WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
December 6, 2007

Before getting to the weekly newsletter, I must tell you about a benefit dinner that will be held for a good friend, competitor, fishing guide, and father. Tommy Howell and his wife have been living a parent's worst nightmare throughout the last few months as their six-year-old daughter, Jolee Mae Newman, was diagnosed with cancer. The benefit will be Jan.19th at the Hibbing VFW 8510 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. It will be a spaghetti feed with raffles to follow. If you're in the area, please stop by and have a plate of spaghetti as the medical expenses are adding up quickly. If you're interested in donating to the raffle or in any other way, please send me an email and I will connect you with the primary contact of this benefit. Tommy and his family will sure appreciate anything that one can do. Hang in there Tommy, your blessings are at the top of our thoughts!!!

Snow, snow, and more snow! It's a beautiful thing to see here in the northland as we have seen a number of Winters now without snow. As I sat watching TV one evening this week, a sound caught not only my ear, but both of my daughters ears, it was a hum, which slowly gained strength. Neither of them had heard this noise before, it was the hum of two snowmobiles coming down the banks of our street. For some this may not be a sweet sound, but for many of us, it is a sound that truly has not been heard too often over the last few years. So even though many of us anglers are not wanting the snow cover this early, I must say for the sake of snow, I surely appreciate it, even though it might keep me from the lakes for an extra week. So as we head down the stretch into winter, it sure seems that we are heading into one that could be filled with a number of snow events, which is great to see and think about.

As for the snow this early and often, it is making for a slow start to the ice fishing season as we are not gaining ice as quickly as one would think. The blankets of snow have made some great insulation for the ice and most anglers are finding that the lakes are slush covered in many of spots.

Anglers that are taking ATV's and snowmobiles out are finding good to great action on many area lakes, but extreme caution should be used as many of the lakes are holding 6-or-less inches of ice. The report from lakes north of Winnie are stating much less snow than what we have around the Grand Rapids area.

Winnie has ATV and snowmobile traffic out in the middle of the lake, as anglers are finding the humps all ready. Look for those humps to be productive for the first 6 weeks throughout the day. Here a small jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head jig 1-2 foot off the bottom should bring plenty of action, from Pike, Perch and Walleyes.

Lake of the Woods is reporting ice action already, with numbers of anglers finding fish out of pine island in the Four Mile Bay area. Lake of the Woods is probably one of the best early season options for any anglers, as the actions for numbers typically is amazing but the opportunity to catch a huge Walleye happens each day out.

I have not tried the ice fishing yet, so most of the information that I'm getting is second hand. Please make sure you use extreme caution at this point if your heading out and stay clear of inlets and outlets on all area lakes.

Good Fishing and Happy Holidays,

Sean Colter
member of NMGL
seancolter@seancolter.com