fishing reports St. Croix River-Amery-Balsam-Big Round-Wapo-Turtle Fishing Reports

[vman59]

fished a small lake just west of Big Round. Had to do a lot of hole hopping just to manage 27 among 4 guys.

[vman59]

Jan 16, 2011 Sunday ALMENA SPORTSMAN CLUB ICE FISHING CONTEST

Crappies, Northern Pike, Panfish, Walleye.

Turtle Lake, WI

UPPER TURTLE LAKE 11am to 3 pm

[Nick Kuhn]

It might help if you mention the lake name, although I'm guessing you mean Upper Turtle.

[jdog]

is that sat or sunday the 15th is on a saturday

[vman59]

The WIFL will be holding an ice fishing tournament on Big Round Polk County. For more information and list of the other WIFL tournaments go to this link: Wisconsin Ice Fishing League

[Walleye Guy]

Anywhere on-line that you can see the results of the tourney on Big Round?

[vman59]

heard a rumor of nice gills being caught on Coon lake at Fredrick any truth to it?

[sicheneder]

fished around the osceola area last weekend. fishing was very slow on one lake with lots of lookers the gills were in shallower water 4-12 fow with weeds on a flat and out of the the break in the mud for perch. another lake had aggressive tiny crappies on a very small lake during the day in a deep hole. i think i missed the best bite by a couple of weeks.after that i'm going to stick to the chisago lakes area for the rest of the ice season.

[Jarrid Houston]

Any chance anyone wants to share a nice blue gill spot. Size does not much matter, but it would be nice to get into some nice ones. Not looking to keep anything, just want to stay busy catching fish and have fun! Thanks!

[WalleyeChaser]

The Apple River can be good by Amery. I haven't been up there this year but the gills always seemed to bite out there. Although they weren't anything to brag about they were always less finiky. I think the landing was off the road by the RIFF and Rails place on 46. Or at least somwhere near there I believe. Sorry I never drove there so I didn't pay much attention to exactly where it was. We always walked out about 75-100 yds from the landing and just a tad North, but people used to fish kind of every where out there so I don't think there is an exact spot. Hole hop if you can until you find the fish that whole area should be good.

[dudewheresmyboat]

The north end of Wapo is kicking out a few decent gills 6-10fow. Good Luck!

[Jarrid Houston]

Plan on hitting Balsam with my brother in law..Hope the lake access is good to drive through come this weekend. Starting to get sloppy out there I bet. Thanks for the tips guys!

[Nick Kuhn]

I'd be very careful on Balsam. There's a lot of water running into lakes this week, so there will be some spots with weak ice.

[Jarrid Houston]

Thanks for the tip, Yeah we might put on the rubber boots and do some walking.....Suppose to be 50 degrees so that will be nice.....

[Nick Kuhn]

Balsam is a known trap for vehicles, especially in the narrows (where I'm assuming there is a bit of flow). I see stories of vehicles falling through every year there, more-so than any other lake in the area.

[kenais]

2 vehicles went through on Balsam in the past couple of days. 1 was in the narrows and I didn't hear where the other one was at. I haven't seen any traffic on the main part of the lake this week, people may still be driving on east Balsam though. Be careful, the lake is know to eat trucks.

[Jarrid Houston]

Holy man, is Balsam a busy place to fish. Icounted 23 other guys fishing in the relative area I was. Did not look like people were catching a lot, I honestly think I probabbly did better than most, but I was not keeping track or score.. Fish seemed to be very lite biters, and very finiky,, Was fun out there, would have been perfect with out the wind, but nonetheless awesome! Gdluck!

[Nick Kuhn]

Did quite a bit of fishing this weekend; and oddly enough had the best luck off my dock. Water temps ranged from 70-75 depending on the lake. Marked lots of fish suspended along drop offs, mostly crappies and gills. Muskie action continues to be slow for me, another weekend without a fish sighted. Bass and northerns are very active along the weedlines. Some weeds are starting to die off already. Oddly enough I found half dead weeds to be more productive than really green weeds. Look for fish to continue holding there until they completely die off.

[Nick Kuhn]

Got back out this weekend for the first time in 3 weeks. Water temps 58-61 degrees. Lakes are starting to clear up, and based on how deep I was picking up fish on the electronics they may have already turned over with that big wind earlier in the week. Crappies could be found as shallow as 12 feet to suspended over 30 feet of water. Perch were on the bottom to suspended in similar depths, but I was surprised to see anything actually holding 30 feet down. Spent the weekend casting muskies. Had one short strike near the weed edge on Saturday night, but that was it. Sunday hit it hard again. Had a few follows early casting to the weed line from out in 20 feet of water. I initially had thought they were following all the way from the weeds, but the side scan told a different story. Actually picked up the fish rising from deep on the dropoff. Switched to trolling cranks around along the dropoff and managed to pick up a cute little guy.

[Nick Kuhn]

Lakes should complete turning over sometime this week. Major wind made fishing over the weekend very difficult. Panfish seem to have left shallow water in favor of deeper structure. Some bass remain around in the shallows, as well as a good number of pike which were very active if you could find them. Did not fish a ton as the wind simply made boat control very difficult. Look for things to improve this weekend.

[Nick Kuhn]

Action was mixed this weekend. Under bright skies Saturday I only managed a few small pike. Talked to others at the launch and other than a few non-keeper walleyes action was generally slow. Things changed Sunday. Those willing to brave the light rain and at times wind saw plenty of Esox action. Muskies would chase pretty much anything you put in front of them. For a while we had a follow about ever 5th cast. Only operator error prevented any of them from hitting the net, as I had one hooked for a while and had a number of other strikes without a hookup. I did manage to get this guy in the net though:

Oh, water temps were in the low 50's. Fish were generally shallow near weeds, although I was marking some near breaks in 20-25 FoW.

[Jarrid Houston]

Nick, I see you sport a Gophers hat, are you a MN sports fan living in Sconnie like me>?

[Nick Kuhn]

Nope, I live in Minnesota. The cabin is in Wisconsin though; on Lake Magnor to be precise. No muskies in there though so I jump around lakes a lot.

[Jarrid Houston]

Cool, and glad you are a vikes, twins, gophers, etc fan. MN needs fans worst than ever!

[Nick Kuhn]

Was out again this weekend. Not a lot for me to report, Saturday we blew a tire and it took us a while to find a good enough jack to get the spare on. Was out for a short time casting, got one pike around 30" but didn't see anything else. Fished Sunday in the drizzle and only had one lazy follow on a bulldawg. It moved towards the sucker but didn't take it. Guys at the bait shop however said they were going through fatheads quickly, so it sounds like the walleye/crappie fisherman are doing quite well out there now. Looks like they've pulled the buoys on all the lakes, and the water is quite cold so be prepared and careful if you do decide to head out.