northern wisconsin reports

[Junkie4Ice]

A lot of ATVs out and even saw some small vehicles out in NW WI this weekend (Barron and Washburn counties). Had a solid ~8" of ice everywhere I checked. Guess I missed "early ice" this year!

Did an overnight trip in my hub shack. Night bite was poor after 930, only caught a bullhead overnight. Had a good morning and evening though, enjoyed a catch and cook on the ice and caught multiple 12"+ crappies. Solid first outing of the year.

[Old Goat]

a overnighter nice I did one one year in a 24 in. wide flipover it was fun although did have to get out and stretch a lot

[esox_xtm]

Just got back from the St. Germain area. Spent all our time on the Rainbow. Mostly 8 but up to to 12 inches in places of great hard ice. Saw some bozo drive a 4 door F150 on... not this cat. Forecast bodes well for even more ice and if we get enough before a heavy/wet snow slush will be a non-factor.

Sunrise (ish):



Sunset:

[Iceshanty]

Sweet pics Esox_xtm!

[52isntbigenough]

We're not looking at a lot of snow in the next 10 days either. By the time I get there next tuesday, we're probably looking at a good 10-12" up in Land O Lakes. I also heard of guys driving out already.

[esox_xtm]

Yep, the sledheads are whining and the dependent business are going to hurt this year unless there's a big January.

[52isntbigenough]

Yep, the sledheads are whining and the dependent business are going to hurt this year unless there's a big January.

Craig at Bent's isn't happy I guess. Us ice guys don't bring the $ in like the sledders do.

[eriksat1]

I saw a truck out on the lake Sunday, said there was 12" They are staking some of the lakes snowmobile trails already. I haven't even pulled my snowmobile out of the garage yet, but I need to, the ice is plenty thick enough now for a snowmobile and I hate walking out.

[matt12]

yeah I been seeing about an average of about 8" of ice right now on most lakes.  good base before we get this nasty post xmas snow storm for the bubble heads.

[Junkie4Ice]

A huge snowstorm would be ideal right now. There's enough ice that it could handle it but not enough for people to drive on yet. The shorter the season for driving on vehicles the better for the fisheries and the less people I have to deal with, it's a win-win IMO  . The only downfall is a shorter late-ice season...

I have seen some small vehicles on quite a few lakes about 45-60 minutes north of the Eau Claire area over the past week. There can't be more than 10, maybe 12" on those lakes but they have been pretty small vehicles.

[esox_xtm]

Callin' for 5 - 8" Thursday into Friday Eagle River area... Should be a foot of great ice by then.

[eriksat1]

If there is 12" of good ice I have never had a problem driving my f150 out. But I check ice thickness myself, never take someones word for it.

[eriksat1]

So far here around Hayward we dodged the bullet. We got maybe 2" of snow last night and so far all day today it has only rained and knocked most of the snow down to almost nothing. The lakes are almost knocked down to bare ice. They say tonight we could get 3" then the big cool down zero temps. Friday night, and minus -15°f by Tuesday night. I am sure glad we didn't get 12" of wet heavy snow like they are places in MN. Our ice was only about 10" and imo not yet safe to drive a truck out on. After this cool down it should be good to go.

[52isntbigenough]

Got back last night from Land O Lakes. Fished 5-6 days, one of those up on Gogebic. We started out on the 26th and fished over 18 fow, 6-8" of ice. Headed up o Gogebic on the 27th and found the same up there. By the time I fished for the last time on NYE, we had 10-12 in the same spot as the 26th. So we're making ice up there.

We had snow on the 27th, but that quickly turned to a rain/sleet mix. Total we got maybe 3-4" of snow, which is what I had in my yard when we got up there, so no much in the way of progress for the sled trails, which didn't open until Sat the 29th. Weather was typical Land O Lakes, front after front, but again, not much snow, which made travel not too bad.

