Fishing reports

[Steve Foss]

Hey all:

Let's post reports on this thread.

Spent part of today (Sunday) on Minnesuing in Douglas County, NW Wisconsin. Got there at 10, left at 2. Seven flags, four pike, biggest 3 lb. Not a huge day, but it beat working.

Fellow in off the deep hole in the southern end of the lake pulled a limit of crappies in an hour and a half in 28 feet. Said they were coming up as far as 8 feet to take the bait. Nothing over 11 inches. Crappie bite shut off at 1.

Eight solid inches of clear ice with an inch of snow on top, and lots of folks were pulling permanent houses out on the lake with ATVs.

Fished the St. Louis River off Boy Scout Landing on the evening bite. Caught to small 'eyes, 13-inchers, threw them back. I was in 10 feet, guy 20 feet away in 13 feet caught several 'eyes, including a 15 and a 17 incher or so, plus several small pout.

How'd everybody do this weekend? Don't forget to post where in the state you're fishing, so everybody can figure out what region you mean.

Good luck.

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Steve Foss
Superior, Wis.
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 12-08-2002).]

[Guest]

Fished Lake Kegonsa this am. ( Madison area )
3 to 5 inches of good ice. Was thinner ( 3" ) further out over deeper water.
Went for perch but got blown off the lake after an hour or so. Went closer to shore out of the wind and tried for some gills. Did'nt mark many fish and caught only 2 so so perch. Must be a Gill die off in progress as I saw at least 30 gills dead and dying under the ice. Some were pushin 9".

There's fishable ice on Red Cedar lake , Hope Lake , The Marsh off Rock Lake , and Koshkanong. All in Jefferson county. I'm not too sure about the deeper lakes in the area but I'd say give her till the next weekend to be on the safe side.

Staring Tuesday I'm off to the Angle and a few other lakes around MN to try my luck fishin for a week or so. CAN'T WAIT !

Tight lines all ! ~~~~~~ ><>

[fishnfool]

Fished Lac Vieux Desert in Vilas County Saturday on a good 6-8" of ice. Had flags popping all day long and iced a total of 17 nice northern and released all but 3 due to deep hook sets. The walleye were harder to come by only icing 2, one of legal size. We had numerous missed flags and a few of those may have been walleyes. Local reports are that the walleyes are biting in the afternoon and shutting down after dark. All in all it was a great day of fishing.
Good Luck

[pbowhunter]

went out sunday to polk county. Fished backwaters of StCroix in osceola. fished for pike within 2 hours had cought 10 nice northerns. One was around 7 lbs. Kept three and ran out of shinners. Plan on trying wappaggasset tonight will let know how did.

[Bodyman]

I fish the mississippi back waters in the LaCrosse area. This weekend was my first time on the ice this year. 4"to 5" of good solid ice. Fished south of LaCrosse at goose island saturday morning with little luck. I finished the day on lake onalaska with a limit of nice gills and a few perch. Got out early sunday in the same place on the lake but the fish didn't start biting until 11:00,should have slept in :-) Finished the day with a limit of gills and a few perch and off the ice by 2:00. Can't wait for the ice to sure up below the dam at Dresbach so I can get into some hard water walleyes.

Fishing Is Life

[Steve Foss]

Thanks for those reports.

And my apologies to pbowhunter, who had already started a "fishing reports" thread. Didn't see it before I posted this one. Guess your moderator had his head up, well, you know where.

So post reports on either one, no problem.

Geeman: Great luck at the Angle. I know they're positively slaying the eyes along the south shore from Baudette to Warroad. Seems like everyone went last weekend and everyone else is going this weekend, but I can't get enough time off. Hope the Angle is hot too, and if it's not, at least the scenery's a lot better.

Bodyman: Keep those LaX reports coming. I caught my first pike ever at Goose Island 35 years ago, and my first sunnies in a backwater near LaX.

------------------
Steve Foss
Superior, Wis.
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 12-09-2002).]

[nolte]

Went out to boyscout this morning and caught five but all little guys. Lost a few others but there wasn't much action.

[Steve Foss]

Hey nolte:

Welcome to the forum. Glad someone popped the cherry on Boy Scout.

How thick was the ice? You mean little perch or little crappies? How big were they? How deep were you fishing? Was the hill slippery/sloppy?

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 12-10-2002).]

[nolte]

The fish we caught were all little eyes. The ice was around 7 inches thick. Almost getting to much to hand auger. The hill wasn't slippery at all when we went down.

[Steve Foss]

Nolte, talk about a brain fart! You said Boy Scout and I heard McClure's Landing. Sheesh. No way you popped the cherry on Boy Scout. Sorry my brain was in neutral when my typing fingers were in overdrive.

How deep were you on Boy Scout, and which direction did you go from the landing?

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 12-10-2002).]

[pbowhunter]

my grandpa lives in chaseberg. I fish goose island a few times a year. a lot of bluegills and northerns

[Steve Foss]

We were just in a couple of the bars in Chaseburg over T-giving while at deer camp. Deer camp is a couple miles off Hwy 14/61 in northern Vernon County.

[fish_on_llc]

fished Big Butternut last night from 5-7pm. got out late and missed the perch bite. Crappies started biting at 6:30 in 18 feet of water. Iced a dozen or so between 6-7pm. The water is still quite cloudy. It makes the fish look bigger coming up into the shack. They were nice fish 7-10". waxies and glow demons.

