Fishing Report for January 22, 2018
Walker Bay Report from Reeds Family Outdoor Outfitters
With the unusual weather and pressure changes, the bite has recently been sporadic. The morning and evening hours are still the best time to target fish throughout the lake. With the warm-up on the way, things should improve and bite should be a little more consistent. Getting out on smaller panfish lakes around the area should provide some decent action as well this coming week and weekend.
Keep trying to be as mobile as you can and look for any new ice that has not had pressure on it. Look at the sand/ grass transition areas around Sand Point and Cedar Point for better-sized perch and walleyes. The shoreline breaks in Walker Bay in 18-23 feet of water continue to produce fish along with the mid-bay humps in 25-35 feet. Dead sticks with a plain hook tipped with a shiner or rainbow minnow Jigging spoon with a minnow head have been the best option. Look for the new Northland Glow Shot spoon or a Lindy Frostee Jiggin’ spoon for your best spoons right now. Glow red, orange, pink and green have been great colors. There have been decent perch reports coming out of Agency Bay in 10-16 feet of water.
There are quite a few more roads being maintained across the lake, but be careful when venturing off the roads as there is quite a bit of snow on the lake with some deeper hard-packed snow drifts. The best road system is on the south end of the lake out of Trapper’s Landing Lodge. Roads are being maintained daily and well marked. Stop in at Reeds or Trapper’s for up to the minute fishing reports; they’ll even draw you a map. Good luck to all the anglers this weekend, catch a bunch!
Trapper’s Landing Lodge South Shore Ice and Fishing Report 01.22.18
Ice Conditions
The warm weather this past weekend did not do anything to our ice sheet in front of Trapper’s Landing. We are seeing 30+ inches of ice on the ice road and over 24” being reported off the ice road. We are open to all vehicles. Use caution when going off-road, there are some deep drifts. We have had reports of vehicles getting stuck. Make sure you bring a shovel or some chains for your tires. You can travel by vehicle north of Pelican, and towards Stony Point. The only big ice heave runs from Otter tail point down to the west of Uram Bay.
Fishing Report
Walleye fishing remains spotty out in front of Trapper’s Landing Right now. It is almost luck of the draw for walleye angling. You want to make sure you are in the transition zones and off good break lines. Depths in these zones are 16-24 ft. Setlines or jigging very aggressively will get most of your walleye. The nice part is the few walleye you will catch are very good sized. Anglers that can keep mobile and ice troll are having the most success out there.
The Northern Pike and Tullibee are keeping anglers busy during the day. Northern are being found in the same depth zone as the walleyes and with the warm weather, they were very active this past weekend. Tullibee are being found in the basins in 24-35 ft. Drilling out a basin and keeping mobile is the best way to target them. Shiny jigging spoons tipped with euro larvae or a minnow head is your best way to get these fish to bite.
Looking ahead
We are looking at another warm up for the end of next weekend. The Merit will be open this Thursday-Saturday again with some great specials. We will as always have updated road maps, bait, and some great snacks to take out with you on the ice. As always, be safe for all your outdoor adventures and we hope to see you on the ice.
Leisure Outdoor Adventures – Chuck Hasse
Walleye and Perch fishing success has begun to slow down a bit as we hit the mid-winter point of our ice fishing season. Angling pressure, noise and colder than normal weather have been the main reasons for the decrease in fishing success. Anglers who have done the best have moved back to shallow water, targeting bottom transition areas of weeds/sand or sand/mud. 12ft ;of water or less seem to be best, and evening and overnight hours have been the best bite times. Rainbow minnows on set lines seem to be the best tactic as of late.
Ice conditions are pretty solid on the main lake with 14-24 inches being found all over the lake. Walker Bay is coming along nicely with 14-20 inches in most areas except where there is current. As always, please use caution when venturing to unkown areas, but most of the lake and bay is good for vehicle traffic.
The beauty of this area is that a tougher bite on Leech provides anglers to seek and select other area smaller lakes in search of panfish or northern pike. Anglers in the area have found the panfishing this year to be very good on many other smaller lakes. Areas to concentrate on for these lakes are the deeper basins or along breaklines with vegetation close by. Smaller tungsten jigs and jigging spoons tipped with a plastic or waxworm is a safe bet any time during the winter for these fish. If venturing out on smaller lakes, please continue to check the ice as you go, as ice depths vary here.
The beauty of this area is that a tougher bite on Leech provides anglers to seek and select other area smaller lakes in search of panfish or northern pike. Anglers in the area have found the panfishing this year to be very good on many other smaller lakes. Areas to concentrate on for these lakes are the deeper basins or along breaklines with vegetation close by. Smaller tungsten jigs and jigging spoons tipped with a plastic or waxworm is a safe bet any time during the winter for these fish. If venturing out on smaller lakes, please continue to check the ice as you go, as ice depths vary here.
