Shirley's Bay 2022 Ice season

[Happy Hooker]

Great stuff, how is the ice thickness past the shacks?
Thinking of heading out Mon. or Tuesday, looking for ling.

Hooker

[CCLad]

Our hut is on 15 - 16"s

[Happy Hooker]

Thks for the info.
Hooker

[CCLad]

Good luck. Here's two of my favorite things on ice - 6 bud tall boy's and a nice chunky walleye (she went back in)

walleye jan 29 (3).jpg (198.5 KiB) Viewed 2059 times

[smitty55]

Folks, I have fished Shirley's for several years now. Also followed along on this forum every year when ice season opens. One thing I have noticed is that nobody seems to fish Shirley's at daybreak, including myself. For you more seasoned Shirley's anglers, is there a reason for this besides the cold morning temp's? Is the bite not so good at that time? Like I said, I always fish the evenings as well. But that got me to thinking, why don't I go out for a daybreak trip some day. Thoughts??

I would never trade the late day bite for the morning ever on Shirley's unless you only had the morning option. Even then I'd want to be set up before dawn. The biggest difference between those times is that the evening run is more of a concentrated movement as the schools move into the bay to feed and then scatter, so the morning movement back out of the bay is more spread out over time and locations. We could literally almost set our watches by when the run would start over some stretches, most often just as the sun hits the horizon on sunny days. Then there's the odd day where everything comes together and the bite is extended.
There used to be at least 60-80 permanent shacks for many years out there, some spread out all over but some good clusters too, some with good size rinks maintained even. Add in all the day trippers fishing outside like most folks did. Some weekends there would be 200 or more people fishing there and I was constantly flabbergasted as how so many folks packed up and left just before prime time for Walleye fishing. Supper can wait one day, fishing is the priority, right? Bring snacks for the kids. We'd look around over the bay and by 4:30 on there might be a dozen vehicles left, less on Sundays. I get it that for some its a social thing too and weather has an effect for some of course. The die hard dress for it. Protection sometimes meant being being able sit in the truck depending how far you could get. I had a 3/4 ton 4X4 so once the main junction split off a couple hundred yards out depending on snow it was often a 4x4 road only. There was no such thing as pop ups or flip-overs.
To close on the subject, I've fished Shirley's at least a couple hundred times over the years and I can only recall once ever leaving before dark. Often we would only go out after 3 and stay around till around 7 but on some days if it was nice out it could be later. Usually once the ling started the bite died. Biggest one I ever got out there was just over 6lb and was caught after 8:30. I had just caught a 5lb Ling and was thinking about packing it in when I got another bite and it was heavy. Thinking it was another Ling I hauled away without a care and was overjoyed when it turned out to be gold. That was my best winter out there ever with 3 fish over 5lb, all caught after dark.
Nice to see all those smaller fish being caught too, looking good for future populations.

Cheers

[Ragehunter]

Thanks for the morning bite information. I also prefer sleeping in, so that settles that!! Evenings haven't failed me yet on Shirley's, so I'll stick with what works!
We went out Saturday p.m., fished 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in 11.5 ft of water. Ended up with 14 walleye and sauger and 5 perch. Marked fish constantly, missed several. Very good fishing from the time we started right thru until we had to leave. All fish put back to fight another day.
Fun note, we caught far more fish on a small Rapala tipped with a minnow tail then we did with a minnow head. Not sure why the difference, but the minnow tail caught 10 of the 14 walleye and sauger and fish showed far more interest in that setup over the 3 hrs we were out there.
Cheers!!

[pickereye chaser]

wow! these are impressive reports!

Where are people parking with trailers currently? Last time there the main parking lot was rammed.

[scarkner]

Good to hear the ice is so great. I was at Constance Bay this weekend and you could drive pretty much anywhere.

How is the driving at Shirleys? I think I am due for a trip out there soon!!!

[Ragehunter]

It's fine. Lots of black ice. We had 15+ inches where we drilled well offshore. Nice road plowed all around out there. We drove out on Saturday night. No issue at all. There were cars out there. Small SUV's. The road is a huge help, but in a 4x4 you would have no issue anyway.

[Happy Hooker]

BIG thank you to whoever plowed.
Hooker

[Ragehunter]

Agreed. To whoever did the plowing, a big thank you. I was thinking that on Saturday night when we arrived. They put some time and energy in to the work. Plowed some roads to the perm huts. Road extends well out to the furthest huts. Made essentially a big looping circle. Looks like some parking areas were made off to the sides in a few areas as well to keep cars off of the actual road. We parked in one of those little areas, out of the way, off the road.

[canam04]

This group is awesome. I have been a member on this site since 2014 and I have to say it is great to see such a great group of anglers giving great advice. I am part of other fishing groups and there is nothing but negativity on almost every post but with this site it really feels like a true fishing group where we help each other and are happy to share information so we are all successful. Hats off to everyone here and keep up the great discussions.

Tight lines everyone

[scarkner]

This group is awesome. I have been a member on this site since 2014 and I have to say it is great to see such a great group of anglers giving great advice. I am part of other fishing groups and there is nothing but negativity on almost every post but with this site it really feels like a true fishing group where we help each other and are happy to share information so we are all successful. Hats off to everyone here and keep up the great discussions.

Tight lines everyone

Agreed! I find I'm starting to come back here more and more now. Had enough of FB!

[CCLad]

Thanks to who ever it was who took the time and effort to plow out the road!!!

[Ragehunter]

Hit Shirley's again yesterday. Fished about 3.5 hrs in 11.8 ft of water. Only 1 sauger landed. Marked several fish over the 3+ hrs, couple of hits but most seemed to have lockjaw. Typical February fishing. Still can't beat a few hrs out on the ice and will be back at it again as soon as possible!!