Rice Lake Fishing Report
February is one of those months that can make for some tough fishing. Fish are settled in their winter haunts, and some are not to overly aggressive. Location is a big factor to help get bites
The walleyes are sitting in deep water at this time of year. Some are suspended chasing open water baitfish, while some are still cruising the bottoms chasing bait. Two ways to target these fish are with tip ups or jigging them. The best way to catch the suspended fish are to deploy tip ups with BIG minnows. These walleyes are chasing baitfish, so you want a big presentation to entice them into taking your minnow. Suspend these tip up depths throughout the water column to find out where the fish are biting. Stay in the deep water just off edges of sharp drop offs to find these fish. When targeting fish on the bottom, a jigging spoon and half a minnow will do the trick. Work the break line up and down to run into fish that are actively feeding.
The panfish are hovering over the open water basin. Swimming in schools, you'll need to be patient and wait for them to swim through, or hole hop to stay on active feeders. Color was a big factor this weekend, and black hair jigs seemed to be a very productive color. The fish are very finicky, so make sure to keep moving that bait, and as they close in, lift the bait up a bit to make them bite.
Good luck fishing and remember, introduce someone new into the outdoors. They will appreciate it for a lifetime