Copper Harbor

[K-RONE]

Is the ice thick enough for a snowmobile yet?

[natorious]

Is the ice thick enough for a snowmobile yet?

I can't say one way or the other, cause I've never used a sled on the ice.  I will say last Sunday there was alot of activity on the ice but now sleds.  The ice was at about 5 inches, however there were some spots where it was around 3 inches.

[yooperdave]

would not trust a machine on the ice justyet.

[acrawfor]

would not trust a machine on the ice justyet.

I agree. A sled weighs a lot more than 1-2 people and a shanty. And like natorious said there were spots with only 3 inches on Saturday, at least on the north side.

[kotter]

I can't say one way or the other, cause I've never used a sled on the ice.  I will say last Sunday there was alot of activity on the ice but now sleds.  The ice was at about 5 inches, however there were some spots where it was around 3 inches.

hello ice shackers im new 2 ice shanty,  natorious i fish cph in summer but will be there 1feb 8-20th does ice ever get in the range of 10" +???  I am the dealer for snobear so if i can i like to use it. it floats but i dont want to find out that way. is it common for ice to form and go out more than once in a season???

[icesplaker4]

Went today,20-30 mph N-NE Wind is destroying the ice big time, ice is bad from tip of hunters point east..... very very slow in morn. seen quite a few but would not bite then about 1pm the little ones started biting but nothing over 12 inches, kept nothing! need wind to stop and some cold temps to freeze up the eastend again. Pretty sketchy out there with all that wind...Only 4 shacks out today, but action slow anyway.

[Keweenaw Angler]

A sled and human may weigh more than a human but a human has more weight per square inch.
i.e. If you see a snowmobile on the ice it does not mean that it is safe to walk on.
If you ever walk next to a snowmobile track you will see that you foot steps are deeper than the sleds tracks. This does not mean that if you can walk on the ice it is safe for a snowmobile. There is a pressure wave that is pushed by the snowmobile when it moves over ice and if the ice is not flexible and strong enough, your going swimming.

[chasepalosaari]

ya think if the wind dies the bite will pick up again?

[yooperdave]

generally after its been windy and the fishings been slow a couple days after the wind stops the action tends to pick back up again.  to avoid lots of little fish set up in  deeper water ( 14 - 20), and use a little bigger bait, i lijke the extra small suckers (walleye suckers),,,, dont seem to get quite as many small fish

[kotter]

generally after its been windy and the fishings been slow a couple days after the wind stops the action tends to pick back up again.  to avoid lots of little fish set up in  deeper water ( 14 - 20), and use a little bigger bait, i lijke the extra small suckers (walleye suckers),,,, dont seem to get quite as many sma]

do you ever use spawn sacks in copper h?? they work good in the harbors here [sheb, manitowoc]

[Prehnite44]

generally after its been windy and the fishings been slow a couple days after the wind stops the action tends to pick back up again.  to avoid lots of little fish set up in  deeper water ( 14 - 20), and use a little bigger bait, i lijke the extra small suckers (walleye suckers),,,, dont seem to get quite as many sma]

do you ever use spawn sacks in copper h?? they work good in the harbors here [sheb, manitowoc]

Sure, they work great sometimes, but at other times, they are a terrible bait that doesn't trigger any interest. I usually bring them anyways just in case.

[chasepalosaari]

heading out there in the morning, hopefully the bite is good. I'll give a report tomorrow night.

[chasepalosaari]

Very slow day today. Didn't even see anything. LOTS of people out there. People getting flags here and there. Nothing big. I was out there from about 830 to 1. How'd anyone else do up there?

[dbike988]

Chase...your story sounds very similar to mine.
Oh and I would say that the ice is probably thick enough for a sled on the west end.  It was about 7" of solid black ice everywhere we drilled (made alot of sight holes).

[chasepalosaari]

Chase...your story sounds very similar to mine.
Oh and I would say that the ice is probably thick enough for a sled on the west end.  It was about 7" of solid black ice everywhere we drilled (made alot of sight holes).

true. Butwhere i fished last weekend is now floating ice chunks which was pretty dissipointing. And a fourwheeler would be good on that too.

