We have been hitting the south end hard for several days now. There was a pretty good bite on Sloppys but that died on Friday and we haven’t done much there since. Yesterday afternoon we set up on the edge of the 4 Mile gravel and did OK. The majority of the fish are coming on set lines and tip-ups, although a perch jigging shad rap has produced as well as a red Macho Minnow. This morning we braved the cold and headed to a 20 foot reef closer to shore and had some action. 2 slots on the jigging shad rap, and then a nice fat 23 incher just as the sun was coming up. One pattern I’ve seen is that the deeper fish are less active, and mostly hit set lines, while the shallower fish are slamming jigs pretty good.
Once we warm up here with some bacon and eggs we are going back out to hop around on some deeper rock/mud transitions and try to find a day bite and maybe some perch.
Ice conditions are great on the south end. Wilderness Warmth has a road all the way out to Spirit Island and is letting trucks all the way out there. It looks like Brandts landing is just starting to let some trucks out this morning. I am seeing a solid 12 inches of ice everywhere I look now. Up until yesterday, Brandts was limited to wheelers, but they have a road out to Sloppys. They have a Facebook page where you can get updates:
