Ice conditions are excellent across the Alexandria area. I have been finding 14”-18” of ice on every lake I’ve been on in the last week. Travel has been pretty easy with minimal areas where a 4 wheel drive vehicle would get stuck. Most of the lakes have plowed roads, so unless you plan on exploring off the beaten path, you’ll have nothing to worry about.The sunfish and crappie bite has been the most consistent. There are numerous lakes putting out very good numbers of nice sized crappie and sunfish. 15’-20’ of water has been my target depth. I’ve been having my best luck where the bottom changes depth. For example, if the fish are relating to a deep hole I like to drill holes on the outer edge of the hole in 15’-20’. I’m confident the fish are in these areas so on any given day on the ice I will drill as many holes as it takes to find the fish. By “finding fish” I mean I want to see at least 2-5 good marks right off bottom. This usually means you are in a decent sized school of fish and it’s time to start fishing. My favorite lure to catch these tasty fish is a #12 Tungsten Lindy Toad. I like a lot of different colors based on water clarity, but I always seem to fall back to a Green and Black Toad. I tip the hook with a Euro larva and drop it down the hole. You will immediately see the fish react to your offering. They usually start coming up slowly toward your jig. If the fish are aggressive they will bite as soon as your lure and the fish meet. Many times the fish are not aggressive though and you need to coax them into biting.There are many ways to entice a fish to commit to your bait, but the most productive for me is to make them chase my bait. The most important thing to know is when the fishing is slow, jiggle SLOW. After dropping your bait down to the fish start to jiggle up sloooowly. I mean jiggle up about 1” every 10 seconds slow. This is hard for most people to grasp but a slow rising bait looks very natural to them. It appears the bait is getting away from them and they just can’t resist.Walleye fishing has also been VERY good but much more inconsistent. I’ve had great luck one day catching 7 or more over 20”,and the very next day one keeper. I feel the relentless cold fronts that keep moving through are the biggest culprit. Fishing right before one of these fronts has produced the most fish for me. A friend of mine was fishing on a smaller lake just before the last cold front and caught 4 walleye between 28”and 31”. He literally caught a lifetime of big fish through the ice in less than 3 hours…wow! Knowing that almost every lake in the area has the possibility to produce fish like that keeps me going every day. Whether you want smaller fish for the pan or the big one to make a memory, it’s all here under a crystal clear sheet of ice waiting for you!As always if you have any questions feel free to shoot me an email and I’d be happy to help. Good Luck with your December ice fishing!
