The boy was off school Friday so we headed up Thurs night and met up with my cousin and a buddy from WI along with his son and another buddy. We stayed at Highbanks Resort and used one of their permanent shacks as home base for two of the guys and lunch. This was located on the humps a few miles NW out from the resort. They had steady action on perch Fri-Sat-Sun but the numbers were not great and you had to short lots of little ones for keepers. Throw in a few pike and small walleye and they were warm and content.
The boys and I decided to adventure it in the portables and did some hole hopping. We started Fri morning in the WP54 area of the ReelBottom map and the boys hit the Bikini Bar. We met up for lunch and the boys had some eater walleye and a few perch. All we had was one pike. My son and I joined them for the afternoon between Bikini Bar and Red Hook Hump and added a few more perch to the mix and small eyes. I was on a terror with the pike on the tipups. Had 8 for the day along with 3-4 bite offs and a few other dropped baits. Was using circle hooks and mono leaders. The last hour before dark we landed several slot eyes jigging buckshot spoons.
We started Saturday morning in the howling winds( 15-30mph with gusts near 40) on the Bikini Bar for some eye action but only picked up a few small ones. Deciding we needed some eater perch we headed to a spot we fished last winter near Zoomers Bar. Between the four of us we brought in about 35 good eaters. Action was typical as schools moved through. Hole hopping was not an option with the screaming winds and dropping temps. I did have some tip ups set but the few flags amounted to nothing as the snow and wind had the holes iced up and reels frozen. Perch came on a variety of whole fatheads and emerald shiners and it varied between just heads or wholes. Glow baits and rattle spoons produced the best.
We hit the same spot Sun morning at first light and the perch were still there. But with -12F temps and light winds we did start some hole hopping by mid morning. That was the ticket to stay on active fish but the holes were freezing up fast. We quit about 2PM to make the run home and had about 50 between us. Only one small pike on a dead smelt. The same baits seemed to work with a preference to medium large fatheads and a glow bait. The wardens were on the lake as well as a DNR survey crew checking perch.
Driving conditions are excellent with 2 feet of good ice and no snow. We did encounter a pressure ridge that runs EW from the Birches landing area just north of the Bikini Bar. Friday the ice moved bigtime abot 11AM and actually shook the truck. The ridge had wet spots around it and you had to be careful picking a good spot to cross. Going NW from Highbanks to Zoomers is wide open with no issues that we found. We never got over in the river channel area north of Tamarack point but heard reports from others of perch being caught. Some type of cleats on your boots are an absolute must. All in all just a beautiful winter trip. 
January 29, 2007 at 6:44 pm
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