Well I don't have to tell anyone that the past several days we had a big Artic high pressure system around do I?
A quick ice and fishing report.
We have been able to drive pretty much anywhere we wanted these past several days. I think George and the Gang have a road to every gravel bar, rock pile and mud flat on the entire lake....a special thanks to Hunters Point for such great road access to ALOT of very good fishing structures. The only thing we have seen in the past couple days is some ice cracks. With the extreme cold temps, we have seen some expanding ice and with that comes some cracks and heaves. Just make sure you check in at the resort before heading out and as always use caution out on the lake.
We have been out fishing every day since my last report. The fish were still biting through this cold snap. We were able to catch alot of keeper fish and still a couple bigger fish each trip. I will say that we noticed that the feeding windows were shorter during this high pressure. You would have a very aggressive bite in the morning one day, only to return to that spot in the afternoon to find very negative fish. The next day it was a flury of action around noon, with an few fish coming in what would normally be in prime time.
The deep gravel and mud flats continue to be the best this week. This is also the time of year when there are alot of people on the lake. There are times to settle in with everyone else, but keep in mind that there is alot of very good structure out there to fish with less people around fighting over the same fish in the area.
We continue to have alot of success on the Northland Macho Minnow. 1/12 oz in all gold or the hot perch with gold back. It was a couple weeks ago that I reported that color didn't matter....it has this week. If you are marking fish and not getting them to bite, take out your tackle box and find a spoon/minnow head that they want. We had a client this week that switched midday to a orange/white forage minnow and starting catching those negative fish. We have also had some success this past week with tip-ups or set lines with shiners or small sucker minnows.
The weather will be warmer this week. Come up to the lake, the fishing has still been good despite the cold weather. Tony will have more details on his thursday Podcast on our website.
Until next time.....we hope to see you on the ice!
I didn't have any luck finding the radio spot, but did come across this article on Lake Link that Tony wrote.
I think it pretty mush answers some of the questions you come across on the world wide web like. "I went fishing but didn't do well, but heard a report from a guide that had a 40 fish day. Makes you wonder huh."
Maybe try this method next time. LOL Great read.
Thanks for the reports Scott.
-- Edited by Doug Ertl on Thursday 7th of January 2010 11:00:09 AM
what other fishing service contributes to the sport like these guys. Answer-NONE
Listening to the radio and In-fisherman was talking about Roach ice trolling, Awesome.
Thanks
No doubt, Tony and his gang are an asset to all of us. Not only are they great guides, they are great guys Got to chat with Tony a little last weekend and he can't help but leave you little smarter and happier walleye fisherman
Do you guys think the auger noise spooks the fish out for awhile, or do you think it has no affect. I realize water depth will play into it, but use the flats for question purposes.
In shallow water I would say absolutly yes. It is always best to drill your holes early on shallow water structure for that very reason. Deep gravel and mud flats don't seem to effect the fish. We have had several times were clients are catching fish while we are drilling more holes 10 feet away.
When ice fishing for perch in the spring...you will be on a school of perch and then they are gone. Suddenly someone grabs the auger and starts to drill more holes and all of a sudden the school is back. There has been several times in the summer when starting the motor to get ready to move spots and the rods in the rod holders start bending. We started making a joke out of it this summer....keeping track of "Motor fish" we called them. Maybe nothing, but something we have noticed.
Scott, this reminds me of when I was a kid. We would be sitting in the fish house, with little action... one of my brothers would get on the snowmobile and run up to the house for something... when they took off and came back, we would catch fish (crappies)... it came ot the point, when it got slow, we would ride circles around the fish house !!! It worked !!!
Great report Scott! Me and about 13 other fellow gents are making our way up their this evening for my bachelor party and we are looking forward to finding some fish! Hope to bump into some of you guys over the weekend and as always, good luck out there!
In response to the motor theory we all know that fish respond to vibration, i.e. rattling rapala's, buckshot rattles... the list goes on. Coincidence? who knows.
Yes, but when the fish have been negative...try a crappie minnow head. It seems that you can put too large of a head on, but not too small. Hope this helps.