Turtle Flambeau Flowage, Iron County (all postings)

4" of ice is now being reported.

Ice in the mercer area is variable and inconsistent. Most lakes opened up completely on Thursday, then locked up completely last night. Ice on the lake by my cabin ranges from 1/2 inch to 2 inches, thickest ice in areas that remained frozen on Thursday. 4+ anywhere would be quite a stretch by the weekend, elsewhere in the state would be a safer choice

how thick is the ice? hoping 4"+ inches by next weekend.

Well, The open water season is over for this guy. The boat has been winterized and put away for a few months. It all seemed to go by so fast this year.

The last week or so was as usual, a lot of fun. The conditions were less than perfect but the fish were active. Kind of surprising to me was that we put more fish in the net these last couple of weeks casting than by suckers.

We had a great year on the water. A bunch of clients that were fun to be on the boat all day with. Lots of good people who will probably be cursing my name sooner than later when they start to see the spending pile up on their new addiction.. lol... You are welcome!! Many first time muskies were put in the net. A few real beauties were encountered. Some lost, some caught and some just made the knees weak.

This was also a great year for walleye and crappie fishing along with a bunch of perch and some real nice smallies.

I would like to thank all of you who fished with me this season as well as everyone who reads these reports and stops by to say hey or sends a message. You guys and gals are great. Being a musky fisherman first and an everything else fisherman second; It always makes my day to see someone get excited about a nice walleye or a good mess of panfish. It is being able to make someone's fishing trip great and get them fired up or just seeing them figure out how to catch fish or giving them that knee shaking, "I need to sit down", or even "I think I might puke" kind of experience, that makes me want to do this more and more.

The end of one season brings along the next. I will try to get an ice fishing report out here as often as possible.

Always looking forward to the next open water season and all of the big changes and challenges coming. As always, my messenger is on and your input is always welcome.

Have a great hard water season and Thank you again! Bobby Orr

Hello All!

We are still fishing up here in the great white north! Very few boats are being seen on the lakes because frigid temps as well as the onset of hunting seasons make fishing seem like yesterday's news. I can only say that you are missing the best of the year!

Walleye: Nice catches of decent sized fish (16-20) are being commonly reported the last couple of weeks. I have found them in the deep holes, the river edges and pretty much any place with some sort of structure. 1/8 oz weedless jigs and medium to large fatheads have produced best for me.

Crappies and Perch: Deep holes! There are a lot of fish stacked up in some of the deeper holes and edges out on the Flowage. Jigs and fatheads again being the bait of choice.

Muskies!!! Lots of them! Again this year, like many before, November just does not disappoint. It can be brutally cold, ice forming on the reels and rod eyes, ice on the bottom of the boat and just plain raw out there, but this is the time to score a hog! There have been several brave folks who fished with me in the last couple weeks and either got their first musky or had a chance at it. There have been others who had good action days who are not at all new to the game. It has been a blast! Jerkbaits, big rubber and suckers. Deep open water, breaks and points and just general fishy areas are all showing fish. For all who have ever fished with me and had to endure my constant beatdown of "do your figure 8" "don't forget your figure 8" or "you NEED to be doing that figure 8 EVERY DAMNED cast" lol... The proof has shown it's self this past week. In less than about 50 casts we got 3 beautiful fish, all on jerkbaits, all on figure 8's where the fish was never seen until it hit.

Ok, I am done preaching at ya and about to go hit the water again. Get up here and get that Hog! Good luck out there! Bobby orr

Fishing with Jeff Robl of Bobber Down Guide Service. Jeff knows the TFF well. Caught over60 walleys, caught perch, SMB and northern. Had a great time and great company.

Sons Cory and Tom.

Not many people left fishing out there, I suspect there is a lot of hunting going on. Fish are still biting well, chance to fish with sons Tom and Cory, Jack had guards this weekend. Deep boulders 17-23' jig and minnow.

Leaving the 6 th or 7th to start deer hunting will only be able to check messages or e-mails a few days until early dec. Anyone interested in guided ice fishing can leave a message on my phone 715 776-0140 and please leave an e-mail.

I've enjoyed doing the posts, talked to a lot of good people at the landing who new me from Lake Link.

A sincere thank you to all who chose my guide service, I didn't have anyone in my boat I didn't enjoy spending the day with.

Happy hunting, stay safe out there, especially climbing trees.

Jeff Robl

Pics from report. Might be last report I think most people have shifted over to hunting although There were quite a few people enjoying the fall fishing this weekend.

If you would like, read my other report I posted two reports with two sets of pictures today.

