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Author Topic: northern wisconsin reports  (Read 81645 times)

Offline matt12

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northern wisconsin reports
« on: Jan 14, 2017, 11:21 PM »
i know not many people are active in this section but i would like to keep people a little informed on whats going in our neck of the woods.


temps have been up and way down. which makes fishing difficult at times.

ice i would say is about 13'. about 9" is solid great ice.

i hear of swamps being open yet, and springs are still flowing, no ice is safe!

but many trucks on the ice today. including my 3\4 ton!

its been cold so i can confidently say its solid. im surprised at how much ice did not form. 20-f (that's a whole other debate!)

going to get pretty warm, going to hunt down some fat crappies. was in walleye mode but nice weather just forces you to jig slabs.\


tight lines!


Offline 52isntbigenough

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #1 on: Jan 16, 2017, 10:17 PM »
Hows the slush, we're heading back up to Land O Lakes next thurs.

Offline matt12

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #2 on: Jan 18, 2017, 08:20 AM »
1/17/17

weather was amazing. 40s, sunny, and little wind.

crappies were a tough bite at first, but then moved to find a more aggressive school.

this lake had about 14" of ice. not alot of snow. the wheeler got around just fine.  very limited slush pockets. mainly only where many holes were drilled.

had 2 bonus walleyes on the jig rods, 22"+

hole hopped between maybe 12 holes using only waxies. dead sticked a minnow which also helped fill the bucket.

going to be pretty warm this week, might create some extra slush in spots not packed down. dont get weather like this in january very often!

Offline eriksat1

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #3 on: Jan 18, 2017, 06:56 PM »
Heading out Saturday, last Sunday we had 16" of ice here I also drove out my f150 I imagine it is a little slushy now after these warm days knocking the snow down on the ice.

Offline CharlieBrn

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #4 on: Jan 18, 2017, 10:19 PM »
Best of luck to you guys.  After leaving Wisconsin 4 years ago now, seems the ice conditions and weather certainly make for an up and down season.  Action was fair up here in Alaska up to a week ago.  Winter finally arrived with 2 feet of snow with -30's right behind it.  2 solid feet of ice now but getting out to the lakes with the recent snow fall will be a chore.  Most lakes up here are seldom touched by hardwater anglers and you don't see small ice shack towns establish grounds like we do back home.  Having said that, it is something special to be the only one on an entire lake and the most of scene on the ice other than myself maybe another 2 or 3 anglers. Not that Alaskans don't ice fish, it's just not the winter pass time as it is in Wisconsin.  Tight lines everyone, be safe and looking forward to see pics of your days on the ice. 

Offline matt12

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #5 on: Jan 19, 2017, 10:07 AM »
Best of luck to you guys.  After leaving Wisconsin 4 years ago now, seems the ice conditions and weather certainly make for an up and down season.  Action was fair up here in Alaska up to a week ago.  Winter finally arrived with 2 feet of snow with -30's right behind it.  2 solid feet of ice now but getting out to the lakes with the recent snow fall will be a chore.  Most lakes up here are seldom touched by hardwater anglers and you don't see small ice shack towns establish grounds like we do back home.  Having said that, it is something special to be the only one on an entire lake and the most of scene on the ice other than myself maybe another 2 or 3 anglers. Not that Alaskans don't ice fish, it's just not the winter pass time as it is in Wisconsin.  Tight lines everyone, be safe and looking forward to see pics of your days on the ice.


definitely jealous! would love to fish up there for a few days. mountains surrounding the lakes. must be very peaceful compared to the sh.t show around here sometimes lol

good luck to you as well sir.

Offline crayphish

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #6 on: Jan 20, 2017, 07:40 AM »
thanks for the reports, always good to read updates from guys out on the ice. will be up near lac du flambeau next weekend, will be traveling on foot so i'm hoping for the snow to get knocked down and then the slush frozen before then. neither lake is huge so i think we'll be OK if we take our time.