Overall the fishing was fantastic. Caught well over 30 walleyes and kept maybe 5-6". Gogebic started slow, but in the afternoon, warmed up and I ended up with 8 perch, 2 being 13" and my personal best Crappie at right around 16" weighing in about 2.4lbs.

[eriksat1]

We drove our trucks out yesterday on a solid 13" of ice. Hammered a good bunch of nice crappie. There was almost no snow on top of the ice it must have all been blown off the lake by wind. Made ice last night, it got down to minus -15° at my house.

[52isntbigenough]

We drove our trucks out yesterday on a solid 13" of ice. Hammered a good bunch of nice crappie. There was almost no snow on top of the ice it must have all been blown off the lake by wind. Made ice last night, it got down to minus -15° at my house.

Same here, very little snow cover on the lakes, but wind swept areas/bays did have slush building up. I saw trucks out on Dubay yesterday on the way home.

[Sandcountrylivin]

Nice. I'm headed to a little lake east of Wausau called pike lake. Hopefully I will be able to pull the truck out.

[Junkie4Ice]

Good luck on Pike - some nice panfish in there if you can find them and not a bad "pike" lake either. If I remember right, there's a big boulder out in the middle that we would fish off of. It's been 2 or 3 years since I've been there.

Booked a trip to the Big Chip January 25th-27th with the wife. Never fished it before, just hoping to get the wife on some fish to keep her interested, and make it a tradition maybe.   

[ChadLeton]

Took a young client that I've fished with since he was 12 years old up to the Northwoods. Personally I haven't been up since 2010 (Far too long!)

We were up the 2nd-5th in the Hazelhurst/St. Germain area. 1st day was a welcome cold one (as SE WI weather and ice conditions are far from favorable for January). Subsequent days were down right balmy! LOL

We concentrated on lakes that were 400 acre or less with good stocking info for and the 3 walleye w/ 1 over 14" regulation.
Set up every afternoon by 1:30pm in high percentage areas and between 3:30-6pm we go what we were hoping for.

Most of our fish came on tip ups although in the stained lakes. Fish on darker bodies of water came in 8-9' of water.
Clear lakes we found them jigging in 19-22'. Regardless of water clarity, rock or gravel transitions to muck/weeds was the ticket.

Certainly some spot-on-the-spot activity on all our trips as jigging action would come from 2 holes out of our grids. The same held true for flags as one would consistently pop more than others. Points and inside turn structure with the above-mentioned cover worked very well.

8-10" of ice on all the lakes we targeted. Just enough snow cover. Last day had to apply the sunscreen so we wouldn't get burnt faced because it was so nice out!

Was interesting to talk to some of the DNR officers as they were conducting creel surveys on 2 of the lakes we decided to fish (what are the odds!). They had some good info on the specific lakes to share and drove out before their shifts ended to see how we had made out.

Always sad to leave, but will hope to be up in February again especially if our bigger lakes in SE WI aren't fishable this season.

A few photos I was able to take when my phone was in working order

[matt12]

Took a young client that I've fished with since he was 12 years old up to the Northwoods. Personally I haven't been up since 2010 (Far too long!)

We were up the 2nd-5th in the Hazelhurst/St. Germain area. 1st day was a welcome cold one (as SE WI weather and ice conditions are far from favorable for January). Subsequent days were down right balmy! LOL

We concentrated on lakes that were 400 acre or less with good stocking info for and the 3 walleye w/ 1 over 14" regulation.
Set up every afternoon by 1:30pm in high percentage areas and between 3:30-6pm we go what we were hoping for.

Most of our fish came on tip ups although in the stained lakes. Fish on darker bodies of water came in 8-9' of water.
Clear lakes we found them jigging in 19-22'. Regardless of water clarity, rock or gravel transitions to muck/weeds was the ticket.

Certainly some spot-on-the-spot activity on all our trips as jigging action would come from 2 holes out of our grids. The same held true for flags as one would consistently pop more than others. Points and inside turn structure with the above-mentioned cover worked very well.

