Winter ’23 bite off so far??

Hey everyone, just wanted to start a discussion on your ’23 ice bite thus far- Mine seems to be quite different than in past years. Assuming it’s to do with all of the difference in ice/snow/weather.

My observations this far have been that fish aren’t in the basins I’m used to them being in at this date on the calendar. The ones that I have found have been really lethargic, I’ll mark fish and they’re just not interested, but not nearly the schools I’m used to seeing.

My theories are more light through ice, weeds are still green and holding fish up shallower, I’m planning to start prospecting up shallower. One lake I usually fish in a deeper basin (compared to the rest of the lake) but it’s still only 14 feet deep where I’m fishing. Water is very murky- rain run off a factor?

Anyone else seeing similar things? I’m in Ottertail county, MN so we have had better ice than most, though still not much thicker than 7″ anywhere I’ve fished.

Anyway, hope others are figuring it out better than me so far, it’s been a rough ice season!!

I’ve had steady ice fishing for both crappies and walleyes. I wouldn’t say any trip has been “epic”. I fished 18 days in December and found fish in their usual haunts. I’m going out today for my first trip in ‘24. Hope they’re in the same spots as ‘23.

Winter 2023/2024 Bite – What bite ? have to have some good ice to get out. I’ve only fished hard water once this winter so far. I had to drive 2 Hr’s north to do that. That same lake had ice houses falling through just this last weekend. We have as much or more open water on lakes around here than ice.

Are you seeing crappies deeper or shallower on lakes you fish? I’m almost solely a deeper basin fisherman (too many kids with to do much prospecting). So for me it’s kinda trying to learn the shallow game if they’re not in the bigger schools out deep, at least not yet.

We still don’t have any ice in northern Iowa so I have NOTHING to report

We fished a handful of times and did good all but 1 morning and that was the morning before Christmas. We were on a good walleye bite but then the ice went by by

A couple of our tried and true early ice spots were duds but overall it’s been about average. I have had some good basin crappie bites. One usually starts about Christmas every year and didn’t get really going strong until this weekend so things could be a bit behind normal.

The only ice i’ve been on is in the driveway and sidewalk.The driveway bite was fair.

Mine is definitely off. I haven’t been able to fish yet due to ice conditions.

chuck100 wrote:

The driveway bite was fair.

The ice in my glass don’t bite.

Well I got my house back on last night, now after Friday, may have enough snow to bank it!! Hoping to have a little storm bite this weekend, here’s to hoping!

crinkle cut wrote:

Well I got my house back on last night, now after Friday, may have enough snow to bank it!! Hoping to have a little storm bite this weekend, here’s to hoping!

Where are you located at? Don’t see near enough snow forecasted anywhere around her to Bank in a house.

Near Perham- maybe gonna get an inch tomorrow night?

Finally fished first ice a month late. The fish were there but it took 2 of us to catch one 2-person meal.

I’ll revert back to this and say my bite has been great. Very little pressure on the lakes. It’s very nice not seeing ice castles every where I look. It’s been 5 or 6 portables if any and the fish have been active.

MX1825 wrote:

The ice in my glass don’t bite.

I hope the other stuff in the glass does

Bearcat89 wrote:

I’ll revert back to this and say my bite has been great. Very little pressure on the lakes. It’s very nice not seeing ice castles every where I look. It’s been 5 or 6 portables if any and the fish have been active.

Coordinates?

LabDaddy1 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
I’ll revert back to this and say my bite has been great. Very little pressure on the lakes. It’s very nice not seeing ice castles every where I look. It’s been 5 or 6 portables if any and the fish have been active.

Coordinates?

You don’t want mine from this last weekend. Tough bite every where we tried.

Bite has been good this winter about the same as most winters. City lake I can get out to after work now it’s not safe but earlier it was good. Lake i’m hitting in WI about 35 from the cities has been real good this winter.

Heat out to Devils in a few weeks.

Bearcat89 wrote:

You don’t want mine from this last weekend. Tough bite every where we tried.

Haha. I stuck a fork in my ice season already. I literally made it to red once early ice and then one short trip to a south metro lake and that’s it all this winter. Unprecedented for me

We just got back from 2 days at Devil’s Lake. Unfortunately we hit the first 2 days of the wicked cold front that hit right after the many days of steady above average temps. Steady 20 mph NW winds both days.
We struggled to even mark fish working with guides from McQuoids…we caught about 10 fish for the two days. It was brutal.
We heard 4 Snowbears from Perch Patrol took out a large group and they caught a total of 2 walleyes…no perch!

That’s the hard water Devils I know ^

Been out twice to ND this year. Least amount of ice time ever, and I may have never enjoyed winter more. Me and the boat are inching closer to a first date as well. Im sure a March or April snowstorm will derail that plan.

I’ve been having a great winter fishing. Lots of nice blue gills and catching them almost every time out over several different lakes. Seen more than my share of 9+ inch fish too. I cant wait to get back out the next couple weekends. After that, who knows.?

Still going strong we caught a lot of big gills and decent size crappies. Biggest gills 9.5 and a few crappies 15. We were hoping for 16 inch but could not break 15 inch mark this last weekend.