First and foremost, no ice is ever safe ice.
The cold weather surely did not last long enough. Green Bay did make good gains on ice in about every
location, but the winds have certainly not been our friend. The Bay is not locked up and there are still
several significant areas of open water that have been lingering and will continue to cause trouble over
the course of the next few weeks. The up coming weather is also not doing us any favors as it will be
into the 40’s and some rain and snow and more high winds. Please use caution when venturing out at
all locations.
Most reports this last several days along the east chore have Whitefish fishing being very slow. Most
folks are reporting 0 to 5 fish and very very few limits. The moon phase and high pressure probably did
not help with any feeding activity. Fishing was too spotty to get a feel for the best tactics.
Dead Horse Bay, and the Suamico area are still producing some Perch catches, along with some Walleye
but the action has certainly slowed. Tip downs are still the most productive set up for Perch. Tipping
with a small shiner or Rosie Red. A few Pike are still showing up on tip ups shallow.
Lime Kiln Rd, to Little Sturgeon had lots of folks looking for Whitefish but the action along those areas
was also spotty at best. Along with locations like Riley’s Bay and Sand Bay. A few adventuress folks did
manage to sneak out to the south end of Larsons reef over the weekend but with the winds and weather
I would advise staying off those areas for now and if you do want to go check them out later this week
travel very cautiously as the possibility for more cracks to pop open is very real.
Little Sturgeon and Sawyer harbor both saw a fair number of Perch fishermen over the weekend.
Getting away from the majority usually resulted in better catches. Jigging and Tip downs were both
successful.
The Fox River has walkable ice on most of the river south of highway 172. Do still use caution this week
with the warmer weather pattern setting in. Walleye catches were reported to be good over the
weekend. A few Whitefish remain in the river and were showing up while targeting Walleye. Don’t be
afraid to try the shallow flats for some Walleye activity. Jigging raps tipped with a minnow head was the
best tactic.
We did run 8 of our Whitefish rental shacks over the weekend but like most guides we pulled them in to
shore on Sunday to wait out the weather early this week. Fishing for us was slow at best with 0 to 4
Whitefish caught per shack. We did manage a few bonus Jumbo Perch over the weekend to add to what
little action we had. Fish were very spooky, and the ice for 3 days was making a ton of noise.
Be careful out there no fish is worth your life. Yah, only at Smokeys!!!
Capt. Robert Claus
FinFanatic Charters
920-360-2904
finfanaticcahrters@yahoo.com
www.finfanatic.net
