Oneida County

Set tip ups out in front of our place south of Minocqua.  Shoreline is weak. The rest of the lake seems questionable. 2-5" where i drilled but its soft, water bounces when walking and was cracking bad while drilling. Should probably stay off. Really not seeing many fisherman on area lakes. I'd stay home if you're thinking about trying it. Bite is slow anyways. Be safe.

Looking at the bright side, with no fishable ice the fish get a much needed break from the piggery that’s gone on the last four years. 

Went up to our cabin yesterday and the ice is really getting bad. We lost 3 inches of ice in the past few days and the ice that is left is really soft. This was before the rain and warm temps last night. I measured 5 inches but it is not good ice at all where we are. ​

Has anyone heard if the ice is fishable on Burrows Lake ? We fished it in 2020 and wanted to try it again. It’s about 5 1/2 hr drive up there for us. Thanks ! 

Friday, 12/22/23
Ho, Ho, Ho!  The ice is still very very good. We've made a little lately but not a lot.  I understand there is anywhere between 4 and 10" in most spots.  I probably wouldn't head out onto any deep basins yet but as always its lake dependent.  Fence, Presque Isle and Trout still have some open water but that's normal.  We probably won't make any more ice over the next few days as sprinkles and moderate temps are in the forecast.  Overall, there are plenty enough places to fish out there to keep anybody busy.

The ice caps are enough as most fish are shallow or on the weed edges in most lakes.  All the baits are working pretty well right now although, windows are small.

Let's work backwards today.  Here are a sampling of some baits that are really doing well and I would advise you to try them out.   Colors depend on your water you are fishing.  In no particular order from CLAM: Tikka Flash, Tikka, Rattlin' PT Spoon, Jointed Pinhead Pro Minno and Pinhead Pro Minno.  These have been slamming all kinds of fish.  From Crappie to Walleye, you got to put some of these in your tackle box. From ACME (Kalin): Hammer Pro Grade Tungsten Jigs, Micky Mouse Tungsten Jigs and Hyper Glides.  These have been go to jigs now for a few years.  I haven't got to try the Ice Winder Spoons or the Slingblades yet.  But they look promising.

'Tis the season to spend time with the family.  If fishing can find it's way into the time I hope these reports can help you be more successful.  And by successful I'm talking having a good time together on the frozen water.
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We have plenty of musky suckers right now for $1 each.

We are in the middle of our annual December Christmas sale.  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 & Multi-colored Spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Blacktails, Rosie Reds, Walleye Suckers, Northern bait, Medium and Large River Shiners and Golden Shiners.

Our hours thru the end of the year are: 
Saturday 12/23 - 6am to 5pm
Sunday 12/24 - 6am to 5pm (maybe)
Monday 12/25 - CLOSED
Tuesday12/26 - 6am to 6pm
Wednesday12/27 - 6am to 6pm
Thursday12/28 - 6am to 6pm
Friday 12/29 - 6am to 7pm
Saturday 12/30 - 6am to 5pm
Sunday 12/31 - 6am to 5pm
Monday 1/1 - 6am to 6pm

Let's 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

Three days around Christmas are predicted to bring rain with upper 40’s and stay above freezing. I can’t speak for the whole county, but I can’t envision good ice on many of the lakes I’ve checked lately. 

Bass_master, I was on big Arbor Vitea on Tuesday,  we had anywhere from 8 to 4 inches of solid ice. It depended on where we were. 

Hey, we are heading up here for new years, i was wondering how much ice if any were on some of the following lakes. Carrol Lake, Clear lake, and both of the arborvitaes. Also, is there anything for ice on the rainbow flowage?

any info is helpful, i'm just trying to get a seance of what to bring and where to go

Thank you

The continued mild December has stretched out this “early” ice bite.  By now we would expect 10-12+” of ice that would push much of the bite deeper, instead we seem to be holding in the 4-7” range.  The five days of below freezing prior to Thursday (12/14) firmed and maybe added an inch to the ice.  The weekend’s warmth and wind took back whatever we gained plus opened lakes such as Trout, Fence and Tomahawk.  Doesn’t’ look like any real cold until the 1st of the year.
 
This continued pattern of mild weather is playing havoc on anglers wanting to drive on the ice (though there is some ATV traffic on lakes of 6-8” of ice) and things don’t look good for snowmobilers.   If ice fishing is your thing, this should be a good time to come up and get on the ice, tourism traffic will be lighter than usual as chances of a “White” Christmas look pretty slim.
 
Walleye:  Very Good – Action peaked again by Saturday night (12/16) as Walleye activity increased and nice catches reported.  Jigging raps, spoons once again providing good bites on active fish, reports of Eyes moving up 3-4’ off bottom to hit artificials.  Tip-up with shiners (weeds) or suckers (wood, mud) producing nice, plump 15-19” “eaters” with some 20+” overs being released.  Nice job anglers, those are our future.
 
Crappies:  Very Good – Reports picked up nicely as anglers catching nice 10-13” fish from both weeds of 6-9’ and from basins in 20-25’.  Plastics or grubs on wobbling rocker style spoons, as well as tip-downs with Crappie minnows all producing.  Good reports still on the new Tikka Flash lures tipped with spikes.
 
Northern Pike:  Very Good – Flags flying for anglers using big shiners in 6-13’ of waters.  Nice fish into the lower 30” range reported.
 
Bluegill:  Good-Very Good – Following a couple days of reluctant bites, Gills turned on by weekend.   Mostly in 5-8’ weeds, nice Gills of 7-8 ½”.  Now is the time, before ice thickens, to find Gills active in the shallower bays.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Jigging “fry” shaped jigs and spoons loaded with waxies or minnow heads, tip-downs with fats or tip-ups with medium shiners producing good action for anglers on Largemouth, whether or not that’s their target.
 
Yellow Perch:  Good – Larger Perch (9-11+”) being caught roaming shallow cabbage of 5-8’.  Not schools, but small groups of 3-5 fish.   Medium fatheads, small shiners on tip-downs or tip-ups.  Fry shaped jigs (Forage Fry, Tikka Flash) loaded with waxies also scoring.
 
With ice reports still varying from 4-7” (with a few 8” reports from further north and bays on flowages) caution still advised.  Today’s snow (2-6” further north) probably won’t stay much past the weekend with highs in mid to upper-30’s, but should shield the ice from losing thickness.   High wind blowing bulk of snow off ice, use caution on windward shorelines where snow drifts could hide and insulate poor ice.
 
Upcoming Tournaments
Jan 6th – 73rd Annual Rib Lake Area Ice Fishing Contest – Rib Lake
Jan 6th – 16th Annual NCO Club & AMVETS Post 724 Ice Fishing Tournament – Lake Nokomis
Feb 10th – 22nd Annual Plum Lake Ice Fishing Tournament – Plum Lake

7" of ice but only small panfish for me today.