Ice fishing season is off to a tremendous start
Sports | Published on December 19, 2022 at 12:44pm EST | Author: Chad Koenen
0Chill Fishing Report
Cody Hill
Ice season is officially upon us, and ice safety should be always at the forefront. Most of our local lakes are getting to be ATV safe. I have even seen a few big side by sides and small cars on select lakes, FYI I’m still walking out.
Each lake is different, and I had a situation where I found a small area that was 3 inches thinner than the surrounding area without a reason for the difference.
The panfish bite has been great especially if you can get away from crowds and limit the noise made on top of the ice. Most lakes have minimal snow cover and I’m watching fish spook because of simply walking across bare ice and they flee when a gas auger starts drilling a hole.
The crappie bite has been good, and we are having best luck jigging above a school focusing two to three feet above the schools. A 4 mm tungsten jig with a soft plastic has been my go-to and if it gets tough adding a wax worm or spike to encourage the finicky biters. If fish are more aggressive small spoons or Z-Vibers have produced our better-quality fish. Using the bigger baits are better to get back into the bite zone quicker but can spook neutral fish.
The walleye bite has been surprisingly good but best bite has been in low light conditions, but I have been seeing daylight activity especially if you are near structure. I am finding them in the same spots I was finding them my last trips out in the Lund. Livescope was showing that they were using deeper cabbage for cover and would use the cabbage to ambush its prey on the edge of the weed line. Surprisingly I didn’t get them to bite in the cabbage even though they investigated my baits but using the same lure on the edge of cabbage produced fish.
Fishing is fun because you never know what you will hook and in the past week that has been keeping us wondering with each hook set. I had the privilege of assisting a client with his personal best fish which is the biggest fish I have ever handled in my life. With only using 4-pound test Alex was able to land a 42” muskie with only a tungsten jig. It took us 85 minutes to land that trophy and the best part was we had 6 cameras rolling from hookset to release. We have also been landing random walleyes only a few feet below the ice thinking they were crappies swimming suspended.
Before we know it, Christmas will be here and it is not too late to book a trip over the holidays. Like Alex did you can book a trip to make memories that will last a lifetime!