• Winter is an awesome time to fish. Modern ice shanties, football playoffs, fresh venison, fresh fish, card games, you get the picture.
• First ice action is fast and consistent.
• Walleyes, northern and muskies are very easy to catch at this time.
• Most every kind of game fish can be caught on the weed lines and in the weed flats at this time.
• Fishing will start to slow with the increase of activity on the ice. Walleyes are especially spooky.
• As the fishing pressure builds on the lake you must be mobile. The patterns that were working are now getting spotty, with the exception of a couple consistent spots that get pounded nightly by multiple shacks and people.
• Deep water is now the place to try the more activity on the lake the slower the fishing will get; the exception to this is northern pike and panfish.
• By mid-winter the panfish are starting to hit with a few northern and muskies to keep the tip-ups going.
• Walleye fishing is starting to slow down now and the key is moving to new spots that haven’t been fished before. This get harder and harder as the season goes on.
• Perch fishing in the deep water is starting to get good by now. Some suspended walleyes are also taken on tip-ups while we catch these perch.
• As the gamefish season starts to come to an end the panfishing really starts taking off. Perch, blue gills, and crappies are the targets now with northern, bass and muskies biting on the tip-ups.
• Game fish ends with the start of March.
• The panfish bite will go till the ice is unsafe. Just remember is a bucket full of panfish worth your life. Don’t go alone this time of year; walk out with someone else, work as a team. Every year someone gets a hovercraft ride in, last year was not an exception; they were very experienced icefishermen. Be safe and enjoy life to the fullest.