My family and I rented a little cabin on Buck Lake - I beleive in the Calhoun Bay area - this weekend. The rental has a little ice fishing shack that we can use too.
A couple of questions. I have fished a lot but my ice fishing experience is limited.
1. Is the ice safe on Buck Lake right now? It's been warm (cold again lately tho)
2. Is it actually worth fishing? We only really have 1 full day at the lake so if it's no good for fishing I just might skip it. Again I beleive the shack is in the calhoun bay area but not 100% sure.
3. What is the best rig? I've done plently of bait fishing with my kids - is that is the best method - just drop the ol' worm down the hole? I see we can keep Perch - are there any in there and how do you catch them?
I have not been to Buck Lake since Christmas so cannot comment on current ice conditions there.
As far as fishing goes, in Calhoun Bay, depending on where the shack is, you will definitely catch pike and maybe even walleye. You can keep walleye there, 1 between 45 and 50 cms. I generally use a pink jig (1/4 to 3/8 ounce) with a minnow. I jig it 6 inches to a foot or so off the bottom.
Perch have eluded me so far on the lake so cannot help you there.
Was down at the SW end of Buck a few weeks ago during the warm spell. Ice depth was ~20", so thick enough, but flood water & slush made driving awful. Guessing the warm + cold spells since probably knocked down and hardened up the top.
Usually do alright at Buck in the summer for walleye just using jig + minnow or plastic, but ice fishing was slooooow - few marks on the fish finder and those that came by just looked and faded away. But walleye fishing everywhere has apparently been slow, so not sure if that's a reflection of the lake or this winter.
I've always found buck pretty similar to a lot of walleye lakes where there may be a bit of a morning bite, dead slow during the day, and then often the best will be a very short window before dark.
If anything Buck is a little more moody than average that way. It has a reputation for being slow in the winter for a reason - most everyone has packed up before the bite even starts. If fishing isn't a priority like it sounds an option might be to just skip it during the day and fish the shoulder hours. I would wait until it's good and dark in the evening before calling it quits if possible.
Was out yesterday from sunup till dark. Managed to get a couple keeper eyes around 4pm-5pm. Very finicky fish forsure. If your bait was off bottom they wouldn’t touch it. Lay bait on bottom and they sucked it up without any hesitation. Just Mike the pike from morning and mid day. Shallow water for the eyes about 5.5 ft on the electronics.
Buck Lake Ice Fishing
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