Minocqua Area Ice Conditions

During this weekend I spent some time trying to find some hard water to stand on. With the full moon and stormy weather in the forecast, it seemed like the perfect time to chase some walleyes by tipup.

The biggest problem was the weather. While we were forming ice in a number of good early season spots, this weekends snow storm put the kabash on getting out. Most areas that were covered only had an inch or may be two at the most and with the 6-10 inches of snow on Fri/Sat, safe ice was only a fleeting thought.

I do know of some that were able to get on the ice and put a couple of walleyes on the ice, but they said they couldn’t get to where they wanted to be and only had 1 1/2 inches at best to stand on. These guys were fishing in the Manitowish chain areas. I also know of some in the Eeagle River area to the east.

It seems like we will have to wait another week (oh my) which would not have been so bad if duck, deer and muskie would not be closing this weekend or on Tues (muskie).

Mark

27″ with a 15″ girth pushed this fish to the mid 7’s by formula.

Here is an update of what’s going on in Northcentral Wisconsin. Most of the smaller lakes are getting to 4-5″ thickness, but we are just not making a lot of ice with the weather conditions right now. All of our big lakes are open right now and and fishing from a boat is the only option. Many lakes 1000 acres or less are ice covered, but foot travel is the only safe mode of transportation currently. Things will be interesting until we get to early next week as temps are supposed to remain the same and precipitation may fall in the form of rain or freezing rain.

Nonetheless we got out tonite and an early ice bite was very good in one of my favorite areas. Fishing with five guys tonite we were treated to close to forty flags from about 2:45 until 7:00 p.m. We kept our limit of fish all over the 14″ size limit (1 per Man) on the Manitowish Chain in Vilas County. We also released several fish up to 27″ also. Pics to follow.

Good luck and think before walking on ice in our area as recent snowfalls have made ice not so hot. We had only a couple of inches in some of the areas we were fishing.

Mark

Here is pic with all five of us and our kept walleyes in front of us. From left to right the fish are a pair of 18’s, one 17, a pair of 15-16 and the two on the right were under the 14″ slot. We released six fish ranging from 19″ to the 27 in the first pic.

This was one beautiful 24-25″ fish. Solid 4# going towards 5#. This beauty was released also.

Another 20″ fish going back down the hole!!!

Here’s Al with Torky’s 22″ about to go down the hole!!!

Another of Jeff’s 20 inchers.

So far you’re the owner of the “best walleye report on ice” for 2004! Everything in SE MN has melted off or turned milky white with the rain and temps for the foreseeable future don’t look real ice-friendly.

Thanks for sharing. All the ice nuts out here will be grinding their teeth tonight as visions of 5 lb walleyes run through their heads!

James:

The best part is that three of these guys fished it on Saturday while I was down on Pool 8-9 duck hunting and had just about the same kind of day. And they say there aren’t any walleyes in NC Wisconsin. As much as I am for tourism, let ’em keep thinking that!!!

Lake Minocqua in our lovely little town opened back up!!! Guys are still trying to get on the bays, but even some of those are a little scary!!!

I am still hoping to get down to the river to walleye fish one more time this year!!! Good luck on your parlays on 4 over the rest of the year!!!

Mark

Thanks for the post and pictures….There’s HOPE!

Nice fish!

Way to go Mark! Great report and pictures. Maybe YOU should be the guide again and we’ll try tip ups instead of Suicks!
Spooky dogs though…can they see in the dark?

Nice group picture with the green and yellow eyed monsters!!

Sgt. Rock:

Nice buck!!! Them dogs keep us hopping, and trying to come up with ingenious ways to keep the ice quiet!!!

Mark

Rock:

Another day another walleye!!! Another 21″ released. This pic has several 18’s and a couple smaller. Sorry if I insulted anyone with the advertising (Not my brand)!!!

Mark

Those eyes and a slimer looks like a good time to me. Not my brand of beverage either, although in an emergency I have tasted some. The fish all on tip ups or are you jigging too? Thanks for the buck compliment. Doesn’t compare to the monsters that others have posted on here but for north WI woods it is a decent deer. My nephew had one similar but smaller body. Sure saw a lot fewer total deer this year though.

This most recent cold snap has brought better ice conditions to the Minocqua area. All of our bigger lakes have frozen now. It appeared that Lake Tomahawk froze Thursday night as I was able to look over it and see the white of snow across the lake. I heard that Trout Lake (the area’s biggest lake) froze on Thursday night as well. The fact that these latest pieces of open water are freezing now without much snowfall on them will enable guys to start to venture forth onto bars extending into the main lake giving them a shot at the biggest fish in these systems. With a daytime high of 2*, ice was made all day and I would not be surprised if even these big lakes that are just freezing down will have a very good 2-4″ by tomorrow.

I fished a back bay on Tomahawk last night for a couple of hours and was unable to get a fish to moved a tip up flag.

Mark

All right guys, here goes. More cold weather and I just finished talking with my next door neighbor who is a member with the local snowmobile club. He told me that they were just about ready to drill and locate the trail barrels across the largest lakes. That means all lakes will have at least 4-8″ of ice under those trail markers. I am going to try to catch a fish tonite and will report on the ice in the bay again.

Mark