By Jed “Big Musky” Buelow

And just like that we are ice fishing. Went out on a Tomahawk area flowage Monday afternoon and had a solid three inches of ice.

Fished until the sun went down running tip ups in four to eight feet of water in a bay. Had several flags and caught several northern pike and perch but the walleye bite eluded us yesterday.

I think part of the problem was the fact that it was really making ice, causing a lot of cracking, which might have explained why we didn’t find any eyes up shallow. Or maybe the full moon and big cold front passing through had something to do with it.

Either way, it was a blast getting back out on the ice and seeing those first flags fly of the season. The forecast says it will remain pretty cold the next few days and I would not be surprised to find some impressive ice amounts by the time the weekend gets here.

As far as safety precautions, we did chip our way out to where we made holes to make sure the ice we were walking on was safe. I also had some picks I use during early ice in the event I was to fall through. A rope and life jacket are other good things to take along when fishing first ice.

Good luck to everyone heading out this week and coming weekend. Be safe, have fun and enjoy your Northwoods ice fishing time!