Safe ice in Ely

[Babes]

Currently we have ten inches of solid, clear ice on most area lakes, and should reach a foot or more by next weekend. While the walleye bite is slow getting started many anglers are filling the gap with impressive limits of crappies and sunnies. The best bets right now are Low, Bass, One Pine and Johnson lakes. Tipping jigs with waxies or euro larvae is the winning combination. Once you locate the schools in ten to twenty feet of water the action heats up rapidly. A couple of anglers that came in from Bass lake said that they couldn't get their baits down fast enough and the action was fast and furious.
Big pike are falling prey to suckers fished in ten feet of water near the weed edges. Try the big bay in Winton on Fall lake or Olsens bay on Shagawa.