Ice season is here!!!

[John Carlson]

The Ice fishing season officially started in Phillips WI yesterday as I sold the first minnows of the season to be used on the ice..... With the 0 temps last night I expect anglers to hit the ice in numbers this weekend for pike and walleye in the traditional early ice spots. Ross's is stocked up with a fresh load of Large and Medium Golden Shiners, Walleye Suckers, Northern Suckers, Fatheads, Crappie, Spikes, and Waxies for the weekend!!!!

Good Luck and be safe on the early ice!!!!

[Mark Benson]

John:

How did the snowstorm affect your good ice conditions??? Thanks in advance!!!

Mark

[John Carlson]

It's not good Mark, If your not sure where you are on the lake I would stay off the ice for a few days.... It kills me to post this because it's been a slow start to the ice season but I would rather see people stay home a couple more days and not be in danger. If you do venture out on the ice make sure you have a fishing partner and proper safety equipment, ropes, life vest, ice picks, a good ice spud and make sure to stay clear of moving water and the deeper lakes!!! I'm personally staying off the ice until we get some colder weather. A couple of days ago when I made this post we had -0 temps and no snow at all on the ice and the season was looking to be off to a good start.....

[Mark Benson]

Yep, John, I was prepared to fish last weekend until I knew we were getting the crud!!! Now I am hoping that areas that I want to fish were hit hard enough to get wet to the top and this cold weather is going to freeze it all down!!! I hadn't walleye fished for some period of time and felt this might be the year to get after 'em again, at least early. We're not supposed to get much precip. over the next ten days, so we'll have to see how this all freezes back up. Hopefully so good that the next snow is perfect for them to open the snow trails and for us not to have to deal with slush!!! Be safe out there!!!

Mark

[John Carlson]

Ok guys, I think it's safe to say that the ice is ok for foot travel. There is a 4-wheeler on Wilson lake right now but I don't recommend that. Reports of 3 to 6 inches of ice on most area waters. I would still look out for current areas and deeper water. Crowley Flowage (6 mile) is still wide open just to give you an idea of how crazy the ice conditions are!!! Also bad ice reports on Solberg near the county park stumpy bay area but other areas of the lake seem to be ok for shallow water foot travel. With the warm temps and the heavy wet snow there still is a lot of water moving and most of the creeks and rivers have more open water then normal for this time of year. So be careful with all that water movement under the ice!!!