Outdoor Reports & Tips

Throughout the season you can come and visit this page for the most current Outdoor Reports and tips for fishing the Rhinelander area.

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Weekly Rhinelander Area Outdoor Report from Mitch Mode of Mel's Trading Post:

January 24, 2012

We're coming off a pretty solid week of ice fishing in the area as anglers report good success with a number of key species.  Mild temps midweek will drop gradually for the weekend but without any sudden weather fronts coming in we think fishing success will remain good in the short run.  And, as we near the end of January we can rest assured that lengthening days will bring better fishing ahead.

For now we are seeing a consistent uptick in crappie action.  That pattern should continue as the best fishing of the winter season is usually later in February and March.  As it is we've seen some nice catches in the past week and that will continue.  Crappies like deeper water this time of the year and that's the place to look for them.  We saw fish in 30' of water this week, often suspended off the bottom as is usually the case.  Tip-downs are beginning to produce fish along with jigs.  Tip-downs are working best with small minnows, Ruby Reds, as bait.  Jigs can be fished bare or with grubs.  But both tactics are working well.

Walleye action had a nice bump this past weekend.  We expect walleyes to continue to hold their own as we go forward.  There is no magic formula, just tip-ups and minnows.  The key is which type of minnows to use and on that there is some variation; shiners work well on some lakes, suckers on others.  We don't have a "one size fits all" answer on which is best, the only thing we can offer is to try them both.

This is, according to some, one of the best winters for northern pike in some time and while the toothy fish don't hold a lot of appeal for some fishermen they do provide fast action and a full stringer at the end of the day.  Most fish caught have taken minnows under tip-ups when set up for walleyes.  Some anglers will fish them with wire leaders on either tip-ups, or just work for them with a stout jig pole.  Weedy areas are best (as is usually the case for most winter fish).

Ice quality is unchanged from last week but as a rule we're seeing less ice this winter than usual.  We often are near 30" thick on many lakes by now; this year we're not seeing that.  We continue to get reports of thinner ice on some lakes and that always makes us nervous.  Don't assume that because we're well into the winter that ice is all safe; it may not be.

Report By:
Mel's Trading Post
105 South Brown Street
Rhinelander, WI 54501
715-362-5800

Best Fishing Times....

January - February - March - April - May - June

July -  August - September - October - November - December