DEER

[Chewskie]

Anyone have any reports on ice on Deer? I drove by and no one was out there....Is the ice safe enough? I have never fished the hard water out on Deer. Is it worht a try?

[Nathansdad]

The ice on Deer as well as most of the lakes in western Wisconsin are very sketchy. The 18" of snow on top of 4-8 inches of ice has caused major slush problems. Some of the slush spots have started to heal but I've seen many areas of with 2" of frozen slush on top of 6" of slush on top of 6" of ice. Not fun conditions for sure. Now the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for Monday into Tuesday a.m. for another 5"-7". This will greatly slow down the healing process. I think with caution most lakes are fishable just very messy. I think I'll be walking out for while and leaving the snowmobile on shore. I think driving my truck on the ice won't be an option until this snow stops and we get 2-3 weeks of below zero weather.

Be careful out there!

[foulpole18]

Was out on 2 area lakes yesterday and found conditions to be very different. Butternut lake in Luck was a slushy mess for the most part. The only place we found that wasn't was the south shore by the golf course. Went to Long lake after we got bored with 4" perch and didn't run into any slush.

Both lakes had similar ice conditions. Probably 8-10" of clear ice and a bunch of white garbage ice on top. Some guys drove full size trucks on Butternut. I wouldn 't recommend it though.

Does anybody know if you can access Deer Lake somewhere else other than the public access? When they plowed the access they pushed the snow in front of the access and you can't get around it. We talked to a guy on a snowmobile there and he said slush wasn't to bad. He went around the access through what looked like private property and on the lake. Wasn't interested in trespassing to get after some fish though.

[BigJakeL]

Foulpoles everyone uses that road to get on the lake! I have fished that lake for ten or so years and have used that trail millions of times to get out on the lake early ice. I am not even sure if it is a private property to tell you the truth.

[foulpole18]

There was a path from snowmobiles going through there, but there also was a for sale sign right there also. I wish I would have known that before we left the access. You are refering to the path that goes towards that guys house that uses the access parking lot to get to right?

[BigJakeL]

Ya, as you come down the hill towards the lake its on your left!

[foulpole18]

Thanks for the heads up. Wish I would have known that when we were there.

[Crappiechopper]

Wow would be nice to see some reports from this area! come on guys I know there's wisconnie guys that read this.

Here's mine. Fished Deer lake for perch Saturday.Ice thickness at 10" clear ice with 2-3" white ice on top. Fished 30 fow in several spots along north shore. Gold jigs worked best, still took 3 guys all day to catch 12 keepers. Very little traffic on lake.

[foulpole18]

Did you guys get on the lake from the public access? I still need to get back over there to give it a try.

[Crappiechopper]

We drove on the trail(driveway?) to the left of the ramp,this is the way everyone uses to get out there from the public access. Like before the actual ramp is still banked off.

[WalleyeChaser]

I believe the actual ramp is banked off because there is a spring or something there that makes the ice very weak!! I noticed this last year when fishing up there for the first time. The launch area had some open water not to far from it. I think that is why the other access is there. I was a little hesitant to use it at first also but realized it was there for a reason.

[foulpole18]

Are there any other places to worry about as far as springs or dangerous areas to avoid?

[WalleyeChaser]

Not that I'm aware of. Didn't mean to scare anybody! I was just informing as to why the launch is banked and why the other access is used instead.

[BigJakeL]

Looks like the Perch are biting out there! Anyone heard anything or caught any? Don't really care for perch myself but my son would love to catch a couple and i know when they bite out there they really bite!

[vman59]

I heard today that the perch were biting and pretty good if you hit it right.

[Nathansdad]

Very slow out there yesterday. Caught one keeper in 3 hours. Marked only a couple others. Lots of traffic on the ice.