Minocqua Area Fishing Report

Dodged the forested big snow last week and while nobody is liking this weather now (-21 below at open this morning), this super cold is making some great ice for the season to come! Fishing overall had been good , though ice conditions have not. Ice thickness of 3-7 inches of past weekend should improve drastically now that most areas have little snow left on the ice (caution should be used on western shorelines though.). Walleyes: Very Good Reports through out the weekend had good catches of eaters in the 15-19" range on jigging raps, hyper glides and hyper rattle baits . This shows good aggressive action by walleyes still responding well to the early / thin ice. Tip-up anglers reporting good results on chubs and suckers. Several big fish of 25-28" this weekend were caught and released. Nicely done! Bluegills: Very Good Still very nice sized average as is typical for early ice, most action coming in 5-9' of water, but watch for that to change deeper as ice thickens with this cold. Ice fly's by VMC and Northland tipped with spikes or moussee's best. #3 Fiska's tipped with purple, red or black plastic also producing well. Lots of 7 1/2- 81/2" gills with more than a few 9-10"ers reported. Northern Pike: Very Good Some very good fish in the 30 + "size . Big shiners and suckers best. A few actively jigging large Slender spoons and Pimples. Best in 5-9' range. Yellow Perch: very good-good. Not great numbers, but nice sized fish in shallows on medium fatheads or 2-3 waxies bunched on a Northland forage minnow jig. Largemouth Bass: good This species likely to slow down with recent cold. Prior to, lots of fish on medium shiners on tip-ups. Crappie: Fair-Good Starting to get some reports from anglers venturing out over a little deeper water. Best to use grubs or plastics from reports as not getting very aggressive bites in 12-16' of water. This extreme cold should add 1-2 inches of ice easily per day. High forecasted for Friday of 14 will be warmest of week. Great travel conditions should be here by then