Yesterday( Sunday) was the best day of the week for both weather and the bite, unfortunately I was my only customer. I went to an area of the flowage I don't fish a lot and hadn't fished yet this year. I threw out three buoys ( no one around) and started fishing. I decided to have a contest between a deadstick and myself casting a jig,I guess I'm easily humored,(I'll beat anyone to the obvious next post "which one was the deadstick"). I moved the boat three times then went a quarter mile away and threw bouys on two more waypoints in close proximity to each other, In 3 1/2 hours ,8 walleyes casting, deadstick 6 walleyes. The biggest walleye (in picture) was caught on the deadstick, I saw a fish on the sonar a couple feet off bottom, quick gave the deadstick two cranks on the handle, 10 seconds later caught the fish. Fished 12-24fow did the best in 19-20' in both areas. Fished two more spots, nothing, then found a school of walleyes in 17-18'rocks, wasn't practical to fish with two rods, caught a lot of fish. The highlight of the day, were the smallmouths found in 18'.They were relating to a cluster of logs laying flat on the bottom, I got over the top of them from an anchored position used the deadstick and made short casts. I think I caught 8,largest was 18" lost a real big one. Released them all opted to take some rock bass home with two walleyes for a meal.

In the summer I use 5 1/2' and six' rods for a deadstick and locate them out of the way, yesterday, by myself I used a 7' rod, had it set next to me as shown.I used a 3/16oz. jig,(a little quicker getting it set back up)and had it a few inches off the bottom. Casted 1/8 oz. both poles fatheads,when I found the bass I was culling for the biggest minnows.

Good fishing to you,thank you to all who chose my guide service.

pics from report.

For those looking for the hard and fast for a fishing report, the first paragraph of my last report is still holding.(10-22 report)

Past week fishing overall has been good, however even in the midst of the fall bite the fish can turn negative. That was the case tue oct. 22, scouted in the morning, that was slow also one new waypoint in 4 hours. Picked up my uncle and friend at the landing, curious about the bite I went where there were a lot of fish. You could pick them out, they were tight to the bottom and numerous, would they bite? No, we caught very few fish that afternoon.

Thursday another cold, windy day, had half day trip booked with Scott and Laurie. We worked a half mile stretch that 5 days prior had a lot of fish, we caught fish but not many. Age old question, are they down there and not biting or did they move? Some structure the sonar easily tells the tale some structure for me anyway, not. They were determined to find some hungry walleyes so opted to change the trip to a full day. The wind, cold and slow bite, really? Pretty hardy outdoors people. We were rewarded in the afternoon with a nice mixed bag catch. Had some nice smallmouths kept a couple released the others, numbers of walleyes mostly smaller. Best areas, steep slope 10 down to 20 with wood on the slope and bottom, cast 1/8 oz. jig and fathead.

Next day trip with father and son Daryl and Brent. Took them to an area that is usually good for bigger fall walleyes (deep rocks) the fish weren't there, went to another fall spot and secured our shore lunch (15' hole with wood on the bottom). Brought extra firewood, for lunch and to warm up. In the afternoon we found walleyes in 16-18'. with the lite biting fish the 15-20 mph winds made them tough to catch. Thirteen year old Brent held up well, in the cold and wind that's a long day (we fished until dark).

The offer in my last post still stands. It is an incentive not a guarantee, there are no guarantees in fishing. Here is my guarantee: I embrace everyday in the boat with enthusiasm and a positive attitude,I give 100% effort every time I get in the boat.

As I've said before, " I can't wait to get to work in the morning".

Wow WISCOh2O, is that a fall TFF walleye? Haven't caught any up there that big for a loooong time! What did it measure out to be? Thanks and regarding Jeff's report, I really like his posts because being down in the Green Bay/Appleton area, it helps narrow down my search to a few certain waypoints that I'll fish during the short weekend for walleyes after reading Jeff's in depth reports.

Oh, and here's a link to a YouTube video regarding TFF walleye fishing that I stumbled upon recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu6ppZxqRHs'

Really? Mid-to-upper 20 inch walleyes are fairly common? What a joke!

Good luck and tight lines to all, and bundle up, she's COLD out there!

It's really simple, the fish are biting because they know what is coming, don't you feel the difference when you go outside?

As a subscriber to Jeff’s post, I find it unfortunate that some are "not seeing the forest for the trees" (seeing the details but not the overall picture)

Throughout the season Jeff’s post have been very informative sharing Location/structure, bait and presentation all of which have helped me put fish in the boat.

The “No fish guarantee” is very common in the Guide community, Jeff guarantees 20 fish and gets called out Geezzz……..

If I am reading his post correctly he is also throwing in Shore lunch, on a three person rate that’s an 11% discount!

Just my 2cents

Disclaimer: I also subscribe to Orrsfishing posts.