Anyone have a recent ice report? Still able to travel to Indian Bay by ATV? I appreciate any info. Messenger is on.
Thanks
THE 2024 TAHOE
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Fished out on the willow today with Dan a friend. Fished tip down and father head minnows from 8:00 to 1:00 this morning. The bite was better before 11 am. We ended with 13 crappies and 3 keeper walleyes. We were running a bit. Thanks Dan as always it was fun. I had a cancellation on Saturday if anyone wants to get out for some fishing I have days open. Call me.
Thursday 1/11/24
What a difference a couple of weeks can make. We got a lot of ice her here folks and it's good clear ice. Inches wise it could be anywhere from 5 to 10" reported. Last week they were hitting golf balls out on the Willow Flowage from shore. You can get some good distance under those conditions. I was invited out but when they told me it was one hit per ball I told them I get enough of that in the summertime, so no... But now the ice is good and the fish are coming from all over the place and under many conditions depending on the day and time of day. We even have a little snow now to make the ice a little less greasy on top. A few lakes have ATVs and Snowmobile travel right now and I'm sure there is a truck or two out there somewhere, also. This vehicle travel will increase every day now. The forecast shows ice making temps for as far out as we can see.
Let's just talk about the flowages today so we can get a little more detailed. Appiy this info to any dark colored body of water.
All species are pretty active but not all day. Same story as always, low light early and late are your best times but some can still be had during the middle of the cloudy days. Flashy baits are still king. Flashy, meaning a little spoon is on the bait that flutters and flashes as the bait moves. Flashy just sound better than fluttery. Hammered jigs and spoons have the same effect.
Crappies are suspended about 4-6' off the bottom chasing jigged minnows and flashy jigs tipped with spikes or waxies. Tip downs and Jaw-Jackers with crappie minnows or rosie reds are also working well.
Gills are prevalent in 12 to 14' of water mostly hanging near wood on the bottom. Again, flashy jigs or spoons tipped with bugs including mousees, work well. Tip downs, rod-bouncers, Automatic Fisherman and Jaw-Jackers with minnow heads, bugs and beavertails or chena bait on a small jig or bare hook are also working well.
Walleyes are still in the 4 to 8' depths with the bigger ones during the day in the 12-16' depths. Spread out with Jaw-Jackers, Automatic Fisherman and tip-ups to increase your chance of landing one. Tip your (small) treble hook with shiners, chubs or suckers on rig with a flashy spoon for the best chance.
Northern are all of the above! Most seem to be hanging of points 4 to 6' off the bottom. The flashy stuff is crazy not to use here all year round.
Perch of course love the wigglers. But as all of you know wigglers can get expensive as they don't last very long on the hook and it's rare to get more than one fish off a wiggler. But all the bug setups for panfish listed above will work also. Find the mud. Small minnow on a bottom bouncing spoon work great, too.
Speaking of perch, if you have a tip-up or two frequently going off but not much line being taken out and no fish, it's probably a perch. I always have a medium jigging pole with a spoon type bait tipped with a minnow head ready to jig down that hole right after I clear the line out. This is a very successful tactic.
Again, as far as jigs and lures go, seems the best ones now are the ones with diamond sequences on the front (Jake's diamond jigs, Clam Epoxy Drop) or ones that have a small spoon attached (lethal cecil, gill-getters, tikka flash, pinhead minnows).
Enjoy the conditions while you can. You know the northwoods. It can change in a hurry.
------------
We have a few musky suckers left right now for $1 each.
We are bumping up the February end of season sale to NOW. Come on in the store to check it out. We are adding new items every day to the specials list. They are also on the website. While you're on the site make sure to sign up for our newsletters so you will be the first to know when we add more items.
Right now for live bait we have Jumbo Crawlers, Small crawlers, Panfish Worms, Wax worms, White, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Pink & Multi-colored Spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Blacktails, Rosie Reds, Walleye Suckers, Northern bait, Medium and Large River Shiners and Golden Shiners, Wigglers and Mousees.
Our hours are:
Monday thru Thursday - 6am to 6pm
Friday - 6am to 7pm
Saturday & Sunday - 6am to 5pm
We have to continue to squelch a few rumors. The shop is for sale. Business is great but Linda and I are ready to ease into retirement. WE ARE NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! If you have an interest in owning and operating the largest non-franchised bait shop in Wisconsin, call our Realtor, Eric Johnson, at 715-892-1234 or call Jeff at 715-892-2751.
