Oneida County

Three days around Christmas are predicted to bring rain with upper 40’s and stay above freezing. I can’t speak for the whole county, but I can’t envision good ice on many of the lakes I’ve checked lately. 

Bass_master, I was on big Arbor Vitea on Tuesday,  we had anywhere from 8 to 4 inches of solid ice. It depended on where we were. 

Hey, we are heading up here for new years, i was wondering how much ice if any were on some of the following lakes. Carrol Lake, Clear lake, and both of the arborvitaes. Also, is there anything for ice on the rainbow flowage?

any info is helpful, i'm just trying to get a seance of what to bring and where to go

Thank you

The continued mild December has stretched out this “early” ice bite.  By now we would expect 10-12+” of ice that would push much of the bite deeper, instead we seem to be holding in the 4-7” range.  The five days of below freezing prior to Thursday (12/14) firmed and maybe added an inch to the ice.  The weekend’s warmth and wind took back whatever we gained plus opened lakes such as Trout, Fence and Tomahawk.  Doesn’t’ look like any real cold until the 1st of the year.
 
This continued pattern of mild weather is playing havoc on anglers wanting to drive on the ice (though there is some ATV traffic on lakes of 6-8” of ice) and things don’t look good for snowmobilers.   If ice fishing is your thing, this should be a good time to come up and get on the ice, tourism traffic will be lighter than usual as chances of a “White” Christmas look pretty slim.
 
Walleye:  Very Good – Action peaked again by Saturday night (12/16) as Walleye activity increased and nice catches reported.  Jigging raps, spoons once again providing good bites on active fish, reports of Eyes moving up 3-4’ off bottom to hit artificials.  Tip-up with shiners (weeds) or suckers (wood, mud) producing nice, plump 15-19” “eaters” with some 20+” overs being released.  Nice job anglers, those are our future.
 
Crappies:  Very Good – Reports picked up nicely as anglers catching nice 10-13” fish from both weeds of 6-9’ and from basins in 20-25’.  Plastics or grubs on wobbling rocker style spoons, as well as tip-downs with Crappie minnows all producing.  Good reports still on the new Tikka Flash lures tipped with spikes.
 
Northern Pike:  Very Good – Flags flying for anglers using big shiners in 6-13’ of waters.  Nice fish into the lower 30” range reported.
 
Bluegill:  Good-Very Good – Following a couple days of reluctant bites, Gills turned on by weekend.   Mostly in 5-8’ weeds, nice Gills of 7-8 ½”.  Now is the time, before ice thickens, to find Gills active in the shallower bays.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Jigging “fry” shaped jigs and spoons loaded with waxies or minnow heads, tip-downs with fats or tip-ups with medium shiners producing good action for anglers on Largemouth, whether or not that’s their target.
 
Yellow Perch:  Good – Larger Perch (9-11+”) being caught roaming shallow cabbage of 5-8’.  Not schools, but small groups of 3-5 fish.   Medium fatheads, small shiners on tip-downs or tip-ups.  Fry shaped jigs (Forage Fry, Tikka Flash) loaded with waxies also scoring.
 
With ice reports still varying from 4-7” (with a few 8” reports from further north and bays on flowages) caution still advised.  Today’s snow (2-6” further north) probably won’t stay much past the weekend with highs in mid to upper-30’s, but should shield the ice from losing thickness.   High wind blowing bulk of snow off ice, use caution on windward shorelines where snow drifts could hide and insulate poor ice.
 
Upcoming Tournaments
Jan 6th – 73rd Annual Rib Lake Area Ice Fishing Contest – Rib Lake
Jan 6th – 16th Annual NCO Club & AMVETS Post 724 Ice Fishing Tournament – Lake Nokomis
Feb 10th – 22nd Annual Plum Lake Ice Fishing Tournament – Plum Lake

7" of ice but only small panfish for me today.

Thursday, 12/14/23

Lets do a short one today. Yes, yes, yes, we have good ice.  I've gotten reports of up to 10" out there.  With so many different lakes in the area it's hard to answer the ice question as every lake can have different thicknesses of ice.  But most are pretty darn good.  Mother nature has been cooperative in keeping the temps low and the snow falls slight.  Today is a glorious day with sunshine, little wind and temps near 40.  It's going to be like that thru Saturday so what a great weekend to get out there.  I haven't seen any ATVs or trucks out there yet but I'm sure it won't be long.  No snowmobiles -- not enough snow.

The low light fishing for walleyes has been on fire.  Some real monsters have been caught and most have been released.  Good sized minnows under tip-ups is producing fish.  Low light fishing is even more important this year as with the lack of snow the fish can see you during the day.

