Rhinelander Area Fishing Reports

Hurray it's the first day of spring on the calender. Although we are having cooler than average temps the ice fishing season will be extended this year. Travel conditions have improved with the slight warm up last week and four wheeler travel will be great. Snow totals and drifts were knocked down and that lessened the slushy areas on many lakes in the area.

Crappie: Expect to do some drilling and moving around during high light conditions through the day. Fish are moving around in deeper basin areas before dark when they move in to feed on shallow flats. Many of the fish I caught were suspended half way down in all depths I targeted. Bro Bugs tipped with Dave's Wedgees proved to be the jig presentation of choice to get the fish to commit. I actaully downsized the Wedgee due to fish not getting hooked and grabbing at the tails. Minnows were also used on tip downs once I settled on a spot for the evening bite. Regular crappie bait and rosies were used with downsized treble hooks. Gills were suspended right with the crappies. Any times I marked fish on the bottom of the Vexilar i dropped down to get them active.

The current weather forcast shows daytime highs in the mid 40's and nightime lows dropping into the 20's and teens. With this pattern i see some lakes in the region holding ice for a considerable amount of time. Any locations with running water should be traveled with caution due to currents increasing with run off. Good luck and tight lines!!! 

Fished fri-sun and bluegills and crappies were pretty aggresive using small jigs with moussies and gulp waxies. 6 ft of water in the weeds. Switched to a swedish pimple towards dark sun and hammered the crappie. Gills were at all depths while crappies were mostly 2 ft down.

Daylight savings time is in full effect and it gives us another hour after work to be on the ice with sunlight. The past Satuday was amazing weather to be out and not only catching fish but soaking up some vitiman D. Snow conditions are varying from lake to lake and expect things to change the end of this week with temps in the 40's. We did run into slushy areas where holes had been drilled early in the day. Four wheelers with four wheel drive struggled in the slush spots. Snowmobiles on the other hand stayed on top of the powdery snow.

Crappie: We marked fish at every spot we had drilled and they seemed to be on a constant move all day. The schools we did get on only amounted to 3 fish on average being caught before they were gone. Towards the later part of the afternoon we set up on a channel edge and waited them out. Fish were more receptive to minnows than jigs. We did catch better sized fish on Bro Bugs tipped with Dave's Wedgies in pink colors.

Sunday we started on one lake in search of gills during the mid day and came up with smaller perch instead. We decided to make the move to another lake right away and go for crappie . Fish seemed to be turned off with the heavy winds and light snow squals.

This weekends weather is going to nock most of the snow down and the ice conditons are still to the point of bottoming out augers without extentions. It looks as though our late ice fishing will be extended with cold temps at night and relatively cooler temps than average. When crossing many of the open running water spots we did see plenty of migratory spring swans and geese making it north already. Good luck and tight lines!!!!

Closing in on the second to last weekend of gamefish in Northern Wisconsin. Last week fish showed an increase on Thursday to feed through the mid morning to early afternoon . Friday proved to be a whole different strategy with fincky fish that ate while using dead stick tactics once they came in on the Vexilar. The rest of the weekend was spent scouting and picking up plenty of fish that were on the small side.

Pike: Fish are just outside weed edges in the 10-12' range hanging and chasing gills and perch. I kept treble hook sizes small with the lighter bites due to snow cover and no shorelines pulling away yet. Medium to large shiners on tip ups rigged with Toothy Critter or Cortland coated line does the trick for stopping bite offs.

Panfish: Cloud cover is always welcome to keep the bite alive through the day. Friday we were met with bluebird skys and wind that proved to put fish higher in the water column and less likely to hit aggresively jigged baits. Northland Bro Bugs in perch pattern and even brighter perch pattern caught the majority of the gills. Perch have been targeting minnows on tip downs and Bluegill jigs also.

This weekend will be the last for me to target gamefish on the ice. I will be attending the Wisconsin Musky Expo and have a booth there all next weekend.  I have dates available for the following weekend and all of March.There is still plenty of great panfishing ahead and ice conditions will continue to be safe for some time to come. Good luck and tight lines!!!!

Continued 1/23/18

Going into the warm weather we had this weekend allowed time to be spent out lake hopping and doing some scouting for upcoming outings. The recent snow total from yesterday came to 10" of fluffy snow which will make traveling by four wheeler a challenge on the ice. Snowmobile travel is still the only means for me for the rest of the year. People are out with hard sided shacks and campers on many of the area lakes and traveling with pick up trucks on the ice.

Pike: The morning bite got off to a slow start with multiple flags turning out to be fish running out a couple feet of line and spitting the minnow as soon as tension was applied on the line. Mid afternoon fish had changed into chomping down and peeling plenty of line out and inhaling minnows with great hooksets to follow. Shallow barron shelves close to the deep basin was where we did our best all the way till dark. Medium shiners 1-2' off bottom under tip ups kept the guys running all day.

