Ice Report 12/23

Merry Christmas from all of us at Gene's! We hope everybody has a safe and happy holiday season!

We are currently seeing 6-10 inches of ice on MOST area lakes, more in some areas, and less in some areas. An ATV did drop through on Ottertail Lake earlier this week, and all fisherman must always use caution when traveling to and from there fishing location. We are starting to see ATV travel and smaller wheel houses going out on area lakes, but again, please use extreme caution!

Fishing has been excellent for all species as of late. The walleye bite has been good on Big Pine, Little Pine, Ottertail, Rush, Star and other area lakes. 14-20 Feet of water on shoreline breaks, points and humps have been producing the best bite in the low light conditions of morning and evening. Jigging small spoons tipped with a minnow are producing well when accompanied with a set line with a shiner or sucker minnow close by!

The panfish bite has also been extremely good on Big Pine, Star, Rush and most other area lakes. 10-16 Foot weed flats have been producing bluegills and crappies, and we are starting to hear of anglers having good luck with suspended crappies in the 25-40 foot basins. Small tungsten jigs tipped with a small wax worm or euro larvae have been producing the best!

We have a lot of cold weather in the immediate forecast, so the ice conditions should continue to improve daily!

We currently are sitting good on bait, and are offering sucker minnows, golden and silver shiners, fatheads, crappie minnows , spearing decoys, waxworms and euro larvae.

We will be open from 7 a.m. till 1 p.m. on Christmas eve and closed on Christmas Day to celebrate with our families. We will be open again at 7 a.m. on Saturday.

Merry Christmas and Happy Fishing from all of us at Gene's! Thank you for shopping local this holiday season, we appreciate it!