Ice Fishing Report January 30, 2024

Ice Fishing Report Sponsored by CHill Guide Service

I take many different types of people ice fishing, some have lots of skills, some haven’t fished in years, and some that have never been before. This weekend was a weekend that reminded me that fishing is supposed to be fun and focus on making it a fun time is the most important thing and if the fish bite that is just a bonus.

Saturday, I had 16 women scheduled to fish with me and we had some of the best weather we have seen in days if not weeks. These ladies fished with me last year for the first time and it was -25 that
morning so this year felt tropical. These ladies showed me that it’s not always about catching fish but It’s about making memories that will last a lifetime with the friends and family that we have and to not take it for granted.

The bite has been a spoon tipped with a minnow head but Saturday we caught more fish on tip ups then anything else. I saw a few times a fish would come into my spoon and not even slow down but instantly went to a set line a few feet away. These ladies though did not complain one minute and the joy of hearing someone screaming “Flag!!!!!” and a group taking off to try and catch the fish was enjoyable to watch. Our best presentation was to put the tip up above the weeds about a foot but if we didn’t have weeds in the area, we would put it about a foot and a half off bottom. Shiners worked best but northerns seemed to not care.

Sunday, I had a family with two young boys that had never been ice fishing before, and it was funny when they got out of the pickup the boys couldn’t believe they were on top of the lake. Fishing was decent with a strong blue gill presence, but we could see all the fish leave our area and knew something big was lurking pushing the school around. We had left over minnows, so we had a bunch of tip ups out and we’d just wait till someone yelled “FLAG!!!” again. I think it was good by all for the kids to run to go heck the flag with me. I even heard one of the boys say that he liked ice fishing better than summer fishing.

Walleye bite prior to this weekend had been very strong. Peak times during low light has been best but there have been multiple days we had a strong mid-day bite that has produced just as many if not more fish, then dusk. Focus on breaks and in that 18-26 feet of water for best results. Smaller spoons with a minnow head for a primary rod and a dead stick with a shiner near bottom has been a lethal combination.

Crappies are all over from basins to hugging tight to the weeds. Small spoons have worked well for out deeper to get down quicker but when the bite gets light tungsten with plastics seem to work the best. If in basins make sure lures glow for best results.

Bluegills have been roaming from in the weeds to out in the basins. Small tungsten jigs with plastics and a wax worm is hard to beat but keep moving it around to bring attention to the lure.

This past weekend reminded me that its perfectly fine to not land a huge fish or limit out but it’s more important to make memories that will last a lifetime. If interested in booking a trip with Cody contact him today at 218-443-3813 to Make memories that will last a lifetime.