Time Fished: 10:00am-5:30pm
Water Clarity: From 5" to 6.5', depending on where you were
Water temp: 14" of ice
Species Sought: Any
Fish caught: Crappies, Bluegills, Largemouth Bass
Planned to maybe hit a few ponds/lakes, but it was fun enough to keep our attention all day. I drilled a hole and marked a couple fish. They would come and go....more often they would be GONE than actually present. Jay showed up after I did. He drilled holes in usual spots, didn't mark ANY fish. Finally had ONE show up, and caught it...a crappie that was deep. He eventually came over by me, and I drilled some new holes as well. The fish would come in waves, it seemed. Most often is was a couple fish that would come in. Occasionally the flasher would be lit up from 3' down to 14'! The bluegills seemed to be hanging just a bit deeper, while the crappies seemed to prefer 2'-6'. In some holes, I could see my jig down to 6'. I would sight-fish then. THAT was FUN! I had a few crappies that came in just a foot below the ice! Wish I had video of that! After awhile, we had to hole hop to keep finding fish, because they would disappear out of some holes, but might come back later. It wasn't a stellar day by any means, but it was the funnest, most consistent action I've had this ice season. I didn't do a good job of tracking how many I caught, so I'm underestimating to say I caught at least 23 crappies, 18 bluegills, and 1 largemouth bass. Lost a decent bass just under the hole.
I started out with a vertical jig / waxie. Caught a lot of fish on that. Later in the day, I tipped with Gulp! instead...the crappies and bass liked that every bit as much, but the bluegills hit it less frequently.