Offline eriksat1

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #7 on: Jan 20, 2017, 01:01 PM »
It is 37° and pretty good steady rain most of the day so far today. The snow should definitely be knocked down quite a bit. The snowmobilers are not happy.

Offline crayphish

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #8 on: Jan 20, 2017, 06:16 PM »
wow. working on my smitty sled none the less.

Offline eriksat1

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #9 on: Jan 23, 2017, 08:12 AM »
I was out Saturday the snow was gone off the ice and water running down the holes like flushing a toilet. We still had 16" of ice but it looks to be getting soft. We drove our trucks out but I am starting to get nervous about driving out anymore until we get some cold weather. We sure don't need any snow right now we need cold.

Offline crayphish

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #10 on: Jan 23, 2017, 09:26 AM »
thanks again, looks like the cold will come around wednesday. we'll be up and fishing by friday midday.

Offline matt12

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #11 on: Jan 23, 2017, 11:51 AM »
Thanks for the update Eric, hopefully ill try hitting the ice again this week.

waiting to get my truck lights fixed  :-\   


some cold weather would be great before this snow they talk about...

Offline 52isntbigenough

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #12 on: Jan 23, 2017, 03:32 PM »
It is 37° and pretty good steady rain most of the day so far today. The snow should definitely be knocked down quite a bit. The snowmobilers are not happy.

I have friends who own a resort and a restaurant in Land O Lakes and they're wondering how much money they're going to lose this year.

Offline dbuchmann

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #13 on: Jan 23, 2017, 07:07 PM »
Pulled my permanent shack off the ice tonight just because of the crappy weather.  Top two inches of ice was honeycombed and still lots of water on the ice. We need a good freeze again. The only good thing about this weather is it is easier to heat the house.

Offline eriksat1

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #14 on: Jan 25, 2017, 08:06 AM »
And now for some good news. It is not supposed to get above 30° in the next 10 days lows in the teens, with some lows 10°. Winter is back!

Offline 52isntbigenough

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #15 on: Jan 25, 2017, 09:41 AM »
Love to see temps in the low 30's and upper 20's for highs. Heading up tonight to fish until monday.

Offline husb0023

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #16 on: Jan 26, 2017, 10:54 AM »
I'm still walking out on the ice up here but found 18" of ice during the last cold spell in the Iron River area.  I'm more worried about getting my truck stuck on the glare ice with a 1/2" of water on top.  That is never fun.

Offline eriksat1

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #17 on: Jan 26, 2017, 01:07 PM »
The problem we are seeing is the ice heaved up at the boat landings, not so bad getting on the lake downhill but getting back off the ice going uphill on glare ice.

Offline matt12

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #18 on: Jan 27, 2017, 06:49 AM »
12th annual Justin Donner Fisheree this weekend on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage. Some really great prizes. Make sure to buy some tickets and come check out the fun! All for a very great cause!

Offline 52isntbigenough

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #19 on: Jan 30, 2017, 02:16 PM »
Got back from a long weekend in Land O Lakes. Temps cooled dramatically and that allowed much of the standing water to freeze before any snow covered the lakes up by us. Any slush we ran into was gone by friday. Getting out was easy, ice depths were about 13-14". Took us a couple of days, but walleyes were hugging tight to bottom in 20 fow. We could not get a fish to come into flags after dark in anything less than 18-19ft and bait had to be on bottom.

Offline crayphish

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #20 on: Jan 30, 2017, 05:50 PM »
Feel better that I didn't get any eyes either. Fished Big Crooked and Littl Sugarbush Friday through yesterday. Was a little slushy friday in some spots but by very firm by Saturday. Saw no less than 13" of ice. Ice starting groaning yesterday, and we experienced a pretty good ice quake at dusk last night. Ended up with a dink perch and a chunky 12" largemouth. Never saw another soul. Tight lines brothers and sisters!

