Rob Manthei
01-28-2014, 08:25 AM
As one of coldest winters in recent history continues to linger on, ice travel is getting tougher and tougher. Drifted snow is making it very tough to drive trucks around on a lot of lakes, and plowed roads only stay open for limited time with the strong winds that have been occurring.
Areas of slush and deep snow on windward shorelines haven't helped access to some lakes either.
The mid to lake winter lull is coming upon us. Don't get me wrong, the bite is still decent on days that Mother Nature makes it inviting to get out(I don't have a choice when guiding, LOL!)
I am finding walleyes deep in grass, mud, and gravel areas. Suckers on tip ups has been the bread and butter approach. If conditions allowed it, jigging would probably be a good option, but without shacks the weather hasn't allow for much "hole hopping."
I did guide panfish one day last week and we did well on deep cribs. Most of my requests are for walleyes, with a little pike action mixed in during the day. Pike are active in shallow weed flats and edges, but the largest pike in my tournament this past weekend(36 7/8") came from deep rocks.
If February is normal and we get the snow that we usually have, ice travel will be limited to snowmobiles at best. Hopefully we will see a break in the weather and with that some solid consistant fishing.
Good Luck!
Areas of slush and deep snow on windward shorelines haven't helped access to some lakes either.
The mid to lake winter lull is coming upon us. Don't get me wrong, the bite is still decent on days that Mother Nature makes it inviting to get out(I don't have a choice when guiding, LOL!)
I am finding walleyes deep in grass, mud, and gravel areas. Suckers on tip ups has been the bread and butter approach. If conditions allowed it, jigging would probably be a good option, but without shacks the weather hasn't allow for much "hole hopping."
I did guide panfish one day last week and we did well on deep cribs. Most of my requests are for walleyes, with a little pike action mixed in during the day. Pike are active in shallow weed flats and edges, but the largest pike in my tournament this past weekend(36 7/8") came from deep rocks.
If February is normal and we get the snow that we usually have, ice travel will be limited to snowmobiles at best. Hopefully we will see a break in the weather and with that some solid consistant fishing.
Good Luck!