Smokeys weekly fishing report by Captain Claus 2/13/23

First and foremost, no ice is ever safe ice.
Well folks Mother Nature is kicking our butts! The remaining time of ice fishing on Green Bay should
officially be considered day by day and very dangerous. I never dreamed I would be giving that kind of a
report on ice conditions in the middle of February! All locations are seeing great deterioration of the ice
conditions and all the landings are getting bad as we are on day 2 of 5 with temperatures into the mid
40’s. If you are venturing out anywhere on Green Bay ice use EXTREME CAUTION and watch your winds.
There are too many areas of open water across the entire Bay and all the ice along the east shore is
suspect to move at any time and any location. Ice between the tails and in Deadhorse bay is still locked
in but travel with caution.
Reports were spotty at best for catches of Whitefish along the east shore. A limit is possible if you
capitalize on the active fish if you find them but for most catches of 1-5 fish were more common. Volks
landing, Bayshore, and Red River were the most popular along the east shore. Again, this week use
EXTREME CAUTION in those locations.
Dead Horse Bay, and the Suamico area have reports of mild Perch catches, along with a stray Walleye.
Numbers of people on weekends have kept the action slower. Tip downs are still the most productive
set up for Perch and trying to get away from others has been the best bet. Pike are still being caught on
tip ups with large shiners in the shallower areas.
Sugar Creek to Lime Kiln Rd up to Little Sturgeon had some folks walking out to try to find Whitefish but
there was a large open water area just outside those locations and I would advise staying off the ice
there.
Little Sturgeon had seen some perch activity on tip downs and jigging and even box tip ups but over the
weekend the activity level was slow for keepers due to the high traffic of anglers. You may have to sort
through the little ones to find a couple keepers. Pike activity in Little Sturgeon has slowed to almost
non-existent.
Sawyer harbor Perch and Pike catches both slowed the end of the week but there is still some activity
there for both. Please travel with caution in that area as there are rock areas and springs around the
bay will show themselves with this warmer weather.
The Fox River is completely un-safe for ice fishing at this point but keep your eyes peeled you may be
able to get your boat back out before the end of the week!
We pulled all our Whitefish rental shacks of the ice in Door County on Sunday and are now holding out a
last-ditch hope that we may get cold enough weather after Thursday to get out to fish some of the
shoreline spots one more time this season if the ice holds up…… but it is not looking good.
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