Offline 52isntbigenough

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #21 on: Jan 31, 2017, 10:44 AM »
Feel better that I didn't get any eyes either. Fished Big Crooked and Littl Sugarbush Friday through yesterday. Was a little slushy friday in some spots but by very firm by Saturday. Saw no less than 13" of ice. Ice starting groaning yesterday, and we experienced a pretty good ice quake at dusk last night. Ended up with a dink perch and a chunky 12" largemouth. Never saw another soul. Tight lines brothers and sisters!

I didn't say we didn't catch any, it took us a bit, but we caught on and got a few.

Offline Bucktail30

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #22 on: Feb 01, 2017, 10:49 AM »
We were up in Vilas County last weekend.  Caught a couple really nice walleyes but it was definitely a slow, long weekend.  We got on some perch and crappies luckily to not come home empty handed.  Ice was very navigable compared to years past.

Offline 52isntbigenough

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #23 on: Feb 01, 2017, 10:54 AM »
We were up in Vilas County last weekend.  Caught a couple really nice walleyes but it was definitely a slow, long weekend.  We got on some perch and crappies luckily to not come home empty handed.  Ice was very navigable compared to years past.

Where'd you fish? One thing I noticed last weekend was how the weather was a roller coaster. Thursday was nicest day, friday was clear, but heavy wind, Saturday was snow and wind, sunday the same.

Offline matt12

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #24 on: Feb 02, 2017, 08:27 AM »
went out to Iron co. last weekend. 

very windy, but temps around 20f. barometer was slightly on the rise.

good bite from 7am to 10am. slowed down till about noon, then was fairly quite.

most crappies were around 12-13''. walleyes were small to say the least lol. few decent perch.

all and all a good day, besides the wind...

had about 12'' of solid ice with about 6-8 white frozen snow on top. lake was rough with frozen ruts from sleds,trucks, and wheelers.

Offline Turk

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #25 on: Feb 10, 2017, 09:51 AM »
How's the snow and slush situation on the lakes?  Heading up mid next week and seen that the Northwoods had been getting some snow.

Thanks

Turk

Offline Bucktail30

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #26 on: Feb 13, 2017, 01:17 PM »
Where'd you fish? One thing I noticed last weekend was how the weather was a roller coaster. Thursday was nicest day, friday was clear, but heavy wind, Saturday was snow and wind, sunday the same.
Boulder Junction area.  We had the most action jigging on Thursday, crappie/perch/bluegill.  Nothing on tip ups Thursday.  Friday one flag, 25 inch walleye, Saturday one flag, 24+ inch walleye.  Both right at 5:30.  Friday and Saturday were definitely windy and the panfish bite turned off, other than shiner sized perch.

Offline 52isntbigenough

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #27 on: Feb 13, 2017, 01:43 PM »
Boulder Junction area.  We had the most action jigging on Thursday, crappie/perch/bluegill.  Nothing on tip ups Thursday.  Friday one flag, 25 inch walleye, Saturday one flag, 24+ inch walleye.  Both right at 5:30.  Friday and Saturday were definitely windy and the panfish bite turned off, other than shiner sized perch.

I'm heading back up to Land O Lakes next wed night for a long weekend. Haven't been hearing a lot of reports lately. Seems slow. I'm on Palmer and have seen 1 guy out there so far this winter. Spent 10 days up over christmas and 2 other long weekends in January.

Offline Bucktail30

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #28 on: Feb 13, 2017, 01:53 PM »
Good luck.  Maybe the warm weather will get them going. 

Offline 52isntbigenough

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Re: northern wisconsin reports
« Reply #29 on: Feb 26, 2017, 09:41 AM »
Plenty of good ice up there, problem is that Mi/wi boundry waters closes march 1. Which to me is dumb. Wi closes the 1st sunday in march and Mi closes the 15th. So, my season ended Thursday night. Fishing was good up there wed and thurs, but heavy rains that turned into 5" of snow put a damper on that. The calm before the storm on Thursday was perfect.















Big fish was about 25, she swam away, semi-happy

 



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