Minocqua area fishing report 03/02/09
The gamefish season is over up here. All efforts for the next two months will be focused on panfish.
Perch: Fair-Good. As reported last week, weather has had a lot to do with the bite. Lots of high pressure with occasional dips in the barometer meant lots of neutral fish with occasional spikes of hot action. On days of high pressure it's most obvious with mud flat fish. Anglers with flashers watch picky fish move through but show little interest. Try to fish as small as possible during these times, even using a tiny #14 rocker tipped with a single red spike. It takes a long time to drop, but sometimes it's the only way to catch them. Weed fish taking small/medium fatheads under float, waxies on forage minnow fry. Wigglers, spikes best over deep (20-30') mud.
Crappie: Fair-Good. Suspended fish best bet. Work deep breaks between deepest water and weeds. Fish working 20-30' flats, usually 3' off the bottom, but sometimes as high as 3' under the ice. Tip-downs with minnows (when not too cold) best. Tear drops (#8) with waxies for anglers jigging using flashers. On low pressure days, crappies moving into weeds and taking plastics.
Bluegills: Fair-Good. Look for suspended gills mixed with crappies over sandgrass of 18-30'. Waxies and moussees tipped on gill pill/diamond jig to get down quickly over this deep water. Work outside weed edges as late season weed die off pushes fish away from shallow waters on some lakes to suspend out on edges.
There were good reports of walleye, pike and LMB this week. Walleyes to 28", pike to 32" and LMB to 20". Now they'll get a two month rest until we can chase them again.
Ice conditions are excellent. The snow from last Thursday left, barely 2" of light powder. Driving trucks, even two wheel drive cars on most lakes. Ice averaging 30-32", more on Flowages. Cold this morning (-20) but temps by the end of the week should hit highs in upper 30's.
Kurt Justice
Kurt's Island Sport Shop
www.kurtsislandsports.com