8-10" of ice on all the lakes we targeted. Just enough snow cover. Last day had to apply the sunscreen so we wouldn't get burnt faced because it was so nice out!

Was interesting to talk to some of the DNR officers as they were conducting creel surveys on 2 of the lakes we decided to fish (what are the odds!). They had some good info on the specific lakes to share and drove out before their shifts ended to see how we had made out.

Always sad to leave, but will hope to be up in February again especially if our bigger lakes in SE WI aren't fishable this season.

A few photos I was able to take when my phone was in working order

Awesome report Chad! Sounds like you guys did your research and it paid off. Thats a nice area to fish with lots of lakes to choose from.

[Junkie4Ice]

Does anyone have any experience fishing the night bite for eyes or crappie in the Hayward area? Specifically looking at Nelson, Round, Spider and Grindstone I'm thinking, but open to anywhere. I know they are good fishing lakes in general and have done well on the ones I have fished, but I got another weekend to spend a night on the ice in my hub and catching some fish overnight this time would be nice lol.

[Junkie4Ice]

Finally found a night bite for crappie this weekend. Didn't get up to the Hayward area as I couldn't find any insider info and didn't want to go in blind so I fished a lake I've been on before. First time I've been able to wake up at any point in the night and catch fish. Nothing huge but pretty consistent action. Made for a fun trip.

Ice is still in that 10-14" range depending on the lake. Guys driving full size trucks out but still being cautious and hugging the shorelines when possible. Finally a cold snap here should give us the extra push we need.

[eriksat1]

Fished tip ups for walleye last night 4:00pm - 7:00pm  we caught four 15" to 19" fishing 15' to 28' fow sand grass on the bottom. The lake had very little snow cover you almost had to wear cleats to keep from slipping on the bare ice. We drove our full size trucks out on 16" of ice. Now comes more cold could get down to minus -10° by Saturday night. With no snow we might be pushing 20" of ice soon. The snowmobilers are not happy not much for snow here and not expecting anytime soon. Everything is going to the south of us as far as snow.

[52isntbigenough]

I'm heading up tonight. Sounds like thurs and friday are our best bet, saturday looks to be pretty cold, but not all that windy.

[esox_xtm]

I'm heading up tonight. Sounds like thurs and friday are our best bet, saturday looks to be pretty cold, but not all that windy.

I'm also headed back up tomorrow for Sausage Making Part Deux. And some fishing. We won't hit the ice till Saturday and Sunday (brrrrr!) with highs in the single digits. I'm hoping Big St. if good for truck traffic, that'll help. If not, we'll find a place.

[eriksat1]

Tomorrow high 21 last chance for me to fish tip ups for a while, my cut off for tip up fishing is about +10° my hands can't take it anymore. I will be jigging for crappie inside my FF 949i  popup this weekend. It is not so bad once you can drive out to your spot in a heated truck set the pop up quick and get the buddy heater cranking.

[Depthfinder]

Some of the best fishing we had was during sustained cold period.  Its not bad as long as the wind is 5 mph or less.  Tip up fishing can be frustrating unless you have the hot boxes.

[eriksat1]

What cold period? We haven't really had one yet, I think maybe minus -10 is about the coldest we have had so far. I'm still waiting for the minus -20 to  minus -30 stuff. My problem with tip ups below +10° is my hands and fingers not working, not that my hole or tip up freezing. I guess I could still jig them inside a shack, but I find it more fun jigging crappie inside a shack.

[Junkie4Ice]

eriksat - did you happen to see the in depth outdoors vehicle driving around in your neck of the woods this past week?? New video coming out sunday is from Hayward. Looks like they hammered some nice crappies.

[eriksat1]

eriksat - did you happen to see the in depth outdoors vehicle driving around in your neck of the woods this past week?? New video coming out sunday is from Hayward. Looks like they hammered some nice crappies.

Someone told me the John Gillespie show coming on this Saturday is from Hayward area also, fishing for Northern Pike. There are several lakes around here with nice crappie. I should do my own show on youtube.