This is was what the Spirit Reservoir looked like from the Highway E boat launch Monday morning. Snow was falling at pretty fast pace as five to 10 inches was in the forecast for the day.

The more snow that falls the worse off it will likely be as the fresh stuff will serve as a blanket preventing slush from freezing solid on lakes and snowmobile trails in swamps and low lying areas. About all we can hope for now is that some colder weather arrives and freezes things solid for the remainder of the winter.

After a early start to the season that saw us get out almost a dozen times before the calendar hit December, we managed to get out just one time in the past month. We targeted a Tomahawk area flowage the other day and had to contend with slush from earlier in the winter that covered the center portion of the lake. The area we fished was slush free but contained two layers of ice that combined totaled about eight inches.

We did manage to catch a few pike and perch on tip ups and a couple busted lines on the tip downs. No walleyes, but it was still just nice being out after the first setback of snow and slush.

Good luck to anyone heading out this week and coming weekend. Happy New Year and pray for better conditions so we can all get back to enjoying our Northwoods ice time.