Jeff Bolander, owner of Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guide Post
715-892-2751 cell
www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.com
What a difference a couple of weeks can make. We got a lot of ice her here folks and it's good clear ice. Inches wise it could be anywhere from 5 to 10" reported. Last week they were hitting golf balls out on the Willow Flowage from shore. You can get some good distance under those conditions. I was invited out but when they told me it was one hit per ball I told them I get enough of that in the summertime, so no... But now the ice is good and the fish are coming from all over the place and under many conditions depending on the day and time of day. We even have a little snow now to make the ice a little less greasy on top. A few lakes have ATVs and Snowmobile travel right now and I'm sure there is a truck or two out there somewhere, also. This vehicle travel will increase every day now. The forecast shows ice making temps for as far out as we can see.
Let's just talk about the flowages today so we can get a little more detailed. Appiy this info to any dark colored body of water.
All species are pretty active but not all day. Same story as always, low light early and late are your best times but some can still be had during the middle of the cloudy days. Flashy baits are still king. Flashy, meaning a little spoon is on the bait that flutters and flashes as the bait moves. Flashy just sound better than fluttery. Hammered jigs and spoons have the same effect.
Crappies are suspended about 4-6' off the bottom chasing jigged minnows and flashy jigs tipped with spikes or waxies. Tip downs and Jaw-Jackers with crappie minnows or rosie reds are also working well.
Gills are prevalent in 12 to 14' of water mostly hanging near wood on the bottom. Again, flashy jigs or spoons tipped with bugs including mousees, work well. Tip downs, rod-bouncers, Automatic Fisherman and Jaw-Jackers with minnow heads, bugs and beavertails or chena bait on a small jig or bare hook are also working well.
Walleyes are still in the 4 to 8' depths with the bigger ones during the day in the 12-16' depths. Spread out with Jaw-Jackers, Automatic Fisherman and tip-ups to increase your chance of landing one. Tip your (small) treble hook with shiners, chubs or suckers on rig with a flashy spoon for the best chance.
Northern are all of the above! Most seem to be hanging of points 4 to 6' off the bottom. The flashy stuff is crazy not to use here all year round.
Perch of course love the wigglers. But as all of you know wigglers can get expensive as they don't last very long on the hook and it's rare to get more than one fish off a wiggler. But all the bug setups for panfish listed above will work also. Find the mud. Small minnow on a bottom bouncing spoon work great, too.
Speaking of perch, if you have a tip-up or two frequently going off but not much line being taken out and no fish, it's probably a perch. I always have a medium jigging pole with a spoon type bait tipped with a minnow head ready to jig down that hole right after I clear the line out. This is a very successful tactic.
Again, as far as jigs and lures go, seems the best ones now are the ones with diamond sequences on the front (Jake's diamond jigs, Clam Epoxy Drop) or ones that have a small spoon attached (lethal cecil, gill-getters, tikka flash, pinhead minnows).
Enjoy the conditions while you can. You know the northwoods. It can change in a hurry.
------------
We have a few musky suckers left right now for $1 each.
We are bumping up the February end of season sale to NOW. Come on in the store to check it out. We are adding new items every day to the specials list. They are also on the website. While you're on the site make sure to sign up for our newsletters so you will be the first to know when we add more items.
Right now for live bait we have Jumbo Crawlers, Small crawlers, Panfish Worms, Wax worms, White, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Pink & Multi-colored Spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Blacktails, Rosie Reds, Walleye Suckers, Northern bait, Medium and Large River Shiners and Golden Shiners, Wigglers and Mousees.
Our hours are:
Monday thru Thursday - 6am to 6pm
Friday - 6am to 7pm
Saturday & Sunday - 6am to 5pm
We have to continue to squelch a few rumors. The shop is for sale. Business is great but Linda and I are ready to ease into retirement. WE ARE NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! If you have an interest in owning and operating the largest non-franchised bait shop in Wisconsin, call our Realtor, Eric Johnson, at 715-892-1234 or call Jeff at 715-892-2751.
Jeff Bolander, owner of Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guide Post
715-892-2751 cell
www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.com
Displaying 20 to 29 of 3,907 posts