Hi Foks, Ice fish is winding down. Warm weather, rain, southerly winds are beginning to break up the ice. Most lakes are now unsafe to ice fish. The edges of a number of lakes have been broken up. I’m still ice fishing locally.I have a pike and perch lake that is still safe. I guided it all week and there was 17” of black ice. The weather for the next week looks cold at night ( below freezing). My goal is to ice fish until the end of March. The edge of the lake is always the first to go when ice breaks up. Special attention needs to be paid when entering and exiting the ice. Safety gear is a must, picks of life and rope need to be used.
Late ice can provide a great opportunity to catch a very large northern pike and jumbo yellow perch. Perch and pike spawn in the spring. They move into shallow bays soft bottomed bays. It’s a time of the year that you have larger individuals of the species in more concentrated areas. Makes it is easier to target them through the ice. I find the larger yellow perch eat larger presentations. I like fire tiger Hali Jigs tipped with fat head minnows. Many of the large pike I have caught through the ice have been taken on a dead bait set under a tip-up. A dead golden shiners works just fine. It’s my feeling the larger female northern pike are laden with eggs and don’t want to work any harder than they have to in order to eat. This is a late season tactic. If you catch a 30” plus pike, chances are pretty good that it is a female with eggs. Never a bad idea to consider letting these breeders go in order to allow to spawn. So, ice fishing is about done with walleye season closed and many trout lakes now closed. Late ice fishing can be great, yet caution must be used this time of year due to the degrading ice conditions. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
