Apostle Islands, Chequamegon Bay Fishing Reports

[Jim Hudson]

Kent, sorry to hear about your skunking in the bay.. But, you hit on something key.. Mobility can be key to getting bit during those days your seeing a lot of sniffers.. Gotta keep moving to find some active ones..

Ice is still looking good.. Lots of ice in the bay itself.. And north of Houghton Point, the average is 12 inches of ice.. This leads all the way into the islands.. To Hermit, Oak, and just south of Steamboat Point on Madeline Island.. Big winds forecasted again this weekend, some ice has left from the western side of the islands, and hopefully it doesnt get beat up too bad this weekend..

Current is key for active trout, in the islands and in the bay itself.. If current is lacking, downsizing is key.. And for lakers in the depths, this means spoons, sometimes 3/4 of an ouce with some cut bait. Also, bucktail jigs seem to get bit more often then not on these days as well. With good current, nothing beats a beetle.. Mackinaws, Delasky, of the Fly are my favorite.. ounce to two ounce.. Always having a stinger hook rigged off them too!!!

Interesting enough, this past Tuesday, we caught all our fish on GULP! J erk Shads.. I filleted the 5 inchers and used them on the pins of beetles to get bit.. And this was a day the fish were finicky as well.. I'll be experimenting with this set-up more throughout the season..

Have just started to get photos again, after losing my camera down the hole in 190 FOW the other day..

[Quickstrike]

Thanks Jim, we were out in the islands on saturday, until the wind pushed us inside. We fished in 190 ft of water and I had one hit. However, Matt, who was fishing 20 ft away from me with the same setup managed to hook 5 fish and land a 36 incher. There wasn't a lot of current where we were and there was about 8 inches of ice. We did run into an area where there was only about 3 inches so be careful. I've got a few good pics I'll get up eventually.

[Jim Hudson]

Was out there as well with clients.. Had a pretty good day.. When that wind started, just a bit, the fish really bit...

Am still not sure what the wind did to the ice.. Will be checking on it here shortly, but I dont think it is going to look good down the chutes in and easterly and westerly lay...

[trimbelle22]

How long is there good ice in the bay usually? im sure it changes every year, but based on how much there is currently, how long would you expect people to be fishing Chequamegon? I have spring break in mid-March and i'm opting out of a florida trip and contemplating a trip up to superior...call me dumb.

[Quickstrike]

Here's a pic of MattPong's 36 incher from this weekend. What a fight that was!

[Quickstrike]

Here's a pic of MattPong's 36 incher from this weekend. What a fight that was!

nevermind, my link isn't working from this computer. I'll get it up later from my own comp.

[matthothand]

Went out yesterday near Washburn and while my comrades were fishless, I landed two coho. We missed a few fish in the house and way too many on the tip-ups. Pretty frustrating but atleast I got a few up the hole. We fished a bunch of different spots. First spot was by the onion in 30 FOW and we couldn't get anything happening so we moved. Wound up getting our fish 15-20 feet down in 30-45 FOW. We missed about 4 fish every time a school came through. Just one of "those" days. The potential for a lot of fish was there though. We did have to work our tails off to get on them.

[outdoor ran]

Thanks for the report matt

[Quickstrike]

Well my dad, my uncle, and myself ventured into the islands this past weekend. Nice weather, good ice conditions, but pretty slow fishing for the most part. I blew a tire on my trailer on friday so that took fishing out of the question for the most part on Friday. On Saturday we hooked 6 fish and only landed 2. One was about 3 lbs. and one was around 5. As we were getting ready to pack it in I had the tip of my rod violently pulled down to the hole and could feel what was a very big fish at the end of the line. Just as my uncle was opening the zipper to my shack, the hook popped out. RodnGun joined us Sunday and it was even slower than saturday, we hooked 2 landed none. We fished mainly from 180 ft to 210. There was a ton of guys out there, especially on saturday, way more than last weekend. All in all it's always a fun trip, but it would be nice if the fish would cooperate better one of these years.

[lovethegitch]

went out friday and sunday[24th]2 of us got 5 on friday and sunday i got 3 and my partner got 1 about 10 lbs. out by hermit. looks like they are getting a lot of fish in their nets. lots of guts on the ice.

[lovethegitch]

not much talk on this thread about bobbing in the islands whats going on. is everybody as tightlipped as the trout

[Jim Hudson]

Royce

Sorry for the delay in reports here.. Been very busy this month, not much time to sign on here lately..

Either way, your right, the past few days the lakers have had a tight lip for most folks.. Been a tough go for a lot of trout hunters.. Out deep and in shallow.. But still a few trouts are being caught.. Some days its about running and gunning to spots and finding active fish and some days its a wait em out game on certain productive spots with the right current to get bit one or two times during the day. Either way, dark colored baits with cut bait and at times Berkley Gulp! products are working the best.. Oranges, Purples, Blacks, etc etc in beetles and such.. When current is lacking, spoons are producing better, sometimes downsizing to 3/4 of an ounce.

