Forest Bite!!!

[drscholl14]

Thanks tunrevir! Way more specific than you needed to be but I appreciate it!

[Sharkbait18]

Was out this morning off of Willow Point, lots of trucks and cars on the ice with everyone taking advantage of the weather. Small gills and perch with the occasional crappie. Had a lot of fun. About 10" of ice.

[drscholl14]

Got out on the west side off the main launch. Got an 11 inch crappie right away and for the rest of the evening got probably 30 crappie all 5-8 inches. Got a bonus 18 inch eye on a tip up. Even with the

lack of size on the fish they were flying up 3-5 feet to hit bait. Nice after not seeing much of that behavior this year.

[FishnWBL]

Was out on lake 2 yesterday in about 19 fow (between the 2 holes). Several small crappie and perch, no wally's though. Cars and trucks everywhere. Very small cars and trucks might be okay in most spots, but I was at maybe 10" of ice in that location. Bottom line. It can't be safe everywhere for large vehicles yet. Play it safe and give it week. I know it's tempting when everyone else is doing it but you may regret it if you do.

[fishing tech]

We had about 10.5 on 2nd lake also yesterday. The ice was making noise every time some yahoo would go racing across the lake in there car or truck. God has his way of weeding out the dummies. Don't be one of them.

[drscholl14]

There was 14 inches on the west side of the first lake yesterday afternoon. Everybody was driving out.

[fivebelow]

Thanks all for the good knowledge. Now if this cold spell would just let up a little I can get out there and search for some slabs or marble eyes.

[drscholl14]

I'm in the same boat. Like I said earlier I haven't had aggressive fish all winter and yesterday they were. Now I'm really itching to get out there again but it will probably have to be later in the week with the cold.

[fivebelow]

could have something to do with the on-coming cold front yesterday. did you had luck earlier in the day or after the winds picked up?

[tunrevir]

Welcome to the boards Sharkbait18 and Fishingwbl glad to have you folks on board with us. The fishing yesterday was pretty darned good. We managed a few walleye, a pike and had some crappies that were suicidal. My son was fishing with a 1/16th oz forage minnow without bait and they were shooting up and swallowing the bait. For whatever reason lately the tipups and setlines have been doing the catching rather then the active jigging for us. Don't hang up your fishing gear because of the cold spell, I actually had some of my best nights on the water last winter during the deep freeze. The traffic seems to dwindle quite a bit when it is cold so maybe that has an effect. Good luck out there and tightlines!

Tunrevir~

[RiverDewey]

Thanks guys for the reports. We had a family Christmas get together planned for Saturday and so I could not get out.

I see here on FM and hearing from friends too there were other good reports for Saturday. Interestingly enough, starting around noon Saturday the barometer started heading up. Like they say "Just sayin'

[WalleyeBIZ]

Still having a tuff time catching numbers of keeper crappies! Picked up a 26" walleye the other day and a few 17"ers! not to bad!

[Sharkbait18]

Appreciate the welcome. Its taken a long time to find a good site that people are regularly updating. Getting back into ice fishing as the kids grow up and I can take them with me.

[WalleyeBIZ]

This is the best site hands down! All my buddies are on here, and most the info is at least par to great!!!

[drscholl14]

Jigs4eyes, we got out there around 2 and stayed until the winds really started howling around dark. Caught the walleye around 4 and the 11 inch crappie was the first fish I caught that day. I'm sure it was the front that moved in. Looked at the barometer chart the next day and we were in a big pressure drop while we were out.

[fishing tech]

Anyone out on #2 today? wondering how much ice has been made since Saturday.

[tunrevir]

I had 16+ inches last night when I was out. Walleyes are active from 6-8', 14-16' and 22-26' at this time. Pike are active in the weeds in 6-14' and can also be caught out over the deeper holes 15-18'down in 20+ feet of water. Crappies are on a tear right now and can be found suspended over deep water and along the outside edges of the weedlines. Pike are taking jigs with minnows and suckers, shiners and fatheads under tipups. Walleye have been actively taking jigging presentations this week, as well as fatheads and shiners on setlines. Crappies will take small spoons tipped with euroes or minnow heads and even small jigging raps readily but you have to sort a ton for a few keepable fish. Good luck out there and tightlines!

Tunrevir~

[fishing tech]

Thanks Tunrevir, I will be out today. Is there much of a walleye bite during the day? We have our shack set up in 27ft on 2nd. Wondering if it would be worth it to bring a portable with and fish shallower during the day?

[tunrevir]

Porty may well be worth it to try closer to the deep weed edge in say 15-16 fow. I have found active fish as early as 2 pm this year but most days it is from 345 till well after dark. Shallow fish are a sundown till the wee hours of the am but the deep weedline fish you can get to bite during the afternoon hours. You need to stay mobile. Work a string of holes for 15-30 mins and if no takers move to the next hole. If you catch an eye work back to that hole towards prime time and you may well be rewarded with a few more fish for your efforts. In the deeper water where your at put a fathead or shiner down within 10 inches of the bottom and you should have a shot at eyes if they are moving through the area.

Tunrevir~

[drscholl14]

Was out off the west side of the lake for a couple hours yesterday morning. Had a nice day with crappies and missed one nice walleye right at the end on a dead stick right at the hole. Caught my biggest crappie of the Winter at 14 inches.

[RiverDewey]

Nice fish! Great photo.

[ifish4fun]

Are you guys driving 1/2 tons with wheelhouses out yet? I'd like to get the permanent out this weekend. A buddy and I are headed out soon. Probably going to try for eyes out from the funeral home.

[drscholl14]

There is around 16 inches of ice on the west side out from the main launch. I don't own a wheelhouse so I don't know what is safe ice for those but people have been out in trucks with permanents for the last few days. Hope that gives you some sort of idea.

[drscholl14]

So I have had a couple of buddies tell me that my crappie (pictures previously) is a white crappie. I never thought I'd see a white crappie in this area, let alone catch one. So I did some research and I actually think it is. What do you guys think and have you guys caught white crappies in the area?

[john.wells]

At first glance it looked like a white crappie to me. I was just going to ask if you knew if it was a white or just a pale black. For some reason, whites seem to provide more of the larger crappies around here.

[john.wells]

Here is an ID comparison of black vs white crappie:

Crappie ID link

[tunrevir]

There are some white crappies in Flake and they tend to run pretty big with a good lot in the 12-15 inch range right now and a few between 16 and 17. Biggest one I have heard of this year was a 17.5" fish. This is a 16.5 my son caught a few years back.

Tunrevir~

[john.wells]

Dang! Nice crappie!

[th64]

Forrealize???

[RiverDewey]

Great picture tunrevir. Thanks for sharing.