# ice fishing long lake traverse city



## Daniel Gibbie (Feb 6, 2020)

good evening every one, me and some buddy’s from school have a ice fishing trip planned for first ice on long lake ice fishing trip hopping to get on some fish whether it’s panfish, pike, or walleye. Just wondering if any one has any tips, spots, or any info they could tell me. reply on this or private message me would be very appreciated!


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## Sharkbait11 (Apr 7, 2017)

not from the area but did vacation there one summer, lots of bluegill and some smaller perch in the area that I caught. Its a pretty shallow lake with lots of weed growth and good potential spots.


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## John Hine (Mar 31, 2019)

Small walleye, small perch, not much for baitfish to help the fish get big & the homeowners association like it that way. Best advice, fish somewhere else. Not sayin there’s not a keeper or two still left in there but they are few & far between.


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## charminultra (Feb 8, 2017)

One of the best walleye lakes I’ve fished. In the nineties the dnr planted over ten million walleyes in that lake, 6 of the 10 million in one shot! They really make some stupid decisions in the dnr but oh well there’s a butt load of walleyes!

Lots of drop offs and 5 islands. Use tip ups with large minnows, blues I think they are called. Set the minnow 3-5’ off bottom. There’s a chance for large perch to hit that minnow as well. Ice fishing is a great way to fish out there, set your tip ups going from shallow (20’) to deep (40’) to cover the best depth range of the drop off. I’d avoid the especially steep drops, although fishing the adjacent deep (35-45’) basin is effective. 

If you have a vexlair use it with a jigging rapala or spoon to see if there’s anything underneath you and keep moving if not. But always keep at least 2 tip ups out. 

Also try some of the basins that are about 40’ deep, perch and walleyes will be there in daylight hours. Keep moving till you find them, it’s a big lake so get a lake bottom map from the dnr website and find the spots you want to try. Highly recommend a vexlair or some other fish finder.

If you go in the summer you need to fish the weed beds, there’s some very big walleyes in there, you just have to figure out how to get them out of the weeds.


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## charminultra (Feb 8, 2017)




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## HillbillyDeluxe (Mar 12, 2018)

I’d have to look, but I don’t believe there was a whole lot of good news coming out of there last year. Most walleye caught were undersized I believe.


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## charminultra (Feb 8, 2017)

The big ones are out there, maybe try further toward the south end. It’s a very fertile lake, if you scuba dive you’ll notice the water is full of small bugs, and the bottom is covered with crayfish holes. Tons of sand shinners, and juvenile bass and blue gills for baitfish. There are also nice pike and musky in that likely feed on the thousands of suckers in there. There’s lots of bullheads too and mud puppies.

or just go down the road to silver lake. Lots of blue gills and very nice walleyes in there as well.


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## Goinpostal83 (Nov 12, 2020)

I've only fished it a handful of times but all in last few years. And while numbers arent huge I've never got a perch under 11 and up to just shy of 14. And of the 7 eyes we have gotten last 2 years like 4 kept.


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## fishippie (Aug 3, 2015)

Have caught huge bluegills on that lake in the spring! They're in there


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## TheSteelDeal (Mar 6, 2019)

Is it fishable now?


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## crossneyes (Sep 26, 2005)

I know back in the 70's and early 80's silver had some big gills in it.


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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

TheSteelDeal said:


> Is it fishable now?


No! It just skimmed over last week then we got 6 inches of snow on top the following day. With the temps the way they are it will be few weeks.


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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

Long is very known for piles and piles of sub legal walleye. While it may be fertile most the walleye are skinny with concave bellies. Would do the lake good for a season or two of no size limit on walleye to clean some of them out.


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