Sawyer-Rusk-Washburn County Fishing report

[Joe]

Post your Sawyer-Rusk-Washburn counties Fishing reports here!

[Joe]

Any outdoor reports will work, fishing or hunting!

[snoozebutton]

Don't have time to go out today, anyone else been out checking? I've got 21 degrees right now and that's suppose to be close to the high for the day with a low in the low teens to single digits tonight. I will be out checking tomorrow morning and I'll report back here.

[snoozebutton]

Checked out Grindstone and LCO and both were open this morning. A few small bays that I went by had some ice so I'm guessing if you really wanted to fish, you could find a spot. I'm going to tackle my honey do list this afternoon and check again tomorrow morning

[WIFisher]

Thanks for the report! Im hoping I'll be able to get out next weekend in the Siren area.. Fishin MN ponds this weekend...

Ryan

[snoozebutton]

Next weekend shouldn't be a problem. Most lakes were skimmed over yesterday and I've got 1 below right now. I've got to work the next 3 days but I should be out Wednesday and I'll give an update then.

[vman59]

what in the world are you doing up at 4am? Deer hunting?

[kingfisherpat]

hopeing to get out next weekend too

ice fishing go about 19 degrees here and st cloud mn

really excited to get out ice fishing this next weekend

keep me updated on how much ice we have around st cloud mn

[snoozebutton]

what in the world are you doing up at 4am? Deer hunting?

No, unfortunately I was getting ready for work.

[tgruenke]

Anybody know how Holcombe looks? Hope to head up there next weekend.

[snoozebutton]

Well, I checked Grindstone and LCO today and not enough ice on LCO and there were waves washing up on the landing on Grindstone. I stopped at the bait shop and was told guys were getting out on Nelson and Richardson Bay on Round but no one has said anything about what they're catching.

Talked to my son in law and him and his buddies have been fishing the south bay on Shell Lake and according to him there's 6 to 7 inches there but the main part was iffy yet.

Back to work for me tomorrow so no more reports until Thursday at least but I should be able to report something more possitive by then. Let's hope for no more snow until we get some good ice.

[vman59]

hoping to go out somewhere this coming weekend.

[79LumaCraft]

Will be heading up for two days of fishing LCO and possibly Grindstone. Saw last weekend that there weren't many houses at the mouth of Musky Bay? Fish kill in the bay the cause of that? Is the ice safe all around LCO now? Anyone know the best way to get by snowmobile from LCO to Grindstone? Should we take the trails marked past Waterfront or go through the channel that you take in the summer?

[snoozebutton]

I haven't been out since the last cold spell but I was finding anywhere from 6" to 12" last week. I'd say you'd be fine with a snowmobile or 4-wheeler and I'd stay away from the channel between the two, stick with the trail. Never hurts to stop in at the Waterfront for a cold one, they're pretty good about sharing info on the latest bite.

Not sure about Musky Bay, I know it does get winter kill from time to time but haven't been over that way yet this winter.

[Rick]

Ice depths on most lakes in the area continue to hold at 12 to 16 inches. Many anglers have once again started to drive out to their fishing spots but caution is still urged.

Ice thickness is often un-even across a lake and some undisturbed, drifted areas have been reported to have only 8 to 10 inches of ice thickness.

Overall, access and fishing conditions have been generally good -- with relatively light snow cover, very little slush, and unseasonably mild temperatures in the last week. However, angling success has continued on a generally slow trend.

Walleye have still the main species of interest across most of the Northwoods and action has been very sporadic. Some days have produced decent action but it seems the fish have been very finicky on the bait they'll hit and the spot where it's being presented. The most consistent spots have been the mid-depth break lines and the mud flats in 8 to 12 feet of water, with small sucker minnows for bait. Most of the walleye caught have been in the 12- to 16-inch range, but a few fish in the mid-20 inch size have also been landed.

Northern pike fishing has been fair to good, with the bright sunny days producing the best action during the middle of the day. The best success has come on large golden shiners and sucker minnows, fished near green weeds in 4 to 8 feet of water. Some nice pike in the low 30-inch range have been reported from the area in the past week.

Panfish have been providing the best action in the area with some decent catches of perch, crappie and bluegill.

Perch have been found just off the bottom in water from 5 to 15 feet deep, while the larger crappie and bluegill have been suspended over deeper water and near any green weeds. In addition, the most successful anglers have had to move around quite a bit to find the active fish.

[borealis]

thanks for the update

[snoozebutton]

Was out on LCO last night and while the ice was good (around 14") the fishing was slow. I was in 14' in Chicago Bay and managed one small walleye (15") and 2 small northerns.

