Ice & Fishing Report 1/4/23

Happy New Year! We hope everybody had an enjoyable and safe Christmas Season and New Year! We thank all of you for your business in 2022, and we are excited to see what 2023 brings for Gene's Sport Shop!

After a very rough start to the ice season, the lakes are in AMAZING shape considering the snow and slush we had a couple weeks ago. Right now most lakes have 13-20 inches of ice, and there is virtually no snow or slush on most lakes. There are a few drifts, and small pockets of slush, but for the most part people are driving around most area lakes with zero issues. It is always a good idea to check ice conditions when venturing on the lake, but we saw a ton of trucks pulling ice castles heading out this week. With very limited snow in the forecast the next 10 days, we should have another solid week of fishing ahead of us!

The walleye bite has slowed down a bit, but anglers are still picking up a few per night and throughout the night! The full moon hits this weekend, which generally leads to a good bite throughout the night! Big Pine, Little Pine, Star, Rush, Ottertail and many other lakes are producing walleye in 16-30 Feet of Water. The secret to this time of year is trying to find a spot that has not been recently fished. If you can get on a fresh spot away from the crowd, you should be in for a good bite!

As the walleye bite has slowed down a bit, we are seeing a lot more anglers venturing out in search of panfish. With the nice weather, now is a great time to get out and explore the local panfish lakes. Bluegills are being caught in 10-16 feet of water, and as always, move around until you find an active school, and focus your efforts on shallow weed flats that still have tall, green cabbage weed on them. The crappie bite has also been really strong, with most fish being caught in the deep water basins in 28-40 feet of water. These fish will be suspended, and you need to be on the move to stay on the bite!

As happens most winters, bait is starting to get a bit more difficult to get. As of now, however, we are sitting pretty good and should be sitting pretty good for the weekend. We had a busy weekend, and are looking forward to another great weekend! Happy Fishing!