It’s been quite a winter here in Northwestern Wisconsin. We seem to get about 8″-10″ of new snow every week and the temps have been mild. Despite these factors our ice is still in fair condition with wheeler and snowmobile traffic on most lakes. I have seen a few fulll-sized vehicles out on the lakes but I would not recommend vehicle travel this year due to the unstable conditions we have had. Our inland game fish season just closed last weekend(with the exception of catch and release bass, which is year-round) so panfish and bass are the name of the game for the remainder of the season.
From what I have seen in the past week, most panfish are still in their midwinter patterns with no signs of late-ice movement to speak of, which means basins, deeper weedlines and mid-depth mud/gravel points and flats. I have definitely seen some oxygen depletion starting to take it’s toll on some of the smaller basin lakes due to the snow cover and fish are suspended high in the water column using the rest of the remaining oxygen. Fishing has been tough for the panfish in general but especially in these low-oxygen situations as the fish’s metabolism slows even more than normal under the ice. Tiny gold jigs tipped with a spike or two seem to catch the most fish. Jigging with a larger spoon or horizontal presentation can call fish into the area but not necessarily trigger them when they are this negative so have that little gold jig handy to drop down if some fish appear but don’t want to eat.
As far as bass go, there are some good opportunities to catch a bunch of largemouth and smallmouth bass just for fun through the rest of the ice season. To target largemouth, my favorite method is to find a shallow, clear lake and drop a camera down and fish them on the camera with small lipless vibrating baits. For smallmouth, try deep cribs and rock piles There is lots of ice time left up here and I would anticipate at least another 3-4 weeks of ice fishing in our area so don’t give up yet, it should only get better as the late ice patterns start to emerge!
Caleb Wistad – Hookedupwi
calebwistad@gmail.com
715-338-0545