Panfish seemed to have been best on deep weed edges during the day and when the light gets lower you need to chase them into the green shallow weeds.  Bugs and small jigs are working well.  To increase your chances I would tip my jigs with Clam's Silkie Jig Trailers.  They work really well.  Also and plastic that has skinny extrusions has the same type of action that the panfish love.  Tip them with bugs if you'd like.

Northern are stealing baits everywhere.  Yum.  Bring one in on a 24" ultra light pole and you earn a gold star!

That's it.  Gotta go.  Get out this weekend and make some memories.  I love sitting back and watching the kids chase flags!
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We have plenty of musky suckers right now for $1 each.

We are in the middle of our annual December Christmas sale.  Come on in the store to check it out.  We are adding new items every day to the specials list.  They are also on the website. While you're on the site make sure to sign up for our newsletters so you will be the first to know when we add more items.

Right now for live bait we have Jumbo Crawlers, Small crawlers, Panfish Worms, Wax worms, White & Red & Multi-colored Spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Blacktails, Walleye Suckers, Northern bait, Medium and Large River Shiners and Golden Shiners.

Our normal weekly hours thru December 24th are:
Monday thru Thursday from 7am to 6pm
Friday from 7am to 7pm
Saturday and Sunday 6am to 5pm

Let's continue to squelch a few rumors.  The shop is for sale.  Business is great but Linda and I are ready to ease into retirement.  WE ARE NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!  If you have an interest in owning and operating the largest non-franchised bait shop in Wisconsin, call our Realtor, Eric Johnson, at 715-892-1234 or call Jeff at 715-892-2751.

Jeff Bolander, owner of Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guide Post
715-892-2751 cell
www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.com

Things got a little wet and slippery for a while on the ice as the warm up late last week melted off the light snow from the early part of the week.  That was OK, we didn’t lose ice just that annoying snow cover.  Unfortunately, more snow came in with the drop in temps to cover things back up.  Fishing was fair to good overall, not at all like the previous week, but rarely do we see action that good.
 
Walleye:  Good-Fair – Jigging raps and spoons still taking fish, just not as aggressive of a bite as earlier.  Tip-ups with medium golden shiners or river shiners still scoring in that 6-10’ of green weeds.  Pre-dawn and dusk best.
 
Northern Pike:  Good-Fair – Big shiners and suckers on tip-ups tops.  Anglers using Jaw Jackers baited with the same having fun catching on rod and reel.  No big Pike reports this week, but plenty of eaters.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Good-Fair – Liking the warm up last week.  Flags flying for anglers using medium shiners on tip-ups for Pike.   Plenty others caught by Bluegill and Crappie anglers.
 
Bluegill:  Good-Fair – Tentative at times, lots of talk of “lookers” but not biting.  When this happens best to go small.  Try a 2.5 mm tungsten tipped with a single red spike or smidge of plastic.  An active presentation draws them in, but once they show up on your locator or camera its best to go small and slow.
 
Crappies:  Fair – Once again, cautious bite.  While Crappie minnows had been the preferred bait last week, a switch to a smaller, more subdued presentation was needed by the weekend.  One exception was anglers fishing deeper water, 20-25’, there tip-downs with small minnows best.
 
Yellow Perch:  Fair – Not being targeted, but incidental catches by Crappie and Gill anglers. 
 
Looks as if this cool/warm pattern will persist through Christmas Day.  Luckily the warm just takes the top layer (snow) down, then cold (teens 12/11) firms things back up.  Unfortunately, the cold we need to really build a nice base (12-15”) isn’t in the forecast for the next two weeks.  Walking and checking are safest forms of travel for now, most reports of ice thickness range 3 ½-6”, some North (South facing) shorelines thinner.
 
Upcoming Tournaments
Jan 6th – 73rd Annual Rib Lake Area Ice Fishing Contest – Rib Lake
Jan 6th – 16th Annual NCO Club & AMVETS Post 724 Ice Fishing Tournament – Lake Nokomis

I checked a couple central Oneida County lakes yesterday, and the rain/warmth really deteriorated what was decent ice a week ago. Unsafe where I was; can’t speak for the rest of the area but I would use extreme caution if you go. There’s a covering of snow now hiding the bad areas too. 

Friday, 12/08/23
 
Ice fishing is in full swing.  Decent ice is the rule and not the exception.  It's kinda scary looking right now as we got a couple of days of sun and temps in the low 40s which melted a lot of the snow which produced some black areas out there.  Still plenty of ice but black ice, which some times is the saftest, is scary looking.  But always remember that no ice is totally safe ice.  Spud and pick often.  The big deep clear lakes are still open but most others have locked up.  Check secluded bays first as they will have the most ice as they started making ice first.

