Ice fishermen, start your spuds.

Winter fishing has begun in earnest in Leelanau County, with all but big Glen Lake frozen over and attracting anglers.

Caution, however, is still urged. Greg Alsip of the Fish Hooked shop in Lake Leelanau said a fisherman over the weekend busted his spud through thin ice with one swing in the middle of south Lake Leelanau — and promptly retreated closer to shore.

North Lake Leelanau remained open by strong winds until Monday, and parts remains unsafe. Pop-up shanties have been spotted off Popp Rd. for more than a week as fishermen sought out the popular cove that freezes early for perch and pike.

Alsip said south Lake Leelanau has yielded some small walleyes, making the smaller “blue” minnow the favored bait over grays.

Little Traverse Lake is providing perch in depths of about 40 feet, Alsip added.

The Fish Hooked was opened in the former Thunderbird Gift Shop building a couple weeks ago by the same family that owns the Fish Hook in Leland.

Permanent shanties are now prominent on little Glen Lake, according to Bob Smith, proprietor of the Sportsman Shop in Glen Arbor, and the lake is giving up some nice perch.

Smith’s son, Wes, got on little Glen earlier this week about 1 p.m. — and caught about six nice perch from 8-10 inches in about 15 minutes. “Nice yellow bellies,” reported Bob Smith.

But that was it for the afternoon. Big perch could be seen eyeing minnows, but backed off.

Some pike, up to 38 inches, have also been caught. “But they’ve seen some big pike running through the holes,” said Smith. He’s heard no reports of trout catches.

Smith said ice thickness is between 6 and 10 inches on little Glen. He hoped a high pressure center forecast to move over Michigan early next week would help conditions.

Heavy snows have kept ice on Cedar Lake from firming up, according to Dan Plamondon, owner of Cherry Bend Grocery. Still, anglers working in pop-up shanties are bringing in a few pike and smelt, the lake’s standbys in winter. Blue minnows are a favorite of pike fishermen, while small jigs tipped with waxworms, mousies or spikes are the tickets for smelt.

“Pike have kind of taken over the lake on Cedar. They’ve taken out a lot of the smaller bluegills, which is good because there are mostly nice ones now,” said Plamondon.

However, finding bluegills through the ice has posed a problem through the years, he added, leaving most panfish anglers to settle for smelt through the ice.