Good Luck,

------------------
Jeff Phelan
Fish On LLC
[email protected]

[nolte]

Went out to Boyscout again last night. We ended up with two keeper eyes and caught a few other small ones. Also got a decent sized eelpout. We were down about a 100 yards and the only action was in about 10 feet. Tried shallower and deeper but nothin. Going up to LOW this weekend, can't wait to head North.

[pbowhunter]

backwaters of stcroix osceola polk county. I was going with a buddy of mine so i DIDNT bring my auger. once i got there he dicided not to bring his auger. So we used the holes that were already open with this warm front. I wanted to set up one more so i grabbed the HATCHETT and made a hole. It wasnt big enough to bring a real big fish through but i figured with eight tip ups there was a good chance it wouldnt take this one. caught a few small northerns then right at dark i get a flag and pull up a 12.5 inch crappie on a 3+ inch shiner in 4 feet of water. I WAS SHOCKED then i look back at the tipup in the hole where i had used the hatchet and its up. i set the hook and sure enough hes the big one. i play him for a little while then get him up to the hole and one of the treble hooks was on the outside of his mouth and he gets off. MAN DID THAT [PoorWordUsage] ME OFF I WILL ALWAYS BRING MY AUGER

[Guest]

PBowhunter,
Do you ever catch any Gar in the backwaters of the St. Croix?

[Steve Foss]

Fished two NW Wisconsin lakes today. Nelson Lake in Sawyer County by Hayward, and Middle Eau Claire in Bayfield County.

Started on Nelson from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fished the north arm off Grass Island with pike tip-ups. Only one flag the whole time and one small pike. Also one small crappie on bobber/minnow. Had planned to finish out the evening walleye bite on Nelson, but got out of that Friday the 13th bad luck fest before it got me.

Found a main lake point of rock and gravel on Middle Eau Claire. Set up on the point in 11 feet of water with jigging/bobber. Set tip-ups on either side of the point in about 15 feet, one side toward a shallow bay, the other side toward the lake and deeper water. Nothing on the point itself the whole evening. Had 10 flags from 5 to 6:30, landed 7 walleyes. All came on the same tip-up, the one on the side closest to the main lake/deep water. Just used a glow demon and back-hooked fatheads. First three got away because they were taking them slow and it took me awhile to adjust.

Could only keep one, though. Limit on M.E.C. is two fish, with only one over 14 inches. All I caught were from 14.5 to 16 inches, like they were stamped from the same cookie cutter. What a freakin limit! So I came home with one fish, and thawed a few perch to go with it.

Great action though. Put reflective tape on all my tip-up flags, and all I needed for light to catch the reflection was the dimmest setting on the Princeton Tech Aurora headlamp. Too much light with clear ice on a lake with a secchi disk reading of clear to 26 feet would have sent those fish running the other way.

Can't wait to get back there.

Oh, by the way, 8 inches of clear solid ice on Nelson, 8-10 on Eau Claire. People were driving small cars and SUVs on Eau Claire. Two or three days in the 40s didn't hurt the ice at all.

[This message has been edited by stfcatfish (edited 12-13-2002).]

[JAR JAR]

Went to Kimball's Bay on Saturday with a buddy of mine ,we caught well over 30 fish most being crappies from 9" to 10-1/2" some small perch and saw some walters caught
Not a real great day but the sun was shining and I was not sitting at home!! Will post more in future.

FLAGG!!!!

JAR JAR

[Steve Foss]

Hey Jar:

Thanks for the report.

Do you have directions for getting on Kimball's? I've ice fished McClure's but that's it so far when it comes to the Superior-side inlets.

Did you need a sled/wheeler? Is there a disgusting nasty hill like on McClure's?

[Guest]

fished pike lake in amery fri night/sat am
very little results toshow for the effort.ice
was solid 6inches,very few fish graphed,little lake fishing pressure.tried from 8ft to 28 ft,logged many hours and many
holes,still good to be out,nice moon friday
night,

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, clear, stars, moon, no wind. It was nice being out on the ice. Very hard to come home. Being on a clear lake made me wonder just how late the bite might have gone, too.

[JAR JAR]

Hey St
To get to Kimballs you take Billings Drive to Badger Drive and take right on Badger then go about 1/4 mile and the parking lot is on the left hand side.
A four wheeler is nice but not nessesary the walk is not all that bad(about 1/2 mile).
Follow trail down to the water and go out to your right but be careful there is a point to your right and you have to stay way out to your left because of the current and the ice is real thin. Then fish the east shoreline out in front of the houses in about 12- 15 ft. of water. You never know what you are going to catch out there.

FLAGG!!!!

JAR JAR

Oh! by the way. The hill is nothing like the one at McClures. Pretty easy to manuver.

[rascalP]

pbow,

You fishin the MN side just north of the road? The past few years I've seen a few people fishin there but it doesnt look deeper than a couple of feet,if that. I guess looks can be decieving.

[pbowhunter]

yeah im fishing the northside. Your right the deepest part in this lake pond is 6 feet. THere are a lot of springs in it and i guess the fish have enought oxygen. THere is some good panfishing and northerns. a guy said he cought a 13.5 inch crappie out there last year. i have never cought a gar out there. but i cought a eel type fish with a yellow bottom it didnt have any teeth. anybody know what kind of fish it was?

[Steve Foss]

Fished the Nemadji in Superior for pout tonite for about an hour and a half with Northlander off the landing above the Hwy 2 bridge.

No pout.

Ruined a nice set of blades for the strikemaster, though. Scraped them up real nice on some grit in the ice. No point "pouting" about it, since I've got spares. Guess I'll try to see if Srikemaster will sharpen them. I know that no one else will, having tried this before.