Ice fishing in Wisconsin can be a challenge at times. Catching walleyes is not always an easy task either. We had some crazy weather leading up to this weekend, it was -20 degrees for a solid week and a half, followed by 2-3 days of mid 30s and pushing 40 plus some rain, then we went right back down to -20 degrees.
This made for a challenge fishing tip ups this morning. I’ve got some new hole covers for my Finicky Foolers, which do work great as I’ve used them before, but unfortunately with no snow cover I made the mistake of not setting them right away and forming slush to the cover. Lesson learned. I did get a bit lucky catching that walleye as I thought it would have dropped the minnow with the line being froze.
The first fish I caught was definitely a surprise, a species I have never caught through the ice before, although I have heard they are fairly common to catch out on this lake. Still was hoping it was a giant walleye, but fun nonetheless!
With the cold we weren’t really planning on moving much. We would mark fish every 10 minutes or so but many of them were tight lipped. We did manage a couple more fish jigging, which were some good sized crappie and perch!
Overall I did end up accomplishing the goal of catching a slot walleye out here, so can’t complain.
I will be out on Petenwell Lake more times this winter!
