My son goes to Ashland U and has recently just started to appreciate ice fishing. I have never fished this lake but wanted to come up and give it a shot with my son. How are the ice conditions? Any advice on a good starting point? Any help would be much appreciated.

A buddy and I were considering making our annual trip to Lake of the Woods in MN but decided to step out of the box and went to Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin.  It was a blast! The Sturgeon Bay area features unbelievable underwater topography and is one of the most interesting places I have fished.  
The long list of species to chase on the ice includes pike, walleye, perch, whitefish, brown trout, lake trout, musky, sturgeon and more.   The ice was 20+ inches and in some areas close to 30.  We drove out to chase the fish in my buddies Ford f 150 which sure beats walking or ATV's.  We originally were going to go with one of the areas many guide services but ended up going self guided.  Out of state licenses are only $27 bucks and the hotels are very cheap...under $50 most place for 2 people.  Howie's bait shop is the place to go for info and Lance took time to go over the basics and give suggestions for the hot spots.  I have the NAVIONICS app loaded on my droid phone which is $10 and is as good as any big ticket chart plotter or GPS for putting you on the many shoals, breaks, and reefs in the area.
We started out chasing whitefish which if you are not familiar with can be challenging to catch.  Once you figure it out they are plentiful and limits of 10 each are almost a sure bet.  They are great eating and many area people consider them to be as good or better in the frying pan as walleye or perch...which i don't say lightly!  We were chasing the whitesfish in 50-60 ft of water and let me say that braided line with flourocarbon leaders are a must.  Helps you feel whats going on and missed fish will be the exception not the rule.  I used a lindy flyerspoon tipped with shiner pieces (keep the fresh bait on) with a 1 ft leader, then a barrel swivel, another 14 inches of leader with a size 14 gold treble, then another barrel swivel that connects to the braid. The treble actually slides up and down between the 2 barrels and when tipped with a wax worm seems to give the variety that these hard fighting & yummy eating fish can't resist.  Working the bottom 6 inches is the ticket and taunting them up when they come off the bottom seemed to work well for me.  It's kinda like a mix between walleye and perch techniques as odd as it sounds.  Lots of fun and I can't wait to go back.  We were there 2 1/2 days and caught alot of fish the first half day, then after changing my set up hammered limits easily the next 2 days.  
We chased perch and finally were able to figure them out. We would catch an occasional fish while targeting the whites but when we went to their steady haunts we were able to get on em'. Bobbers or tip ups 6 inches of the bottom with live shiners were the way to go. They do not want to be jigged like our frisky Ohio fish. Dead sticks are king for perch here and as soon as we figured it out it was like turning on a light switch. I wish we would have figured them out sooner or had more time to fish as I believe limits would have been a sure bet as well.
As for the walleye, they are there and when you get on em' it seems that the bite could give Erie competition.  Google YOUTUBE Sturgeon Bay Walleye if you get bored...you can see for yourself.  The walleye were tight lipped and we didn't target them as much as we would have liked but there is only so many hours in the day.  We fished for them one morning and had lots of marks but couldn't get them to bite and one evening where I lost a very nice fish at the hole while trying to deal with my transducer that was 30 inches down and got caught up in my line.
The late ice in this area is unbelievable as the perch and walleye spawn in Sturgeon Bay and stack up thick.  I am thinking about going back in a week or so to take advantage of this as I have heard it is without a doubt a "World Class" bite.  All in all this is a great trip for an Ohio fisherman to take.  600 miles or about an 9 1/2 hr drive which went by very quickly.  The hotels are cheap, food is cheap, and you can use all the same tackle you use here.
I hope you found this report helpful and keep this destination in mind when you can't "get your fix" here in the buckeye state.  I can tell you that without a doubt it was one of my favorite trips and I will be making this a yearly event. You cannot get bored because the fishing is great and your options are unlimited.  

Am I the only one who feels like a kid before Christmas? I never thought as a grown man that a weather forecast would make me so excited      Anyone have some Indian updates to share?  Trying to plan my week accordingly.

Spent the day at Buckeye with a buddy.  Just call me Gill Gillespie cuz that's all we caught....50+   Tried 3ft clear to 9 ft and blew 50 holes.  Great Bluegill bite in 4 1/2 ft.  Good marks in 6 1/2 but no takers.  just 1 crappie lost at the hole.  Seen 2 Dink suageye caught first thing in the morning on ice jigs??  Started out on foot then went and got the quad around 10 am. Ice seemed pretty good at harbor hills area and around the plowed rd sections of the marsh but there is a bad spot in the middle between marsh and island  about 10 ft x 20 ft  only 2 inches so be careful.  This is not an endorsement to fly around on a quad willy nilly.  I went to the places I had already checked and had personal knowledge of.  I've heard some eyes were being caught here and there but not on fire or anything.

Came out of Catawba and followed the christmas tree trail that guides must have set up clear to north side of Green. Big crack partially closed up with north winds but was still open on the west side of Green running clear past the west side of Rattlesnake.  Ice around islands was 15-18 inches and even seen a small truck on the ice. Fished NW side of Green near the crack for a while.  Some marks but no takers and a buddy missed one that he said had some weight behind it he thought was a walleye.  Ran north to the south side of Rattlesnake in 32 ft and hit 7 perch and 1 small eye. Perch came on very small jigging raps and color didn't seem to matter. Heard reports of decent numbers of perch being caught in this area.  I think if we would have pushed around a little more we might have been able to put together limits if we would have focused on them.  My buddy was being lazy so we sat tight which was a mistake after finding out this morning that a few limits of perch taken not too far from us.  The walleye seem to be eluding most fisherman so far.  I talked to a charter capt who was struggling to put any fish in the airboat at all.

please remember always check your own ice.

I have a what i believe is a clam 2000 model shanty.  Need to pull it out of the shed to double check the model.  A couple of quarter sized holes from mice and a crack in the plastic.  Totally functional as it is.  I fished with it for 2 years like it sits no problem.  Easy to fix if you wish though,but like I said fully funtional right now.  I just bought a 2 man flip and no longer need the Clam. Great starter shanty that will comfortably fish 2 people.  Gonna put the kids through college with this sale lol.....$45!!  I paid $250  seems fair :-)  I live in columbus.