Ice Fishing Report - Grand Traverse Bay - 2/13/26 to 2/15/26
The moment I’ve been waiting for since 2019, a frozen Grand Traverse Bay. There will be a much more detailed adventure report in the news section of the website soon but here is the short report of what we experienced out there.
Ice Conditions - I had heard all sorts of different reports about the ice up there. Things flying around the internet or information from someone who talked to someone. We didn’t really know what we were going to get into but this is what I saw out there. There were plenty of reports about variability and those turned out to be true. I fished both sides of East Bay and found the ice was much different depending on what side I was on. The east side of east bay was around 8 inches of solid ice with little variability. This was over a couple miles of travel, it was all pretty good. When we left on Sunday there were some pretty good cracks forming with open water in between. Some water was starting to come up on the ice in those places but there were no real shoves forming. The cracks were big enough to fish in and catch lake trout out of. The West side of East Bay was much different. Overall ice thickness was much different, lots of spots were 5-6 inches and I fished on as little as 3 inches over there. Cracks were bigger and forming shoves making them difficult to cross at times. With this week of warm weather coming I feel like that side of the bay could be in trouble with the sun, heat, and if there is any wind. It’s survival is probably critical for extending the season out there. I did not step foot on West Bay at all so I have nothing to report for that. When we left Sunday there was pretty much no snow left on the ice. Travel was spectacular all weekend out there. If you are inexperienced with ice or need a lot of it to feel comfortable then it might not be the best place to fish at the moment.
The Bite - The bite varied between species and lake trout stole the show this weekend. The trouting was so easy and going on in a variety of depths. The first day we really did well in 60-80 feet, day 2 was a little deeper 75 -95 was hot early then I did well out to 130 feet, day 3 was all over the board in 65 - 110 feet. We had great trouting on both sides of the bay and in lots of different spots. The key was just to keep moving until you got in an area that had activity. Timing was important too as morning was the best action. Midday could be a struggle at times but there were windows of activity and if you wanted to keep working you could still get some bites. We caught trout on a bunch of different presentations. A large variety of jigging spoons from 1/2 ounce to 1.4 ounces, 3/4 ounce tubes, and tailspinners. P-Line Laser Minnows, Haruki Jigs, Duke Creek Tackle Rattle Spoons, Acme Kastmasters, and some homemade fatter style spoons were all productive. I got bites both jigging really tight to bottom and also making the trout aggressively chase my spoon towards the top. I will say that if your idea of fishing the bay is walking straight off an access to the drop off and setting up a camp for the day, that you probably won’t encounter the same type of trout bite.
On day 2 we started encountering cisco on both sides of the bay. Our same trout spoons worked for them as well as some smaller presentations like Clam Speed Spoons tipped with spikes (like we use on Muskegon Lake). They were finicky though and loved to chase but not commit. If you’ve ever seen them feed, they are super ineffecient so I’m sure that had something to do with it. We did catch a significant number of cisco but if you just want to keep the rod bent, trout are your best bet. Morning was also really important for that as well as being stealthy. The cisco were often suspended so drilling holes are running around on the ice would spook them at times.
The burbot bite was a struggle for me. I spent one night on a place I have a lot of confidence in for burbot. I got one really nice one but the few others I marked were uncooperative and the rest of the crew only had a couple opportunities that never made it topside. This is earlier than I’ve ever burbot fished up there so I would imagine if the ice can hold on that it will only improve. Saturday night was spent exploring another area I have caught some in the past. We covered a ton of water but only marked a couple burbot and got no bites. The burbs were a bust for us but I’m sure someone has them figured out right now and it is such a unique opportunity. So if you can, get out and pound bottom with a spoon tipped with a bunch of minnow pieces. I always like the 70-90 foot range for that.
