jig stick northern

marble eye through the ice

fish with teeth

Hi Folks, Guided a couple of ice fishing trips this week.  Chased trout and smelt one day and pike the next.  Ice depths were very different from lake to lake where we found 13" on the trout lake and 4" to 6" on the pike lake.  Lots of snow of both bodies of water and a lot of post hole wlking in the sloppy snow and water.  Trout fishing was slow but the we caught lots of smelt on Hali jigs and big yellow perch.  Not one flag for trout.  So I took the show on the road and headed north with my portable shanty to fish for different species.  We set-up on a drop offthat went from 5' to 15' with weed beds in the shallow margins.  We landed  northern pike on tip ups dressed with golden shiners.  All of the northern came from deeeper water.  Also caught a northern jig fishing in the shanty on a silver and green spoon.  Pretty exciting catching a pike on 3lb test with no steel leader.  The fish ofo the day was a 22" 4lb walleye that ate a golden shiner in 12' of water.  Beautiful walleye.  Really enjoy the action with the northern pike fishing.  Remember to obey the bait laws andd keep VHS at home.  Have fun, Willy

nice weather for ice fishing

Hi Folks, Guided a large party on the ice yesterday.  We had two shanties with heat.  My fixed wooden shanty and my large portable dome shanty.  Nice to have when it is 0 degrees out in the early morning.  12" of ice coat the trout lake we fished and is covered by a foot of snow.  Still a little sloppy out there with some false ice and water under the snow.  You need good water proof warm boots.  Under calm sunny skies we caught alot of smelt.  We found the smelt closer to the bottom in 30' of water.  Hali jigs tipped with maggots in a variety of colors produced fish. We landed some nice sized perch jigging that were holding higher in the water column.  No trout on tip-ups yesterday.  Nice artic blast mving through foro a few days some the ice should really firm up.  Good ice fishing weather.  Remember to obey the bait laws and keep VHS at home.  Have fun, Willy

jig fishing for smelt

Hi Folks, Guided on the ice yesterday afternoon for brown trout, smelt, and yellow perch.  Nice afternoon with no wind, sunny skies, and air temperatures in the teens.  11" of black ice with a foot of snow on top.  there is some water between the snow and ice and makes for sloppy walking.  Should really harden up after this weekend with the in coming cold weather.  Day time highs will not be getting much above zero.  With the new bait laws a lot of the desirable bait for trout fishing in the winter is no longer available.  So we go old school and catch our own bait on the lake we are fishing.  We found a huge school of smelt suspended over 32' of water at 20'.  We must landed at least 50 smelt and used a few for our tip-ups.  Caught some decent yellow perch just under the ice.  Matter of fact the perch were trying to eat some the smelt on the tip ups and we had to remove them by jigging.  No trout yesterday afternoon but we did have two fish who took a lot of line off the spool but then dropped our baits.  Who knows.  Will be guiding over the weekend and I am glad that I have a heated shanty.  Remember to obey the bait laws and keep VHS at home.  Have Fun, Willy

trout fishing through the ice

Hi Folks, Been on the hard water chasing trout, perch, and smelt.  There was 11" of black ice where was yesterday covered by a foot of snow and water.  Pretty sloppy walking around.  I caught my own bait by jigging for smelt.  I found the smelt suspended between 15' and 18' in a total of 32' of water.  Pretty handy using my vexhilar to locate the bait.  Also, jigged some very nice perch right under the ice.  On several occasions I could see the perch at the hole and they were easy pickings.  Set tip ups for trout using the captured smelt and landed one decent brown trout and had several other flags that ended up being large perch attacking my bait.  I used Hali jigs in chartruse and silver as both colors worked equally well.  Will be guiding today and should be fun.  Remember to obey the bait laws keep VHS at home.  Have Fun, Willy

Ice fishing pike

Hi Folks, guided several days over the Christmas holiday for northern pike and yellow perch.  There was 8" of black ice on the lake where we have been fishing.  Good amount of ice due to the lack of snow.  30 plus days of below freezing temperatures helped form some solid ice.  The recent warm spell is over and no worries on fishing the hard water.  Creepers are a good idea as the ice right now is like a skating rink.  We have been jigging yellow perch in 10' of water over milfoil beds.   Hali jigs in bright colors tipped with maggots have been very effective.  We have been setting tip-ups rigged with golden shiners for the northerns.  Finding pike from 5' to 12' of water and associated with weed beds and schools of yellow perch.  I have been using my new large portable shanty with a heater and fits 4 to 5 people pretty well.  My fixed shanty will be on the ice shortly and will be placed on a lake that holds trout.  Trout season opens in a couple of weeks.  Will be chasing pike and walleye later this week.  Have Fun, Willy