The saying goes, “All good things must come to an end”, and we sure had a great ice fishing season this winter! It has officially come to it’s conclusion with the warming trend that finally arrived over the weekend and has continued into this week, along with some rain. Ice-out area-wide is close. As of this writing, a drive around to visit area lakes will take you to some open water and some lakes that are still locked up, but that will change quickly now. Perfect timing.

All in all, it was a beautiful winter season for the Eagle River area. Perch fishing was a highlight from start to finish, with some very respectable fish showing up on the mud flats and weed edges. Walleye anglers who put in the effort during low-light periods were rewarded, particularly late in the season before conditions softened. Northern pike were active most of the season, and late-season crappie fishing over deeper basins gave anglers something to stay busy with right up until things got sketchy underfoot.

Bluegill had a strong late showing, per usual, as they started working shallower and signaling the spawn to come. It wasn’t a banner year across the board, but it was a very solid one, and there were plenty of good days out there for those who paid attention to conditions and stayed patient.

Now the focus shifts to open water, and there is plenty to be excited about. The game fishing opener is Saturday, May 2nd – just a few weeks out – and that is always a big deal up here. Area guides and resorts are already reporting strong early bookings. This year, for the first time in decades, that opener includes musky.

Wisconsin moved the Northern Zone musky opener to May 2nd – aligned with the general inland opener – after decades of a later-May start date that was built around local knowledge and simple biology. Many local guides, biologists, and Muskies Inc. members argued hard against the change, and their reasoning is sound. In Vilas County waters, muskies are typically still in pre-spawn staging when May 2nd rolls around, with water temperatures well below the “ideal” 55-to-60-degree range that triggers it.

Targeting fish that are already stressed by spawning preparation, that are concentrated in predictable shallow areas, and that recover slowly in cold water is very different than fishing for them in warmer water conditions. Cold water slows revival significantly, and repeated pressure on staging fish can disrupt spawning success altogether on waters that depend heavily on natural reproduction. This is a bigger issue when the fish are targeted by inexperienced anglers who are unfamiliar with the issues – and especially unfamiliar with how to handle the fish they catch. While we’d love to sell some musky lures, line, rods and reels on May 2nd, we would rather be patient for the health of our musky population. That said, most experienced Northwoods muskie anglers will tell you that fishing for them on May 2nd up here is generally going to be a losing proposition anyhow.

Regardless, this is the time to get your gear sorted out. Pull your tackle out of storage, check line for nicks and memory, respool your reels with fresh line if it’s been awhile, and go through your hooks. Replace anything that looks questionable – a bent hook or a frayed leader at the wrong moment is no fun. Boat owners should be thinking about getting engines serviced and batteries charged. If you’ve got the time and you’re really jonesing, it’s worth a trip to the launches to see how the ramps look as the ice pulls back. There’s nothing like seeing a lake that was frozen over a week ago suddenly opened up and ready for a boat!

If the somewhat unsteady climb in temperature continues for the next few weeks we will be looking at a great opener this year. In the meantime, let’s just enjoy the anticipation and the time to get ready for it.

Good luck and good fishin’!