Musky Shop Northwoods Fishing Report: Early January 2024
Hello everyone and welcome to the Musky Shop fishing report.
Our winter so far has been very mild. We do have some colder air temperatures coming in, which will get that ice much thicker than it is right now. However, our ice conditions are good. Most of the ice from shoreline to 10-12 feet is in the 3–4-inch range and when you get further out into the basin, thickness ranges from 5 up to 8 inches currently. For the next few days, we do have a cold snap blowing in which will drop the temperatures to the single digits and even below 0. This should thicken up the ice enough to drive 4-wheelers or even snowmobiles. Right now, it is mainly safe to walk only.
Fishing has been good. Walleye’s have been primarily in green weeds – wood and rocks are ok. Most of the information for walleye ice fishing coming in is related to green weeds in the 10 to 12-foot range. The deeper clear lakes have been giving up walleye with large or medium golden shiners and walleye suckers. The walleye bite overall has been pretty good and is most exciting during the hour leading up to sundown and the hour after dark. When it’s overcast, the bite has remained throughout the day.
The Northern Pike bite has been really good too. They have been located primarily in the same range as the walleye, possibly a little shallower in the 8 to 10 feet of weeds. They seem to prefer walleye suckers and northern pike mix; however, some have had success with shiners.
The panfish and crappie bite has been ok, but up and down. They have been quite shallow. They are in the 7-to-8-foot range if you can find some green weeds. You can use ice jigs tipped with a waxy or rosies, crappie minnows, or xl fat heads. All those work well for crappies and panfish.
We’ve got a great selection of Tip-ups and Tip-downs. We’ve got some automatic tip-downs: the Jawjacker and the Finicky Fooler. Those are great items for ice fishing and you can use them for any species, including panfish. Stop by the shop at any time, we would be happy to help you in any way we can. We have a really good selection of fresh live bait: rosies, shiners, walleye suckers, pike mix, crappie bait, fat heads, waxies, and spikes. We’ve got pretty much everything you need for bait, so stop by if you have questions.
Please let us know if we can be of service to you at the Musky Shop, while you’re in the area. It would be our pleasure.