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Location: Menasha, WI | First time out on Bago this season. Fished in 9' out from the Neenah Pool. Not much action but did catch some small perch along with 2 over 10". Small minnows under a bobber was the preference for the few that did bite.
Ice was a solid 6" all the way out to the 1st heave -- I didn't go beyond that as there was open water another 50 yards out. |
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Location: Menasha, WI | Out today from 12:30-4:30 in the same area where I got some perch on Sunday morning. Good thing the weather was nice because the fishing sucked. Had some sniffers but no takers. We lost a good 2" of ice since Sunday morning. Where there had been 6", today there was only 4" (measured with a tape measure). The patch of open water out beyond the heave where I was located, tripled in size since Sunday. Hopefully, we don't get as much snow as predicted and the cold temps can do their thing to the ice. |
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| Drove around bago today. I think the best`ice will be in the main part of the lake where it was all open. Snow will ruin the ice already made but the rest of the lake should freeze great. Maybe the snow will sink the shoreline ice and will make good ice after that. Going to have to watch it close this year for spearing. Be careful. Don't need this wind. |
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| Yup. This could be a deadly weekend if guys aren't careful. A few cold nights to make a little unsafe ice on what was open a day or two before and snow to cover it up. Lots of open water which could allow ice to shift in the strong winds. Not good.
If you plan on fishing a spot this weekend that you haven't fished this week, better be darn careful. |
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| Good point about the shifting ice thumper. I would think Poygan could get scary also. Pretty big open spots as of Tuesday. |
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| My friend who lives down by the county launch on BDM said there was a 15-20 yard wide swath of open water out in front of the launch stretching from the aerators on both sides on Thursday. No way to get out from the launch without having to cross that open area. It was caused by the wind pushing the shore ice out towards the open water in the middle. There is probably skim ice and snow over it now. Guaranteed someone drops an ATV or sled in there. |
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Location: Menasha, WI | Good news/bad news. Bad news is that we got 5" inches of fairly heavy snow and it's going to wreak havoc on the ice that is there. It's certainly covering some weak spots and I'll bet that we have some overconfident people swimming this weekend. The good news, from what I could see this morning, is that the open water and cracks are pretty visible. For instance, a very obvious stretch of open water on Mansur's Bay runs parallel to shore about a 1/3 of a mile out. Hopefully, those reminders will keep most people from making bad decisions. |
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Location: Menasha, WI | Out this morning at at dawn. Walked out to the edge of the old ice and got out to 15' of water, finally. I had 6" of ice on the inside of the heave. It was pretty slow but managed to get one decent eye to the ice -- not on the ice, though, I lost it at the hole. I was using rosies on a #16 trebles for perch and it wasn't enough hook to get the eye up through the hole.
DO NOT venture on to the newly formed ice! It is less than 2" thick and it was breaking up fast in the wind. |
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Location: Menasha, WI | Out today from 7:30-2:30. Started in 15' and worked my way in to 5' then back out to 15'. Nothing all day. I covered a lot of surface area and the fish just weren't doing anything. The few that I even marked would give a half-hearted sniff and take off. May be the worst day I've ever had on Bago (and I've had some bad ones). At least the weather was great and there was an amazing sunrise this morning. |
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| Drove down to fire lane 8 today. Looked froze as far as my dad and I could see. 2 motorcycles driving around about 300 yds off shore. Didn't see any shanties. |
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| Thanks 4 posting Viking, i don't ice fish, but it's a good read at this time of the year as i only go out in the boat and late april is a ways off.Good Luck.Ralph.  |
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Location: Neenah, WI | Stopped at the light house in Neenah yesterday afternoon before work. Open water about a mile out. When I put the binoculars on it I saw about 2000 geese!!!!!! Fox 11 had a report on this morning showing video from an airplane. LOTS of open water for long stretches. Stay in the bays and be careful. |
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Location: Fremont, Wisconsin | Dale
You got a update on them ice conditions off paynes point hook and spear club?
