Kurt's Island Sport Shop

It’s hard to tell we got hit with a blizzard last week! Three days of 50°+ and most traces of that snow are gone! Anglers still finding their way across the ice. The snow cover protected the ice from the warmth, but now that’s gone. The melting snow has been seeping into the ice. Plus side…little to no slush, the negative side…top 6-8” of the 17-23” reported getting punky. A few landings on the North sides of lakes pulling away due to melting from blacktop accesses. Onc

In case anyone needed a reminder of what winter can be like…in March! Blizzard conditions Sunday and Monday (3/15 & 3/16) completely shut fishing (and nearly all other) activity down. While we didn’t get the 30”+ like the did from Wausau east, the 12-14” on top of the 8-9” on Friday (3/13) was enough. Fishing reports from the break on Saturday (3/14) were few, but encouraging. Yellow Perch: Good-Bad (Bad being shut down) – Schools or more like small “pods” of Perch in num

Ice still holding on here in the North. Despite some warm temps melting down the top layer, most lakes still holding on to 18-24”. The top 6” or so is punky. Melt has worked its way down, causing the top third of the ice to be white and porous. Below ice looks good. Lots of water on the top layer, but that should seep through and firm up with some coming cold (single digit) nights. Yellow Perch: Very Good – Be mobile or patient! Schools roaming in 15-30’. Tungsten or

As of the closing bell (midnight 3/1) of the inland gamefish season, reports from anglers vying for the last Walleye, Northern Pike or Largemouth Bass of the ice season varied. Northern Pike reports were very good, mainly early and late in the day. Largemouth Bass made their presence known as temps crept up over 20° and Walley were for the most part an evening bite. The surprising reports were that Bluegill and Yellow Perch outshined Crappies this past week, we’ll have to

The weekend had some cold, wind, and snow…not like the tropical weather of the previous weekend…but still fishable if not as comfortable. Anglers found the previous weather did little to the ice thickness, still 24-28” average with some lakes over 30”. Snow on the ice mostly from the every other day flurries, about 4-5” on average. Reports mostly of “windows” of activity, but good when you’re at the right place at the right time. Yellow Perch: Good-Very Good – Most over m

Should have been here last week! 5 days of highs in the 40s. Little wind, (too much sun, but us vitamin D starved Wisconsinites will take it) along with the great fishing opportunities (as long as you got to the right lake). Getting (on and off) certain lakes has been a drawback. Melting, piled up, snow has made access tough on some lakes. Once on the lake's, travel has been great as melting snow levels are low, 2-3 inches and slush hardly an issue. The melting snow seems t

Not bad for moving into mid-February. Ice is good, slush nearly nonexistent and snow cover in the 4-5” range in the Lakeland Area. Easy enough for truck, UTV, ATV, snowmobile and walking traffic! The further North you go, don’t expect as easy of travel as there is more snow, but still fairly good travel is reported. Fishing picked up mid-week, faltered a little on Friday (plus it was windy) then made a slight improvement before a stall mid-day Saturday (2/7) and then a muc

Finally warmed up (highs in low 20’s) as has the fishing! Following the freakishly cold weekend prior, temps in the 20’s felt like a summer breeze on Saturday (1/31, with no breeze)! Participation picked up as did the fishing. Yellow Perch: Fair-Very Good – Once you can locate those moving bands of Perch in 14-21’ of water, good to go with a variety of fast sinking jigs (Flash Champs, Kastmaster DT, Hali jigs, Northland Tungsten Buck Shot) tipped with wigglers, red spike o

Fishing report!? Please! With morning temps of 27-33° BELOW ZERO (colder in some lower elevations) not including wind chills to 57 ° below, not many anglers brave (or kooky) enough to go drill holes and “freeze” a line. Fishing had been relatively good until the big FREEZE arrived. Actually, the lack of wind on Saturday and Sunday had a few anglers checking things out. Bluegill: Very Good-Fair – Not usually a good choice for super cold. Yet a few anglers with permanent s

Winter is arriving, so the party is over for a while. Sub-zero highs and double sub-zero lows will make almost anyone think twice before heading out on the lakes. Mid-week doesn’t look so bad, but the weekend forecast is pretty scary (Friday morning (1/23) lows to hit -23° with wind chill (-42°)). So, let’s look back at the good ol’ days (last week), temps in the 20’s and fish biting! Walleye: Very Good-Good – Still some good jigging action on Hyper Rattles, Shiver Minn