[Outdoorsmen]

hey whats up i went fishing this morning left from chassell about 6 got there about 7:15 and got setup about 7:30 me,dad,sister, mom stayed home! well had my first pole down and got drilled right away with about 10 in threw it back and we ended up catching 31 fish the whole time from 7:30 to 12:00 was really fun and great! reall windy also so dress warm .. about 10 shacks out not includeing ares today!

[Prehnite44]

Sorry for the late report, but showed up saturday as well (early morning through noon). Constant action except for a small break for a half hour or so, biggest fish about 15". Probably about 20 flags with the 6 of us, but nothing bigger.

[chasepalosaari]

Sorry for the late report, but showed up saturday as well (early morning through noon). Constant action except for a small break for a half hour or so, biggest fish about 15". Probably about 20 flags with the 6 of us, but nothing bigger.

Crazy how much it varies cause i was out there saturday also and i did horrible. Didn't see anything! And people around us were hardly catching anything. What part of the area were you? Were you on some good structure?

[Prehnite44]

Crazy how much it varies cause i was out there saturday also and i did horrible. Didn't see anything! And people around us were hardly catching anything. What part of the area were you? Were you on some good structure?

I think part of the problem you had was "the people around you". We caught all of our fish as far away from everybody as we could be. No special structure in particular, just not much noise on the ice. We had set up near some other people, and just a couple little ones. We moved  after about 2 hours, and then a bunch of fish. Too many people around for catching much bigger fish in my opinion. The bigger ones don't get caught because they're smart.

[yooperdave]

the noise does make a difference.  also try setting up in deeper water this seens to cut down on the amount of smaller fish. we kept 9 fish friday and 7 of them were on tip-ups in  17 - 20 feet of water

[chasepalosaari]

One thing I was wondering is why so many people set up on the far side of the bay instead of close to the shore???

[Prehnite44]

One thing I was wondering is why so many people set up on the far side of the bay instead of close to the shore???

The far side is sometimes really good for big fish if you can find a feeding migration pattern where they are concentrated near structure. Plus, and probably more importantly, you don't have 75 people spread out over 3 hours walking through your stuff all the time if you set up near 10th street.

[chasepalosaari]

Does it look like the ice is gonna harden back up past the point on the far end? I'm not sure if it's called hunters point or what?

[natorious]

Does it look like the ice is gonna harden back up past the point on the far end? I'm not sure if it's called hunters point or what?

The ice will come and go when the wind is strong.  A few cold days with minimal wind and it'll lock back up.  Always have to be weary when you start venturing east, as the ice conditions change and what may have been 8 inches one weekend, might only be 2 inches the next weekend.

[Chris Raymond]

The ice will come and go when the wind is strong.  A few cold days with minimal wind and it'll lock back up. 

Natorious--I remember a few years ago being up there on a good 20" - 22" of great black ice and have the wind break it up back to the marina in the course of a weekend.  My buddy and I were moving back 1/4 mile increments or so every couple of hours.  That was some good wind that weekend.   

[Outdoorsmen]

we were just up there the past weekend and the points are still open with the wind conditions the way they are up there the ice might not go past the points any more chase.... but we caught 31 total out of 4 people fishing in like 3 hours it was in burst like a school then a wait then they come back .. just jiging no tip ups all though i've heard there good out there.. but lots of fun. about 8 in thick ice of the old marina

[rricchi]

Is the water real clear up there? I fish in Keweenaw bay for suspended salmon, and you can see them 15 feet down, easy (provided you're in a fairly dark shelter, of course).

[acrawfor]

Crystal clear. You can see down 20 ft to bottom easy.

[yooperdave]

the snobear team will be on the ice thursday in copper harbor with a brand new machine. really coll set up. google it at snobear.com and check it out

[alfonz]

the snobear team will be on the ice thursday in copper harbor with a brand new machine. really coll set up. google it at snobear.com and check it out

todays report for Copper harbor  ice is gone from almost tenth st, dock out and slushy. careful snobears   see you out there.