Curly's Photo and Fishing Blog
Ice is Unsafe
We are fishing on a few lakes but the heavy snow Tuesday has made the lake’s hazardous and many have fell though.
Upper Peninsula:
Indian Lake near Manistique is producing good catches of jumbo perch on minnows off of Big Spring Landing. The lake has about six-inches of ice at the current time.
Munuscong Lake is giving up good catches of perch on minnows and the Bay has 2-3 inches of ice. So far no walleye are biting yet.
St. Ignace anglers are still waiting for safe ice. No activity at this point.
Drummond Island anglers are ready and geared up to ice fish, but the ice is not safe just yet. No shore fishing is taking place since it is too shallow and the edges of the shore are frozen.
Sault St. Marie area anglers are experiencing a slow down in angling due to the foot or so of snow on the ground.Ice is forming, but not safe at this point.
Lake Gogebic is giving up some fair to good walleye on minnows from the shoreline and ice fishing. However, most anglers are waiting for more ice to get out further.
Marquette fishing is decent on most small lakes with anglers pulling a few perch, pan fish and pike on sucker minnows. The ice continues to thicken thanks to a solid week of frigid temperatures.
Escanaba area anglers canâ??t get out due to very thin skim ice on the north end of Bay De Noc. There is a good chance if the temperatures hold; ice fishing could take place on the Bay this weekend.
Northwest:
Alanson anglers are doing well on perch and walleye on Crooked Lake, ice fishing in the shallow areas. More inland lakes are freezing over and should be in good shape for the weekend.
Boyne anglers are anxiously awaiting the ice to thicken. No activity this week.
In the Traverse City area a few steelhead are being taken from the Manistee River on spawn and wax worms. Elsewhere, fish are not biting and activity is slow. Most anglers are waiting for safe ice and by the weekend Little Glen Lake may be the location to check out. Use extra caution attempting to walk on any ice at this point.
Frankfort activity is overall slow and a few anglers are fishing from the shoreline of Crystal Lake for perch with minnows. Some inland lakes are starting to form ice and some die-hard anglers are still fishing the river.
No safe ice as of yet for anxious anglers around the Kalkaska area. Virtually no angling activity is taking place at this point.
In the Gaylord area, a few steelhead are biting on spawn on the Boyne, Jordan, and Au Sable rivers on spawn. A few brown trout are also hitting on the Manistee in the streams.
Around the Cadillac area, ambitious anglers are setting up tip-ups along the shoreline and getting prepared for ice fishing season. Lake Cadillac has open water and ice has formed in spots ranging from two to three inches.
West:
Around the Ludington area, anglers fishing on the lower end of Hamlin Lake and the Pere Marquette River are doing fair for blue gill when using wax worms and spikes, crappie on minnows and northerns on tip-ups with minnows. The Pere Marquette River is also giving up good counts of steelhead on spawn or spinner baits.
Fair angling action in the Muskegon area for steelhead on spawn bags off the pier. The pier is starting to ice up so use caution. If you can launch your boat the perch fishing is fair on Lake Michigan. The Muskegon River is fair to good for steelhead when using spawn and fishing by boat on the upper end.
Adverse weather has plagued angling action for Chippewa Lake anglers this past week. Overall no activity is taking place at this point.
Baldwin area angling activity is at a stand still due to snow and weather conditions. The ice is too thin to get out on and just enough ice to halt casting or boat launching.
White Lake is giving up some good catches of whitefish on Hopkins spoons when anglers can get out.
Grand River near the Grand Rapids area is good for steelhead casting spawn and wax worms.
Northeast:
Alpena anglers are setting up tip-ups along the shore line; however the ice thickness is really hit or miss. Use extreme caution. Tawas Bay near Oscoda is producing a few whitefish, otherwise very slow angling activity.
The ice is starting to form on smaller inland lakes around the Grayling area, and a few anglers are getting out. Lake Margrethe has two inches of ice along the shore edge.
Houghton Lake has 3-5 inches of ice and anglers that are venturing out are pulling up a few pike on sucker minnows.
No angling activity taking place on Higgins Lake, the lake is not frozen the water is still wide open.
Around the Au Gres area, some good perch action is taking place near Palmer Road and the Rifle River area where there is ice and minnows seem to be working well. The ice is questionable on the cuts and Au Gres River.
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