Fishing forecast (December through March): Safe ice usually forms between early and mid-December; be aware of best practices for ice safety. Ice fishing is often fair to good for rainbow and brown trout with standard ice tackle and baits. If you want to target larger brown trout, use larger jigs and tip with cut bait (chub, sucker or perch). With this technique, you may also catch some nice tiger and splake trout that washed down from Forsyth Reservoir when it was drained in 2021. Perch numbers have been slowly increasing in recent years and may also provide fair winter fishing success.