February 27th, 2024
***Ice Report***
No improvements were made this last week in the Ely area. Ice thickness remains between 12-16” on shallower lakes in the Ely area and 8-14” on deeper lake trout lakes. Very little to no snow has travel limited to skates, foot, 4 wheelers and side by sides.
***Fishing Report***
Lake Trout - Lake trout fishing has been challenging to say the least. Many anglers, this last week, struggled to get lakers to leave the bottom or even stop and show interest in their baits. Small jigging spoons and live bait placed 6-12” off the bottom seemed to be anglers best approach to catching lakers. Sunken islands that top out in 20-40 feet seemed to be the most productive structure to fish.
Panfish - Panfishing has been like the weather. One day hot, next day ice cold. Finding panfish doesn’t seem to be the issue anglers are having. Finding panfish that aren’t glued to the bottom and active is the challenge. Drilling lots of holes and moving has been key for a successful outing. Crappie minnows, under a bobber, for negative panfish has been productive on negative panfish. Panfish suspended off the bottom have been hitting small white or red colored soft plastics.
Stream Trout - Rainbow trout were a popular target this last week. Anglers reported good fishing for them on several area lakes. Early in the morning, anglers found them in shallow water 5-15 feet. Later in the day anglers found rainbows out over deeper water, 20-50 feet of water. Either location, rainbows are being caught 5-15 feet under the ice on small spoons or tungsten jigs tipped with wax worms.
Eelpout - Recent full moon has eelpout activity high and a lot of anglers taking full advantage. Bright glowing tubes or heavy pout spoons, loaded with chunks of minnows and pounded on the bottom, has been very effective. 25-45 feet of water, around sunken islands or sharp drop offs close to flats have been the areas to look for eelpout. Depth seems to change every night, so find fish first before setting up for the night.
