COLEMAN, Wis. — It was late on a weekday morning and customers were coming into Walleyes & Whitetails near Coleman, Wis., for ice fishing bait at regular intervals.
Like much of this winter, owner Phillip Warrichaiet is making sales, but not as many as he has in the past.
“It’s been a rough start, considering these warm temps we’ve been having,” he said. “This past week we did get some colder temps which beat some decent ice around the area which brought brought a good amount of business this past week. That’s been helping out quite a bit.”
But those cold temperatures gave way to yet more mild winter. All told, Warrichaiet said he’s lost about a month's worth of winter sales through the end of January.
“We’re in a location that leads to the Northwoods, so we still get a lot of that business with guys headed north with some good ice up there,” he said. “But, yeah, it’s definitely been a slow start.”
Winter is an important part of the year for many businesses across Wisconsin. Skiing, ice fishing and snowmobiling drive tourism through small towns.
Kelly Conrad of De Pere, Wis., was headed north when he stopped in at Walleyes & Whitetails to get some bait.
“It’s just starting because the ice conditions were bad; it was so warm,” he said. “Now it’s getting warm again. There’s a small window, I think, to get out and see how they’re biting.”
Conrad said he made an effort to stop at the Marinette County store to spend some money.
“I like spending it up here rather than around by Green Bay, just because the businesses up here probably aren’t getting much business with the season we’re having,” he said.
Winter is Warrichaiet's biggest season. He said he’s not sure yet if the lost business can be made up this winter.
“I would say it’s going to be tough to get that business back — that month that we lost,” Warrichaiet said. “Maybe if we have a really good spring, an early spring, we could possibly make up a good chunk of that. But, I’d say that will be pretty hard to do.”