We had a crisp -18 this morning on the off shore reefs of sturgeon bay this morning. The fishing has been pretty consistent the past few days with some limit catches. The biggest surprise this year is the quality of the fish, big, healthy fish, a great yielding fillet. I have two shacks open for this coming weekend Saturday  2/22. The ice is around 18-20”with cracks all healed up nicely. Let’s get fishing! 

Sure does good to be back out on the off shore reefs of Sturgeon Bay. The fishing has been pretty strong the last few days. The fishing look healthy,strong and BIG. We have about 17-18” of ice. The cracks are healing and welding together very nicely! I had a shack open up for 2/16 if anyone is looking to get out! Super cold next week, let’s go get em!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a report but I’m happy to say we are out on our traditional off shore fishing grounds. The ice  setup this year was challenging with boat traffic creating cracks that took a while to heal. we then entered a warmer stretch that prevented these cracks from healing.
I appreciate the folks who have had to reschedule because of the changing and dynamic conditions this year. We have a nice cold snap after the weekend to help grow the ice pack and weld the cracks back together. The fishing has been very good for the couple groups we have had out. We will be running full bore starting Friday 2/7. We still have a couple open dates in the schedule. Looking forward to seeing everyone this year! We got some new swag this year!
captain JJ

We have entered a period of intense cold for the upcoming week. We will have four days with highs barely getting above zero.
we have a pretty good ice pack across Green Bay and it extends north leads to chambers and green island. There however is still some open water on the west shore of Green Bay, but it’s rapidly freezing over. I’m hopeful we will be able to fish in a week or less. We have some southerly winds mid week so we will see how that impacts the ice. I plan on walking daily to conditions. Maybe a plane ride Wednesday Stay tuned

We have expanded the ice pack on the door peninsula a little more over the past couple days. The big issue is the wind. We have had unrelenting North West winds the entire cold snap and it has really impacted how the ice forms. The winds have slowed the expanse of the ice from about sand bay across to Menominee Mi. The winds will begin to lay down over the next few days, and the extended forecast looks good for ice formation. I am thinking it will be about two weeks.

Click below for a aerial video of Sherwood Point

IMG_9467

The arctic air has arrived in the door peninsula and the bay is starting to freeze over at a pretty rapid rate. There is still considerable open water in some area. The big difference this year is the water temperature in the bay at freezing. The prior couple of years the falls have been mild leading into the winter which resulted in warmer water temperatures. So when the cold did arrive the water was still warmer. That is not the case this year.  We are hopeful that if the extended forecast stay accurate we should be fishing in two weeks!

The cold winds have made an early appearance in Door County the last couple of days. There is some ice starting to form in the shallow protected bays of the county. The cold and winds are welcomed to help cool the big portions of the bay, compared to last year when we had 50’s and 60s in December. These temps and wind are crucial to setting the stage for a good ice pack on the bay. We are booking trips for the upcoming year and looking forward to see everyone this winter!

captain JJ

12/2/2024

Sorry for the lack of posting. Here is a quick run down of the current ice conditions. Despite the cold blast we had mid January we still have vast amounts of open water in the bay of Green Bay. After this short arctic blast myself and another guide chartered an air plane to survey the ice pack on the Bay. We took this ride on the 14th of January. What we observed was very similar to what we saw last year. Large open sections of water, what we call thermal pockets. This was very disappointing to see. We continued our ride north through Green Island and Chambers Island. We saw large opens sections of water and wide cracks transecting the bay.

The fallowing week the temperatures rose into the mid 30’s. We have had above normal temperatures since then. Much of the ice on the bay is being manipulated by the by the winds and currents. Nothing is locked in. The near shore ice is 8-12″ but is severely compromised with the prolonged above normal temperatures.

Looking ahead we are hoping we can offer some fishing opportunities if the weather cooperates mid month and beyond. This is really disappoint to have another year similar to last year, however there is growing confidence for colder temps to coming into the later half of February and early march. Time will tell.

Thanks Captain JJ

This is looking west towards Marinette WI, Large crack runs north through the middle of the bay.
This pictures is  chambers island looknig north towards Sister Bay
This picture is looking west, Sherwood Point is on the left. This is near where we fish. 

The Arctic air has arrived! It’s been single digit for the day and we are expected to be below zero every night. This will help build ice on the bay but we are faced with some pretty strong winds this week. It remains to be seen what will come from this cold snap. The inner bays skimmed over Saturday evening and will continue to put on a pretty good ice pack. We have seven more very cold days and early next week we warm up a little for a few days. We will keep this updated daily!

We are on the cusp of some very cold air to overspread Green Bay, we are very optImistic this will catapult us in get out on the ice! We will see what it does! The cold air arrives Saturday and by all indications the cold air does not leave anytime soon!
As ice forms we will provide updated ice reports!