Hi Folks, The ice fishing has been pretty good. My guests are enjoying some fine early season northern pike action. We have 6” to 7” of black ice. The up coming warm up should not adversely impact the ice on the lake where I am currently guiding. My inventory of water is limited at the moment. More cold weather is needed into order to freeze up more lakes. It’s only December, the weather will turn and firm up more bodies of water. My early season fishing is typically on shallow lakes and ponds that freeze more quickly than larger and deeper bodies of water. These lakes and ponds hold pike, walleye, perch, bass, and assorted pan fish. I typically pursue trout later in January due to longer time it takes to form ice on these lakes. We have been catching Northern using tip-ups. We are baiting them with live yellow perch. Obtaining bait from stores is not easy. Plus most of the bait is over priced and not adequate for my purposes. My guests have been catching yellow perch with Hali Jigs tipped with maggots and pieces of perch. I have a wild bait endorsement, so I have a few ponds where I can trap bait. Fire tiger and chartreuse colored jigs have worked well. We have located schools of perch in 10’ of water. I have been setting tip-ups from 5’ to 12’ of water. Most of my sets have been right off the bottom. However, in the skinny water, I have been suspending baits over weed beds. The fish can’t find the bait if it is buried in the weeds. Not a lot people on the ice yet. I think this increases my guests odds as we are fishing untouched areas. Off to chase pike again today. I will be scouting water this weekend as we have some warm and rain moving in. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have Fun, Willy
