Today during daylight hours fishing was tough for most out there, but at about 4:30 this evening on some of our rentals and portables did well. (not everyone).  Lots of nice Walleyes caught during the traditional dusk period.  Yesterday was very similar. It looking more and more like a night bite for Walleyes for us in the areas we fish.  Perch activity is picking up but still a lot of 6-9 inches and the “jumbos” are about 1 in 20 when you find them.  Ice is getting better and tomorrow when the temps drop for a couple days we will have some ice I will be comfortable with in most of the areas we go to.  Today the main lake ice made a move and a large crack came down the east side and created some problems for the resorts up that direction and when it turned southwest towards us we ended up with a 18 inch crack just south of the East Bar that we bridged so ATVs’ and sleds could cross so we ended up in pretty good shape in areas we travel.    With the colder weather tomorrow I’m sure there will be more cracks showing up, but when it breaks where it did for us today, it stabilizes the ice in most of areas we go closer towards shore so we should  be on schedule to get going Wednesday/Thursday as planned.  (for driving)   Some spots we will limit travel to but most will be ok.  For those wanting to drive with wheelhouses, it will be 1/2 ton trucks and single axle wheelhouses only at first and towards the end of the week we’ll see about bigger rigs.  Please call ahead if in doubt.   One thing that we will be strict about at our place is speed on ice. 5mph or go home I call it. I’ve seen many times over the last 40 years what speed can do to roads on ice roads when there is so much traffic and they drive too fast.   It’s not like 25 years ago when the only houses were skid houses and the people using them drove out to them.   Most of today’s fishermen don’t think about the weight they are moving across the ice repeatedly with a truck and a wheelhouse.   I want everyone to enjoy their time out there and think about more than themselves when driving on the ice roads.  The more people use caution the safer everyone will be.

Have a Safe and Happy New Year!!

Eddy

Fishing last evening and today was pretty good for most.  Shallow water spots that had no fish last week have fish now and the Walleye bite is getting better in the evenings.  Most Walleyes caught overnight are too big but fishermen are enjoying catching them. Walleyes caught in the daytime tend to be more “keepers”, but fewer numbers.  Small golden shiners, small sucker minnows have been the best bait.  Perch activity is good, but size is not. 6-9- inch Perch are common, with the occasional “Jumbo”.

Ice conditions are improving and we will be letting fishermen drive vehicles Wednesday, and we plan on getting all the rest of our customers houses out by the weekend. I’m glad we held off on the driving this weekend, we had no problems out there and it was better fishing for those that came out,  (less noise)

Have a Safe an Happy New Year!!

Eddy

This a.m. after talking to fishermen that were here yesterday and back again and those that stayed overnight, fishing was pretty good.   Numerous reports of “keeper” Walleyes along with ones out of the slot.   Perch action was good in mud areas and most of the rentals seen some pretty good action as well.    Fish were scattered on the gravel and hard to find, but when you found them they bit.   The weather change overnight helped it too.

We are holding off driving this weekend.  It will be snowmobile/ATV only.   Wheelhouses with ATV”S also.    There just isn’t enough ice to have a lot of vehicle travel on it  which would obviously happen if we started.   Ice depth is 11-12 inches, but the top 1-2 inches is “slush ice” which is not very strong.   We would be pushing it if we let people drive and I will not do that here.  We will be shuttling rentals back and forth, privates need to bring an ATV if their house is out.  The bigger, heavier houses will not be going out until after the weekend when we see more ice.   We are doing the best we can as safely as we can.   We have what will be our roads marked to  most of the areas we normally go, (see last years road map, it’s almost identical) so it will be easy to find your way around without GPS if you don’t have one.  There are a few places where there is 3-6 inch cracks that have have healed good enough for ATV’s/snowmobiles, and  we mark them for you on the map at the office.

Have as Safe and Happy New Year!

Eddy