Icefishing, January 11, 2015

Knowing a lot of local anglers can be interesting.  Many people I knew, and many people I didn't know, went icefishing on Saturday, January 10.

Most of the guys I know had an INCREDIBLE day!  I saw their pictures of awesome walleyes, big bass, super-fat perch, and personal-best crappies.

But I didn't go fishing on Saturday.  I went for 4 hours on Sunday.  Before I headed out, I heard from a friend that said nobody was catching anything.  Nobody was even ON the local ponds, whereas the day before there were lots of people out.  Later I heard from guys that fished both days, that Sunday was MUCH SLOWER.

So...I changed my plan to try to icefish for trout, and instead just headed to the same local pond I've been icefishing this season.  Its not even a particularly GOOD pond to icefish.  Its just convenient.

Well, I'm satisfied with my results....no BIG fish were caught, but the numbers were satisfactory.

I started out using a Lindy Frostee spoon tipped with a dead waxworm (cuz I forgot to buy fresh ones during the week).  I caught some fish on that, but the number of strikes and number of fish hooked increased when I switched to a tungsten jig tipped with a waxworm.

I ended up catching over 35 Bluegills, 4 Black Crappies, 1 White Crappie, and 1 Largemouth Bass.

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I forgot to mention....the ice the previous Saturday was 5" thick.  It was very cold all week.  This Sunday (8 days later), the ice had improved to 9" thick!!

2015! Let's Get It Started!

I ice-fished with my buddy Jay on Saturday, January 3, 2015.  Weather was a decent 32 degrees F, wind of less than 10 mph, mostly cloudy.  Ice was excellent quality, 5" thick.

We fished the same pond I had ice-fished back in November and December.  Really need to try a different body of water NEXT time.  :)

We marked fish in the main basin.  They seemed eager to bite at first, but soon turned to "lookers".  They would follow, but not strike.  So, it was fun to watch the fish on the electronics, but we weren't catching much.  My first fish of the year was a Largemouth Bass.

We drilled holes and checked all over the main basin for active fish, but the story was similar everywhere.  We finally moved towards the west end of this pond, and found a lot more fish, and many were very willing to strike.

I ended the day with at least 15 Bluegills (up to 8"), 1 Black Crappie (11"), 1 White Crappie (8"), and at least 8 Largemouth Bass (up to 13").  All were caught on a 1/16th oz Lindy Frostee Jigging Spoon tipped with a waxworm.