Waubay Report 1/9-1/12

[MattL]

I got out to the Webster area with 6 other guys over the past weekend and managed to get into a pretty decent mixed bag. The first guy and I arrived on the lake around noon and spent about 5 hrs checking depths and trying to mark fish. Finally we found a couple in about 27' and decided to set up shop. I started setting tip ups while the other guy set up the wheel house. As I was setting the first tip up, I felt weight as I reeled up the slack to set the flag and a 15" walleye came up the hole. The other 2 houses arrived a few hours later and set up a ways away in slightly shallower water. They had a little slower action the first night, but made a move deeper and closer to us the next day and had better action.

The water was extremely clear and we were set up on a sand to rock transition. It seemed the deeper the better, but we did have tip ups in as shallow as 19' that produced a couple fish after dark.

The average size of the walleyes was pretty small but we managed to catch plenty of fish over 14" and up to 21". Most of the action was later in the evening and overnight. One night we even pulled the rattle reels to get some sleep. The majority of the fish came on setlines with fatheads or shiners. We did get some jigging, but aggressive jigs were not working well.

On Saturday we checked out a couple smaller lakes during the day and picked up about 35 perch and 35 blue gills in shallower water on waxies and spikes.

The ice on the bigger water has very little snow on it, but had some deep drifts to beware of. The smaller lakes had a lot more snow and guys were getting stuck with pickups. The ice thickness is over 26" and very close to needing an extension in a wheel house -- especially if you like to drill without fully setting it down.