By the way, it seems if you go to you tube and look for sturgeon spearing, all you get is Dale Frank on fox 11. LOL I did not know that you have done that many episodes for them. |
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| Looking for drive on ice, 12" and more. |
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Location: Menasha, WI | stacker,
Dale might have a better read on things but from my observations fishing in the area and my daily drive down CtyA, there's decent ice only about 1/3-1/2 of a mile or so out from the club. There is still open water beyond that -- the 100'+ wide crack that extends from Garlic to Neenah won't heal up with the winds and shifting ice sheet. Unless there's some serious cold weather soon, there's going to be a lot of spearers doing their thing close to shore.
Tigerfish,
The only places where I've found 12" ice is where the early ice was broken up and blown on to or under other ice. There are some vehicles out in Cowling Bay and, I've heard, down by Stockbridge. However, you wouldn't catch me anywhere on the lake in a car and certainly not in a truck.
Edited by Viking 1/24/2012 2:05 PM
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Location: Fremont, Wisconsin | Thanks Viking. It gets closer and closer to spearing and warmer and warmer, hahahaha. I like 20 inches under my truck. |
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| Thanks guys for the reports. Been layed up with second hip operation. Stacker, Dale seen my daughter in line with her first sturgeon last year and told the news team to interview her. They did and I thank you for that Dale. Just shows you the pull he has around these parts. |
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| Anyone have a clarity report ? |
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Location: Menasha, WI | Not very clear, generally -- about 6'-7' is the best I've seen. But, as always, it varies from location to location. |
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Location: Neenah, WI | I haven't ventured far enough to give a real detailed report and don't want misinform either. I live on Cty A just north of Paynes Point clubhouse. We have 9 inches in front of my house and the whole bay is about the same. The guys from the club may be going out today to check. With warm temps coming, 41 on Tues. any reports you get today won't be worth much later. Caution is the word. Use your head and be safe. When I get a reliable report I'll post it here.
Stacker, I've been doing that Fox 11 thing for 5 or 6 years now. It's always nice to be on the teevee with pretty girls. Last year was a gas, I actually talked Emily Deem into kissing a Sturgeon. |
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| Dale,can you get her to kiss me without Tina finding out? Went down to the bay yesterday and had 11 inchs 300 yds out. That will all change. Getting scary now after seeing the forecast. |
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Location: Neenah, WI | I looked at a few landings today and saw lots of water on the ice. Add nearly 50 degrees to that and it's not a good mix. Coming up we have highs in the 30's and lows in the high 20's. Remember, it's a 16 day season, ya don't have to go out on opening weekend. Please be cautious. I don't care how big the fish is or how macho you are, it just aint worth it. If I get good news I'll report it. |
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| North shore, good ice if you avoid springs. 8-12 inches. Not good clarity. |
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| Fished Bago Saturday 2/18. ATV's out of Black Wolf, couldn't cross the crack anywhere. Went to Oshkosh, crossed at the bridge. Had about 9" all over, but it decreased quickly near the river. Open water from the river extending quite a ways out into the lake....maybe 1/2 mile or a little more? No slush or water on the ice. Main cracks were in rough shape, landings were good, but both are probably deteriorating with highs around 40 Sunday-Thursday.
Edited by thumper 2/20/2012 7:48 AM
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Location: Menasha, WI | I walked out and fished near Garlic Island on Sunday morning. With every heave I crossed the ice got thinner. After the 3rd major heave, the ice was only 5" or so.
The lawyers must be moving up onto the reefs to spawn. I got 6 within an hour fishing a break that drops from 11' down to 15'. I moved deeper after 8am and found a few small perch but it was pretty slow. |
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| You eating those eelpout? I never did until about 10 years ago. Can't remember who had me try them. Prepared them right on the ice.
Pretty good when done as poorman's lobster. |
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Location: Menasha, WI | I've been told over-&-over they're good eating. I just can't get past the slime and the ugly to actually keep and clean one. Maybe one of these days I'll run out of real fish and get desperate enough to try one.
They are fun to catch, especially the bigger ones. Once you get them on the ice though, they're a pain in the butt -- they flop around and tangle everything in their wake and it's hard to get hook out of their soft mouths, I end up breaking about 50% of the hooks while trying to remove them. |
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Winnebago Ice 2012