Been lousy for a month plus. Set the bar super high with the early ice madness. Still heading up in the AM.
In the last month: Short hour-long flurries of activity at AM/PM prime time, and that’s about it. Lots of lookers that barely rise off the bottom, and the ones that actually do bite are super charged up and knock slack into your line. Very little luck with anything that has rattles. Smaller minnows outproducing suckers on tip-ups, even fatheads. Fish staying put on the bottom of the break and not heading to the top of the break to feed at primetime, like they often do when the bite is good, instead just getting more active on the bottom of the break. I’ve done very, very poorly after dark. I’ve heard the opposite but haven’t seen it. Best depth 26-30′, mixed in with the tullies and perch. Getting about a fish an hour on average (including dinks) and working hard for it. That’s been my experience.