Minocqua Area Fishing Report - 04/05/22

A fresh inch and a half of snow on 4/4 and reports of 26-34” of ice on our area lakes may be hard for our “southern” neighbors to believe…but believe it! This week’s forecast of night time temps in upper 20’s to highs of mid-30’s to mid-40’s won’t do a lot to rid of our ice, but it won’t hurt.

Bluegill: Very Good – Action good in weeds of 5-8’ using traditional tear drop jigs tipped with waxies or red, purple or motor oil plastics working very well. Anglers reporting good action in afternoons of warm ups.

Crappie: Very Good-Good – Daily conditions vary with weather. Too high on barometer, go deep (14-20’). With falling barometer stick to 6-10’ weeds when active Crappies will suspend high, 4-6’ up. Anglers report being able to see fish when light is right. Slow dropping yellow, white and pink plastics on Rocker spoons and Shrimpos. Tip-down action good, but most anglers fishing rigs too deep. Mostly smaller fish holding tight. Lots of nice 10-12” eaters being caught with 14-15” SLABS reported and released!

Yellow Perch: Very Good-Good – Over mud flats in 16-26’ using Clam Time Bombs, VMC Chandeliers, Pimples and Hali spoons to get down quick tipped with red spikes or wigglers. Tip-downs with rosies also good. In weeds, Kenders Natural Shrimp, Northland Forage Minnow Spoons and Fry tipped with waxies or minnow head doing best!

With this much ice still on the lakes, my “guess” is at least two more weeks of ice fishing. This coming weekend has temps of 50 degrees forecasted and the 30+ inches of ice we have now does have pockets of “punky” ice. Overall, we should see two weekends worth at this rate.

But as always, use caution and be safe.