Minocqua Area Fishing Report
A near mirror image of the previous week’s weather (nicer temps on Thursday and Friday, temps falling through the day Saturday followed by below zero and wind on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) put participation levels on par with the week before, but, results were somewhat better.
While ice thickness continues to baffle (not building as fast as it should), reports of slush on top of lakes that do have 9-12” of ice, with not a lot of snow is a problem.
Truck travel is still NOT advisable despite all the sub-zero weather. Snow depths are low enough for quad and snowmobile use.
Pike: Good. Lots of action fishing this past week. Pike are taking shiners on tip-ups. A few reports of low oxygen on smaller lakes requiring anglers to keep baits 3-4’ off bottom where the oxygen levels are better. While lots of anglers reporting bulk of action from 18-24” fish, a few mid 30’ers caught to keep things interesting.
Perch: Good. Access to deeper water as ice thickens adding to reports. Deeper water (18-24’) perch taking wigglers or red spikes tipped on Perch Talker rigs, Hali jigs and Northland Forage jigs. Less numbers, but, better size perch found fishing soft bottomed, weedy depths of 7-10’. These fish are more interested in meat. Medium fatheads, gob of waxies on a Vingla spoon or #2 Swedish Pimple working well. While depth providing numbers, shallow fish providing size with perch of 10-13” being caught by punching and moving.
Bluegills: Good. Action in 7-12’ weeds using Fly jig or #10 Moon Glos tipped with a waxie or Moussees. A few anglers starting to find deeper gills over sandgrass flats of 16-22’ using a #3 Tungsten jig to get down quickly with a single spike.
Walleye: Fair-Good. Cold kept many walleye anglers in shacks where Jigging Raps, spoons tipped with minnow heads were working well. Fish need to be “coaxed’ into biting once seen on locators. Leave some “goodies” hanging from head on center hook of Raps or Slender Spoons. Medium walleye suckers on tip-ups over sandgrass humps also working.
Crappies: Fair. They are there! Anglers dropping cameras are seeing hundreds in bays. Night time anglers making “loads” of fish on breaklines, but they are very tight lipped. Seem to be very affected by high barometer. Small windows (30-45 minutes) each day of activity followed by shut down. Tip jigs with small slice of Gulp-Alive for added scent to entice light biters.
Largemouth Bass: Fair-Poor. Just don’t like the cold. Bit during the end of the week on medium shiners on tip=ups, but, shut down during weekend cold weather.
Another warm up for this weekend forecasted. Let’s hope it stays that way. Daytime highs in the 20’s and winds from a favorable South West. Things should improve this weekend.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop