Anglers Bay,Spirit Lake,IA

I spent a few hours on Anglers Bay with my older brother.He is now 50 years old and loves it when his little brother gets him out on the ice.We now have 8-9"’s of ice on Anglers Bay with alot of snowmobile and 4-wheeler traffic.It was a overcast day with a South wind and temps in the low 20’s.

We spent a few hours in shallow water trying to get some crappie or gills.Worked weed pockets without even seeing a fish.This was not working for us so out to the deeper water for us.

Early ice on Anglers Bay can be very good for perch if their in the bay.We were in 12′ of water and had slow action the rest of the day.We ended up with 6 perch and 3 walleyes.I caught 3 perch of a lime green Glow Devil.This was the first time I’ve have used the Glow Devils and the perch seemed to like it when they came through.The rest of the perch were taken off Pilkies.When we had fish on the FL-8 they would bite but just didn’t have them on the screen to much today.

The little walleyes are so fun to catch and are very willing to bite when they come by your offering.I was using a 24"L Genz series Lighting Rod,I like these rods alot for ice fishing.The 3 walleyes were all in the 13" range.They were a little short of the 14" legal limit for Spirit Lake.All fish were caught on wax morms and a Northland forage minnow.I tried various different jigs including Angel Eyes but no luck.Here is a pic of a little walleye trying to look bigger than he is!Best of luck to all and wish you a great holiday season.

Ryan Hale