As the rivers freeze the bite in the tribs is picking up as well. BE CAREFUL on the ice that’s out there. Both the rivers and harbors are filled with current that can make the ice safe in one spot and unsafe a few feet away! Know where you’re going then you go out there.

I’ve been fishing in the Milwaukee area with my friend Bob Wiedenhoeft of Franklin. Bob’s rather new at this and has already caught a couple of fish that many anglers would consider the fish of a lifetime. They’re out there … you just have to put your time in to figure out where they are and what they’ll eat.

If you’re interested in learning more about fishing Great Lakes trout through the ice I’d strongly encourage you to consider attending the 2 day seminar scheduled for January 25 and 26 in the Milwaukee area. Instructor Eric Haataja will share techniques, locations, and equipment needs both in the classroom and on the ice. You can find more information at BigFish365.

The event will include a 3 hour class room session on Friday evening the 25th at Gander Mountain in Franklin,WI from 6-9 pm. This class is very detailed about each harbor river and marina, where to fish, how to fish, when to fish, etc…Lots of information overload in the class room. Instructor Eric Haataja will discuss the importance of eggs skein, spawn to the importance of fall rate of hand tied hair jigs. Each year the content in the class changes due to new area’s we fish, new baits, and new techniques used to catch these trout.

On Saturday the 26th the class will meet on the ice and fish from 7:00 AM – 3:00 pm with Capt. Eric Haataja, Capt. Joe Schmidt, and several other guides to help with set up and teaching. Heated ice shelters are available, tackle, bait, and lunch is also included.

To sign up for this years class you can reach Eric at haataja2@netzero.com or call to sign up 414-546-4627

Here’s a really helpful video from my friend Eric Haataja of Big Fish 365 that will help you get started:

If you’d prefer to go out with a guide Eric can be reached at http://www.wibigfish.com

The bite should continue through the winter. The heavy presence of shad should keep fish within reach of shore anglers and eventually ice fisherman.

Got some time this week? Load up on suckers, chubs, or shiners and head to your favorite lake. I’ll be spending this coming weekend in a harbor fishing for brown trout and steelhead. Are they biting? Check out my results from last Thursday!

There are still plenty of largemouth in the shallow weeds. Rapala DT’s, Bombers, and Strike King cranks all work well for this, especially the square bill versions. Cranks your slowly until you hit the weed tops, then rip it free of the weeds with a sharp pull. Most bites occur as soon as the bait pauses after the pull.

You’ll most likely find a few smallmouth and pike using this technique, as well as a walleye here and there. It can be hard on your hands, arms, and shoulders ripping cranks through dense weeds for 8 hours, but the benefits definitely can pay off!

Having read from a number of people that smallies will hit crankbaits over weeds in shallow water as the water temps cool I grabbed my bass rods and proceeded to toss Strike King square bill KVD crankbaits. Again, in what seemed like no time at all I connected with a solid 20″ bass. Only this time it was a largemouth. After a short while and another largemouth I put the float rod away and began tosses cranks over the entire weed flat I was fishing. I caught a half dozen nice bass that day as the sun was going down and really looked forward to the upcoming Saturday when I’d have considerably more time to experiment.

That Saturday (September 29) came and to my amazement … the crank baits were RED hot about mid-day. All totaled I caught and released about 2 dozen largemouth, a smallmouth, and 5 nice pike … all on the same crank bait. Part of the catch that day was a gorgeous 21.75″, 6.25 lb largemouth. Eventually I lost the bait on what had to be a big pike that gave me a couple of head shakes and bit me off. I caught fish on top of the weeds (ripping the crank through them when it got caught up), on the edges, and off the edges. At one point I found an active school of largemouth positioned about a full cast off the edge of the weeds in about 23′ of water. I caught 4 fish on 5 casts, including a solid 5 lber.

The moral of the story is … the fall can be a GREAT time for bass fishinfg on Wisconsin lakes. Keeping in mind that the fishing pressure is down considerably … it’s a great time to be on the water! Enjoy!

I picked up a couple of salmon on Friday on Flicker Shads … and a nice brown on Saturday on the same. The fall bite has been somewhat hampered by a lack of flow in the tributaries. There are fish around, but not in the same numbers as last year.

Meanwhille, the bass bite was just nuts on the Madison chain on Sunday. I caught a pair of 21″‘s … one largemouth and one smallmouth. What a great time to be on the lakes!

DUH!

It took a while, but it finally came to me today. The smallie bite on the rocks has slowed signifiicantly and the bite in the weeds has picked up. Also … I’m not seeing as many boats nearby when I’m out on the humps? Why not? THE PERCH HAVE MOVED OFF THE ROCKS and are now on the deep weed lines! The bigger, meat eating smallies followed them! I should have figured this out Wednesday night when I caught a couple of perch on leeches just before the smallie bite exploded at sunset!

So … tomorrow morning when I hit the lake at first light … perch imitating gulp minnows on drop shots on the wind blown weed edges.