Northwest Fishing Reports

Finally made it out to Cabela's this past weekend to pickup some ice fishing gear. Anybody know the local bait shops where I can pickup ice fishing bait?

Still gotta get an ice auger; Bought a lazer 8" which is evidently too large and not as good as a Nils. Will have to return unopened and order from Cabela's or somewhere.

Also waiting on getting an ice suit, but then hopefully will do some ice fishing this coming week when things get colder.

Any tips you guys can offer will be appreciated. Nice reports from Kfedka and Aaron.

White Elephant, Sportsmans Warehouse (now outfitters wholesale or something like that), Wally word. Everyone sells worms. White Elephant and Sportsmans will have maggots, herring, meal worms, etc. I think Sportsmans will have the largest selection. Wite Elephant and Sportsmans is where I buy my bait.

Kfisherman summed it all up. Although I did stop by a week ago at formerly Sportsman Warehouse which was out of maggots, and White Elephants only had 3 pack left after I bought mine. So call ahead to see if they have them before heading out.

You can call The General Store also.

In a pinch I have found that power bait works well when fished just off of the bottom when going for trout and a swedish pimple w/perch eye attached works very will when going after perch.

The General Store and White Elephant both carry Berkley colored waxies, which work well for perch. I like chartreuse. But, I always always pair them with a few real maggots because they really cant be beat. Also, check out yourbobbersdown.com They have some great plastics that I have been using my whole life. Look at the atomic nuggies and the wedgees in reds, glow green, and white color for crappie. They are really killers. I usually get the 1.5" version because it seems to be the right size for any species. If any of you are interested in how to use these plastics, I would be more than happy to explain. It seems like most people in this part of the states don't use them, and they work great.

Thanks for the tips fellas.

Was looking online at places like Knutson's and Forked Tree Ranch - Anybody want to split 5000 maggots? Just kidding... Shipping seems to kill these deals unless you get a panfish/perch gang together to split the bait.

How much do places charge in town/ $4 for 100 spikes sound reasonable?

We used to use diced shrimp for perch in Lake Michigan - think they'll like 'em here?

perch will eat anything fleshy really. I think that small chunks of shrimp and preserved minnows should work here too... I use all of my Wisconsin gear here on the ice so your Michigan stuff should work good too. I've actually had some (limited) success on preserved minnows that had been colored chartreuse. Worked mostly on small bass while I was trying for crappie.

We use salad shrimp quite a bit, the small precooked shrimp you put on salads. You can buy them by the pound at almost any grocery store. An agg loop is handy when using them as they are rather soft. Salad shrimp are actually a fresh water shrimp so the scent on them is similiar to the fresh water shrimp (scuds) that are abundant in a lot of lakes and rivers here in the northwest. We mostly fish for trout (and usually with salad shrimp) but I would have to think perch probably feed on the fresh water shrimp native to alot of the lakes as well. I have caught sunfish on them a few times.

If I can run to the store and pick up bait. I'll use frozen uncooked shrimp and Crappie nibbles. I usually have at lease one or two bags of shrimp in the freezer, as i like seafood. I purchased a jar of the Crappie nibbles this spring. They work with jigs, or all by them selves. I've caught perch, bluegill, and sunfish with them.

Sounds good- I can get a lb of salad shrimp for $4, but prob can't get a lb of maggots for that. I think I'll try it- convenient to have 'em stored up in the freezer. Man, can't wait to get out on the ice.