Lots of fish are hitting the top of the ice.  As usual, northern are very active.  Anything under a tip-up should produce those tasty devils.  Walleye are also very active.  Jigging or tip-ups or jaw-jacker type are producing.  Low light is the best and at this time of year there is plenty of it.

Panfish are also very active.  As usual, find green weeds and you find panfish.  Of course bass and northern are there also.

All the usual baits are working.  With all the low light we have anything with a flash or sparkle will give you an edge.  Yes, hotdogs do catch northern!  This is the time of year that so many types of baits work it is a good time to experiment.  Try a new one everyday and use it in different presentations and you may find your next 'go to' bait.

Our Black Friday / Cyber Monday fishing show sale has ended.  Last two weekends were dynamite with 100,s of folks taking advantage of pricing the big box stores cannot match.  We still got a lot of great deals so check out the details in the store and on the website.  We'll have more raffles and give-a-ways and other surprises.
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We have plenty of musky suckers right now mixed in with the northern bait going for a $1 each.

We are in the middle of our annual December Christmas sale.  Come on in the store to check it out.  We are adding new items every day to the specials list.  They are also on the website. While you're on the site make sure to sign up for our newsletters so you will be the first to know when we add more items.

Right now for live bait we have Jumbo Crawlers, Small crawlers, Panfish Worms, Wax worms, White & Red & Multi-colored Spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Blacktails, Walleye Suckers, Northern bait, Medium and Large River Shiners and Golden Shiners.

Our normal weekly hours thru December are:
Monday thru Thursday from 7am to 6pm
Friday from 7am to 7pm
Saturday and Sunday 6am to 5pm

Let's continue to squelch a few rumors.  The shop is for sale.  Business is great but Linda and I are ready to ease into retirement.  WE ARE NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!  If you have an interest in owning and operating the largest non-franchised bait shop in Wisconsin, call our Realtor, Eric Johnson, at 715-892-1234 or call Jeff at 715-892-2751.

Jeff Bolander, owner of Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guide Post
715-892-2751 cell
www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.com

Off to a great early ice fishing season in the Lakeland area.  Ice on smaller lakes and bays have reports of 4-6” of ice.  Light snow, but not enough to hinder ice production when overnights got down into the low teens over the weekend.  Anglers getting after it and reporting great success as the early ice has been a relief following a poor gun deer season.
 
Walleye:  Excellent – Walleyes very active.  This is a great time to hone your jigging skills as Walleyes reportedly chasing raps and spoons 4-6’ off the bottom, at times 3-4 fish at a time.  Most of this action occurring 1 ½ hours pre-dawn as well as the hour either side of dusk in 5-8’ of water.  Tip-ups of course scoring using suckers and shiners.  But for some “reel” fun, try some jigging for these early ice season Walleye.
 
Northern Pike:  Excellent – Also very active!  Most anglers finding success with large, lively bait on tip-ups and Jaw Jackers!   That same 5-8’ depths with good weed cover.  Don’t be shy to hang ‘em high!  Big Pike reported with a 38 ½” St. Germain fish tops, but an equally impressive 37” caught by 10 yr old local legend Elija also iced.  Not many do it, but also a great time to jig big pimples or large jigging raps for the Pike.  Great fun on a rod and reel.
 
Crappies:  Good – Where and when you can find.  Most reports from anglers working shallow green weeds in 6-10’.  One report from anglers tip-down fishing in 25’ not able to keep up with 3 lines.  Finesse not as important with early ice and good oxygen levels.  Minnows or spoons tipped with waxies best. 
 
Bluegills:  Good – Most reports are of #’s, but feeling is as anglers get out on the less pressured waters we will hear more on size.  The new Clam Tikka Flash has been a surprise hit on these aggressive Gills and Crappies in the smallest size.  Otherwise, grubs, spikes and the old reliable teardrop is hard to beat early like this.
 
Not much for a Perch or Bass report, some being caught.
 
With such great action, don’t throw caution to the wind.  Spud your way across new ice, carry safety spikes, rope and wear floatation jackets or carry a floating cushion.  We do have a 24-30 hour or so stretch of above freezing temps (32-45 degrees) before things cool off by Saturday (12/9).  Shouldn’t be enough to hurt, just enough to take snow cover off and require cleats to get around.
 
Upcoming Tournaments
Jan 6th – 73rd Annual Rib Lake Area Ice Fishing Contest – Rib Lake
Jan 6th – 16th Annual NCO Club & AMVETS Post 724 Ice Fishing Tournament – Lake Nokomis