January Ice Fishing Update

Ice fishing has been very good for walleyes on Houghton Lake and Pratt Lake.



Houghton Lake (1-19)

We fished out of the North DNR launch on (1/19) to avoid all of the Tip Up Town snowmobile traffic. Our team setup 1.2 miles SW of the launch in 10 FOW. We ended up landing seven walleyes with a 20-inch being the largest and a few small pike. The fishing was the best from 2:00pm - 6:30pm using Northland jigging spoons and a shinner minnow. I don't have any pictures this week because I lost my camera on our last Houghton lake fishing trip.



Pratt Lake (1-20)

Fished on the NE end of the lake in 16 FOW and had very good time. I caught some nice crappy and two walleyes. I found a lot of sign that other people have been fishing the same area, but I was the only guy on the lake Sunday afternoon.

Houghton Lake Ice Fishing Report 1-11-08

Houghton Lake has a solid 8-inches of ice with about 2-inches of snow on top as of Friday night. The new snow has made walking on the lake better, but if you are not careful walking you can end up slipping.

We headed out of Lyman's access point and continued out NE for 1.3 miles. When you head out of Lyman's you will see the shanty town we are fishing about 1 mile north of the town off of the point.

The action was the most productive in 10 FOW from 3:30pm to 6:15pm using Northwoods jigging spoons with a whole shiner minnow a foot off the bottom. Tip-up action was slow with only one flag. We ended up catching five walleyes, four big perch, and we lost three fish.

Fishing Report

Houghton Lake

Fished three days on Houghton and had a lot of walleye and pike action. Walleyes are biting on jigging rapalas and jigging spoons all tipped with minnow heads. We have been fishing in 9 to 11 FOW with our best action in the middle of the day and 4:30 to dark. I'll post some GPS way points next week. Pike are being caught in the same areas we are fishing walleyes and I did see a 38-inch fish landed.

Budd Lake

Budd Lake continues to produce perch every trip we make. The fishing pressure is starting to pick up especially near the power dock. I have been finding perch in 14 to 20 FOW and caught a limit every trip. I've been fishing near the state park on the west side of the lake and the south end of the lake. The best setup is a small hook and minnow. Ice conditions are good with about 7 inches.

Long Lake

Long Lake continues to keep its fish hidden. I fished for eight hours and never caught a fish. I fished for crappy and walleye without any luck. We did hear of a guy landing a 11-pound fish on 1-5 at the north end of the lake. Ice conditions are good with about 7 inches.

Pratt Lake

Not much fishing pressure on Pratt Lake. I spent a day traveling the lake fishing for crappy and walleyes. I did see several schools of blue gills on the camera but didn't fish for them. We ended up landing some nice crappy 8 to 11 inch fish and lost one walleye all in 17 FOW on the East end of the lake.

Wixom Lake

Ice conditions are not good so travel on Wixom with caution. I fished in areas that had as little as 2-inches of ice. We fished from day light to dark and only caught two crappy, three perch, and saw one walleye. Wixom Lake has never been nice to me and I find it to be one of the harder lakes to fish in the area.

Arnold Lake

We fished Arnold lake on 1-2 and never saw or caught a fish. I talked with several fisher men on the ice that also got shutout. I've been fishing on Arnold Lake since I've been nine years old and I have only been able to catch pike in the winter time. Arnold is a great bass and crappy lake in the summer and it has a great variety of depths up to 90 feet. The down fall is that the DNR has no planted fish in Arnold since 1980. I'm planning on fishing Arnold one more time in early March.