Overall though the best bite is still in deep water for the most part. 180FOW or deeper. But, in some select areas, fish are being caught in less water.. from 120 to 150...

Also, those who are snowmobile or ATV less, the ice road from Bayfield to Madeline has been producing some lakers too..

In the bay itself, the lighthouse in to about 26 FOW has been the best ticket for a mixed bag.. Some coho are starting to show up too...

With March rolling in, fishing should improve greatly!!! I will try to be more current on my reports.

[DeathRoe]

Fished out by Stockton on Sunday. Slow going with 3 fish for 2 guys. We set up in about 165FOW. Current was going in the morning and tapered off pretty quick to nearly nothing. Both fish for me came on 1 1/2oz beetles, white.

[Jim Hudson]

Not much has changed in the islands or in the bay.. Fishing still has been day to day.. But people are still catching fish, both in the islands and in the bay. Actually, in the bay itself, reports have been picking up some for all species..

Looks like the ice will be sticking around for awhile too..

[bmc]

Jim,

Nice article in the Duluth paper today. I've had the pleasure of having Sam Cook fishing rainbow trout around here in the mine pits and going with me on an afternoon bowhunt. He wrote articles on both trips for the paper. He sure is a heck of a nice guy. I really want to get down to your area and do some ice fishing. Hopefully next year as my wife is alredy giving me the "evil" eye with the trips I have planned for this year.

Brian

[DeathRoe]

Anyone else catching fish that are puking up herring. The majority of the lakers i've iced this year have ralfed one up at the hole, with fat bellies left to spare.

[Tom Linderholm]

yep, we had the same thing going on at the get together, even my pout had a mouthfull.

[Jim Hudson]

Thanks BMC.. Was good times..

The herring bit.. The trouts always usually have something slammed in their gullet.. This year, I have found most fish hardly have anything in them on the slower days.. But the fast action days, they are spitting up and spewing bait all over the place.. Some areas, baby herring or smelt, are predominant.. But in others, large herring are the bait of choice and seen most as the lakers are burping.. Or have them half hanging out of their mouths.

Been a weird year for sure so far.. Lots and lots of good fisherman here in these parts are scratching their heads at the longer then usual slow period in the laker fishing.. But, I do believe, fishing will pick up here greatly in a short time. March is always great for lakers in the islands. But we shall see..

[Northlander]

Ya I would say 60% of the fish we caught had at least 2 herring hangin out of its mouth. Even the pout and little 2 pounders.

Jim make sure we have laker ice at the end of the mouth.

Poutslayer needs at least 15" he says.

[Deep_Sinker]

Well, I'm finally going to hit the bay chasing lakers this weekend. My better half thinks we'll be checking out sea caves! (Just out of curiosity, can we run our sleds along the ice to view caves?) Ah, I'm in for it...I have never been in the area but will pick up a map from Craig on along the way. From previous posts I see 180 fow has been best, but where do I start to find this water?

[DeathRoe]

If you go to Red Cliff, just follow the giant train out to the left and around the island across from the access. Your best bet would be to talk to Craig and then you can be looking at a map. As far as driving machines to the caves, i might be wrong, but i'm gonna say no way. Ice out there is not locked in and is thinner and much more undependable. Coming back from the islands last Saturday at 4, there were easily 60 cars by the caves, with cars parked almost a mile up the highway, giving the indication that hundreds of people were there earlier in the day, YUCK.

[Deep_Sinker]

Well, I hit up the islands this weekend. We didn't have any luck getting the lakers up the hole, but it was a learning experience. We did get a couple bites and lost them reeling up. Hopefull I will be able to get back out there this year...We also stopped by the sea caves. That is awesome. I would recommend it to anyone. To me, it looked like the ice will be there for awhile. Be prepared though, it is about one mile to get to the caves from the landing.

[lovethegitch]

has the march laker fishing in the islands picked up yet. i have not been there for 2 weekends. got ice in duluth been catching cohos and whitefish thinking of giving the islands one more try.

[Deep_Sinker]

 Originally Posted By: lovethegitch

has the march laker fishing in the islands picked up yet. i have not been there for 2 weekends. got ice in duluth been catching cohos and whitefish thinking of giving the islands one more try.

It looked like the ice blew out of Duluth today for the most part. There still was a small area from the lift bridge to 21st; other than that, it was wide open. I'd bet with the strong SW winds predicted for tomorrow, she'll be all open. Maybe you'd want to car pool to the islands the on your next time over...

[outdoor ran]

DS, I saw that clear blue water out there yesterday on my way to work. Man, I can't wait to get out trolling. Bring on the strong warm south winds