WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
December 20, 2007

Happy Holidays to all and Merry Christmas! It is hard to believe that 2008 is right around the corner and before you know it we will be back in the boat. But until then, we have some fine ice fishing in the area right now and no better time then now to get out and watch those poles bend!

Ice conditions on many area lakes are much better than many think including Winnie and Bowstring along with a number of others. Even though a few of the better Walleye lakes in the area are showing good ice conditions, others that are deeper or smaller in size are showing lots of slush and thinner ice levels, including Pokegama.

Winnie and Bowstring have a solid 10-to-12 inches of good ice with most of the middle of them holding much less snow then one would think. Winnie, which I was on last weekend, had 4-5 inches of snow and numerous packed snow drifts which were easy to see and avoid with both ATV's and snowmobiles. The shoreline does have more snow and entry from High Banks resort or the Birches landing is very good. I would not recommend driving any type of car or truck at this point. There are a few pressure ridges in there typical locations on the main lake. Mainly on the Northwest corner of the lake, which runs from Raven point up to the east side of Stoney point, please use extreme caution around the pressure ridges.

As for the bite, Winnie has been very good the last couple of weeks, the main bite is early and late during daylight hours. A number of 9-12 inch Walleyes are being caught, but a large year class of fish in the 14 1/2 inch range make up the common keepers. We did manage to find one slot fish but the vast majority of the action is coming from the smaller fish.

We did find the bite to be active on the jigging spoons tipped with a minnow head. Keeping the jigging action up off the bottom 2-3 feet seemed to attract more active fish. Very few fish wanted a minnow tipped on a hook and bobber, they wanted it moving. We have keyed in on humps which top out from 19-23 feet. Finding those humps that are smaller in size seemed again to be the best bet.

A number of good reports are coming from Bowstring and Red Lake. The Walleye action in the area is good to great right now and look for the bite to remain steady for the next couple of weeks. If you have an opportunity to get out on the ice, now is a great time to get into the action. Please check with local baits shops or resorts before heading out if you are not familiar with the lake, ice conditions can change rapidly this time of the year and caution is always the best advice.

Good luck out there,

Sean Colter
member of NMGL
seancolter@seancolter.com