a variety of depths, but are very active when found. Do not sit on an area to long if you are not catching fish. When you find them they will be active.
After the first of the year, the walleyes seem to become less and less prevalent to catch. This year they are still being caught on shoreline drop offs as well as along weed edges. Take advantage of these weed edges while you can, as smaller panfish and perch are still cruising around these weed beds. The walleyes are hitting these areas early morning and right before dark. Find the very edges of these beds and deploy tip ups just off of them, and jig with a rattle spoon in the deeper water to pick off feeding fish before they hit the weeds.
Good luck fishing and remember, introduce someone new to the outdoors, they will appreciate it for a lifetime.
Jordan Marsh
Marsh Outdoors