Chequamegon Bay & Hayward, Wisconsin Ice Fishing Report 12-30-13

We had a bit of a heat wave at the end of the week with temperatures in the low 30’s, and I hope you were all able to take advantage of it with some time on the ice.  I know I did!!!  That said, the warm up along with the big snows from earlier in the week have left us with changing ice and travel conditions.  Here’s the rundown…

Josh guided a crew for half a day on Friday for a “Bring your own Equipment and Transportation” trip on Chequamegon Bay.  After getting them set up on their spot, they had lost four browns at the hole before Josh was scheduled to leave.  Josh reported that surrounding anglers looked like they were having action as well.  On Saturday, yours truly hooked up with Josh on an inland scouting mission for panfish.  We fished three different lakes and struggled to find fish until the afternoon when we found a nice mix of bluegills, perch, and crappies in 12′ to 13′ of water and weeds.  Tungsten jigs tipped with Berkley Power Wigglers and Jr.’s Jig Tails caught all of our fish, and size of presentation was definitely a factor.  Once we located fish and downsized our presentations, the action was steady until sunset.  Size of the gills and perch was marginal, topping out at 8″ and 11″ respectively.  However the crappies ran to 12″ with some nice eaters for the bucket.  All in all, a very productive outing and a good time as well.  Ice conditions varied greatly from lake to lake.  Lakes larger than 500 acres had 8″ of good ice with 12″ of snow making for smooth travel with a snowmobile.  Lakes smaller than 500 acres however had a thick layer of slush under the snow over 8″ of ice making travel difficult.  Another cold snap coming up should take care of that, and we’ll keep you posted.  For those of you wondering where the pictures of me ice fishing are…  Are you happy now???

While we were plugging away on the inland lakes, Josh’s father Gary was on Chequamegon Bay with his friends Lorne and Bill from Duluth.  They had a productive day as well catching 4 browns up to 24″, 3 cohos up to 14″, and 4 whitefish up to 15″ on a sand flat in 15′ to 20′ of water.  All fish were caught on small spoons tipped with minnow heads and waxies.  Apparently downsizing wasn’t limited to inland waters…  Ashland to Washburn has over 12″ of ice, but travel conditions are very difficult due to heavy amounts of snow.  Washburn to Houghton Pt. has from 6″ to 12″ of ice with scattered slush pockets.  Houghton Pt. to the Onion River has 2″ to 5″ of ice.  Remember to be safe everyone and let good ice develop before you get too adventurous.  Thanks to Gary and his gang for the great report.  Stay warm folks!!!