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.