[vman59]

how was LOTW? What was the hot bait? I'll be on Lco on this coming friday afternoon and evening. Where I don't know yet but me and the 2 sons are coming up.I have an idea though.

[snoozebutton]

It was great vman. Caught probably 30 to 40 fish a day and kept our limit of 16" to 19" walleyes and 13" to 15" saugers. Only one perch and 2 eelpouts. BTW, I sent you an email.

[79LumaCraft]

ended up catching nothing in various spots along the north shore of the lake to the east of Angler's, but were catching decent crappies and sunnies outside of Musky Bay, just enough away from the small crowd, but the bite started and ended in no more than 20 minutes. Will be headed up again in two weeks.

[Cooter]

Two of my buds did well up on LCO last Thurs/Friday for eyes. Not sure exactly where on the lake but they were in 30' using tipups.

[Rick]

Upper Chippewa Basin fisheries report-The mild weather of last week, coupled with the rain and snow storms in the last several days, have combined to make for some very sloppy ice conditions on lakes and flowages across the Northwoods.

Most lakes still have 12 to 16 inches of ice, but there is a 4 to 8 inch layer of slush and snow on top of that. In addition, vehicle and ATV traffic have caused some large ruts and rough conditions, and this has resulted in some difficult travel conditions on the lakes.

The upcoming cold weather should help firm up the sloppy conditions, but travel may still be troublesome on most waters. For fishing action, it seems that the mid-winter winter doldrums have set in and success has tapered off for most species in the area.

Walleye action could be considered fair for this mid-winter time and most anglers are experiencing just enough action to keep them interested. Success has been erratic but the best catches have come on the cloudy and mild days, when temperatures reached up into the 20s and low 30s. The favorite bait continues to be small sucker minnows, fished 6 inches off the bottom in 8 to 12 feet of water and in the hour before dark.

Northern pike activity has also slowed up in the last week as the increased snow cover seems to have moved the fish to a little deeper water.

Panfish action has been inconsistent and these anglers have been moving around quite a bit. Anglers have been moving from lake to lake, and from spot to spot on a lakes - searching for the active fish. Success has been quite variable, with perch providing most of the action for the panfish anglers.

[snoozebutton]

Been hitting a few small lakes in the area chasing crappies without much success. So far it's been smaller ones with an occasional 12 incher. By small I'm talking about 8 and 9 inchers.

I think it's still a little early in the year, normally most of the snow is gone from the ice before I start getting some bigger ones.

Haven't been out after walleyes in about a month now but I've heard guys are still getting a few in deeper water.

Anyone else doing anything?

[Joe]

Upper Chippewa Basin fisheries report (Price, Rusk, Sawyer Taylor and inland Ashland and Iron counties) - With recent snowfall adding another 3 to 4 inches of insulating snow cover, ice thickness on most lakes continues to hold in the 16 to 20-inch range. Access conditions have become a bit more difficult with the deeper snow depth (about 6 to 8 inches on most lakes), and many vehicles have had to stick to the packed trails that have developed on the lakes. In addition, a few small areas of slush have also been showing up, but they haven't been deep enough to bog down any vehicles yet. The seasonable weather of the past week has resulted in a moderate amount of fishing pressure, but success continues to be at mid-winter lows. The die-hard walleye and panfish anglers have been out in pretty good numbers, and they all have been finding action to be very erratic. Some days produce fair catches, but on others, bites have been very tough to come by. The regular walleye ice anglers have reported generally slow action, with a decent bite occurring about every third day. And then when the active feeding is going on, it's been only for about 30 to 40 minutes just before dark, and then shuts off like a light switch. No one tactic has been better than the other -- as deep break lines, mud/muck flats, gravel drop-offs, and weed edges have all been producing generally low catches. Panfish success has also been inconsistent and these anglers have been moving around quite a bit -- both lake to lake, and from spot to spot on a lake. Active fish have been hard to come by, with each hole often producing only one or two fish before the angler has to move on to the next hole. Overall catches have been low, and anglers have had to work to bring home a decent bag of eight to 10 fish. The crappie that have been caught were being found in deep water and suspended 2 to 4 feet off the bottom, and the perch have been just off the bottom deep break lines and mid-depth mud flats. For bait, both waxworms and crappie minnows have been working okay. Northern pike activity has been generally slow and few reports of success have come in.

[snoozebutton]

Been getting reports from several lakes and the crappie bite is really heating up. The bad part is there's not going to be much ice by the weekend with this rain and warm temps. Well, there will be ice but getting to it might be a challenge. A lot of the landings are getting pretty nasty.