Hi Folks, Happy New Year! I have been spending the last 10 days on the hard water. Ice conditions are good and I have found consistently safe ice conditions for my clients. Anywhere from 6” to 9” of good solid black ice. Still not a lot of snow pack. I have been mostly guiding northern pike and yellow perch adventures. The pike fishing has been decent. We have been working water depths of 6’ to 12’ with weed beds on the bottom. Setting our baits just above the weed lines. Large Golden Shiners and yellow perch have been the baits. I like presenting live and dead baits for northern. These fish take a lot of line off the spool when they pick up a bait. Fun steering their big head up through an 8” hole. The perch bite has been very good. Just working hard to catch larger perch. Most of the perch are being landed on Hali jigs tipped with either maggots, meal worms, or small minnows. Jigs in fire tiger and chartreuse have worked the best. We have been locating perch in the same areas as northern. Makes sense that the prey and predators go hand in hand. I am just starting to fish for trout.Our trout waters opened on January 1. Smelt and emerald shiners are the bait required. Jigging for lake trout with soft plastic imitations is really effective. As our deeper lakes that hold steady populations of salmonids become more consistent with their ice pack, I will be venturing onto them. The ice is safe but one still needs to take precautions like carrying rope in a sled and wearing picks of life. Better safe than sorry. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