Crappie: Choosing to go out scouting proved to be a big pay off with checking out cribs I had marked in the past while open water fishing. I found them to be loaded with decent sized Gills and Crappies that had the smallest eyes I had ever seen on my Aqua Vu. I only fished one crib for an hour with a couple fish tearing off on the way up to the hole. 

The weekend looks to be another great one to be out on the ice and not being cooped up in the house. Expect slushy areas where past holes were drilled, due to additional weight on the ice. Good luck and tight lines!!!! 

The cold temps from the Arctic blast had the thermometer pegged out at -21 this morning which will aid in making great ice the remainder of this week. I was fortunate to make it out Christmas morning before the temps bottomed out and it was worth the extra effort during packing up as temps went below zero. I'm still using caution when venturing out on any body of water with how terrible our first ice conditions were. My first spot i drilled had 9" of solid ice and it went down to 7" where I set up to fish. The body of water I fished had little to no snow cover on it and must have produced great conditions for building good ice.

Walleye: My best action was in my insulated one man with the heater cranking during the early morning. Buckshot Rattle Spoons brought fish in that were not hesitating when coming onto the screen of my Vexilar. Out of four fish caught during sunrise only two fish I marked didn't hit. I had tip ups set close to the shack with only one flag going up that resulted in a pick and drop. Setting up on shallow breaks leading into bays that have green weeds yet will produce during low light periods of sunrise and sunset.

This week we will add considerable ice in locations that previuosly had slushy spots. It is best to still check ice thickness when going out via four wheeler or snowmobile, as of now snowmobile clubs have not marked any lake trails yet. Good luck and tight lines!!! Happy New Year's to everyone also!

 

Tis the week before Christmas and ice conditions have been at a stand still since our last snow fall of 7". Lakes that were open due to a major warm up during Thanksgiving have little to no ice on them other than in shallow bays. The lakes that smaller  that did remain frozen are averaging 4-5" of ice and the most that I've been on is at 7". If heading out for your first time this year bring a parnter and a spud to check ice thickness when going to your favorite lake. Many anglers are experiencing going to a couple lakes in one day to check for safe walkable ice. If you do find solid ice and plan on using any motorized vehicles check ice thickness as you go to your destinations. Slush is another concern with the weight of the snow on it and holes in areas people have already fished.

Walleye: Fish have been feeding during the mid to late afternoon till dark with most of our fish being caught while  jigging and using tip ups in shallow water towards shore. Buckshot Rattle Spoons tipped with fathead minnow heads are my go to lures for jigging. Medium Shiners rigged under tip ups saw action with many picks and drops. The fish we did catch on flags only ran out a foot to two feet of line.

Pike: Now is the time to get out and find active fish and chase for flags popping. Smaller pickler fish at times seem to not leave you alone. Shiners set up towards weed edges and shallow breaks kept us busy untill the walleye bite started.

 With the major cool down coming during the Christmas holiday I expect to see ice conditions improving quickly. The forecast as of now shows less snow than what was estimated and this will help freeze up the exposed slushy areas. Please use extreme caution when heading out this year with the current condtions. Good luck and tight lines!!!

As the end of the season is closing in, many anglers are still in pursuit of a fall trophy fish that is at it's highest weight of the year. All landings now have the docks removed and only the die hards were out braving the elements of open water and snow this past weekend. Suckers are still in supply at many of the bait shops and will start to dwindle as demands go down. Dressing in layers is key to making it on open water and hand warmers in gloves are a must.

Muskie: We spent Saturday morning heading out on unplowed roads early in the morning trying to hit the morning major. Due to the cold and snow we opted for trolling Headlocks in search of staging cisco and feeding fish on spawning areas. To my disbelief all bait pods were in deep water yet hugging bottom and the water temp was at 43 degrees. We managed one rip and that fish came sky rocketing out of 20 FOW and cleared the surface which resulted in a bait being thrown out of it's mouth. Sunday proved to be better weather and I switched gears to fish a perch and walleye based forage lake. Searching out sandgrass is key to locating roaming fish looking for a easy sucker meal. Start by moving off of secondary breaks towards basin areas with 25-27 FOW water and watch closely to your electronics for transitions from sand to mud and slight fuzz that appears on the bottom. We actually watched this fish on the side imaging moving from one sucker to the other before it hit the down rod. Casting and jigging were also other presentations being used to bring in fish or to trigger bites.

Currently the way our weather is looking right now we are well below normal conditions for temps and it looks as though that pattern is here to stay. For safety precautions wear multiple layers and floation gear when heading out. Another good thing to bring is tube sand to put down on landings prior to loading your boat on the trailer. Good luck and tight lines!!!