Early 2019 Icefishing Season

Ice season is over.  It was a short one.  My last open-water flyfishing outing was November 24, 2018.  After that, we had ice, but it wasn't good safe ice thick enough to fish on.  Consequently, there was no fishing in December 2018 at all, and then the icefishing locally finally got underway on January 20.

My buddy Jay measured 17" of ice on March 2nd, and 20" of ice on March 8.  My last icefishing outing for this season was March 10.  Then we got some rain, I went on Spring Break, and when I got back on March 23, the ice was gone from most of the local ponds.

Caught some nice fish, especially bass.  I gotta give HUGE credit to Jay Ohm, who out-bassed me by a HUGE margin all winter long.  The funny thing is...we were usually fishing not far from each other, and also using the same lures/bait.  Different colors, maybe.  One other difference was he was using a stiffer ice rod, while mine had a very sensitive tip for detecting light bites from panfish.  What we think was the difference is that Jay would drop his spoon down and pound the bottom a few times, then raise it up a few feet.  He couldn't detect light bites very well with this rod, so he usually moved his lure away from fish when they showed up on his ice flasher, forcing the fish to hit more aggressively.  Bass would come in and HAMMER it.  My success improved when I tried to mimic his technique, but I still didn't catch as many as Jay.  He was fully charged with BASS MOJO!!  :)

We also hit one pond twice during the icefishing season to target catfish.  I didn't use special bait or lures....just used the same thing I was using for crappies, bass & bluegills.  Basically, it was just fishing a pond that had a good catfish population.  They aren't real big, but it was still fun.  The first time we tried it, I caught something like 6 catfish (plus other fish), with the biggest being 24" long.  Pretty fun! The next time we tried it, I only caught one smaller catfish (plus other fish).

Here's some pictures from the season:

Jay with a good ice bass.

This was the biggest catfish of the season at 24" long.

Pumpkinseed Sunfish are so beautiful!  Even during the winter!

Occasionally I think Jay would let a bass swim on by so I could try to catch one. ;o)

This is a beautiful fish:

I'm trying, and failing, to keep up with Jay's bass productivity.

One of these many bass (maybe this one below?) was Jay's biggest bass in years, he said.  I think it was just under 20".... like 19.75".

Yeah.  See what I mean?  The bass were going crazy for whatever it was Jay was doing differently.
My biggest bass of the winter season was this 20" fish:

Big Hybrid Sunfish:

So, it was a very short icefishing season this time around, but we got out a few times and caught some good fish.  That's what we hope for when riding out Iowa winters!

Darned Paparazzi!

They never leave a guy in peace!  There I am…just a guy minding his own business and icefishing….and I end up on the Des Moines Register website AND the Channel 5 ABC NEWS broadcast! ;o)

At least, in the times we are living in, I can appreciate being in the news for something that isn’t BAD!

So, actually, I was helping out at an ice fishing event at the DMACC Pond in Ankeny on Sunday.  The Ankeny Optimist club and DNR hosted the event, and Central Iowa Anglers helped.  The purpose of the event was to get folks of all ages, who hadn’t tried icefishing or wanted to learn more about it, out on the ice and show them how to do it.  There was a good turnout.  Had folks from as far away as Ames, Altoona and Waukee show up.  Lots of kids.  Seemed everyone caught at least one fish, and nobody fell through the ice.

Here’s a link to more photos from the event on the Des Moines Register website, and a screen capture of the best picture (right?):

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/picture-gallery/news/local/ankeny/2017/01/29/29-photos-ice-fishing-in-ankeny/97223366/

Here’s the link to the Channel 5 news video that they broadcast on Sunday at 5:30pm…and a screen capture from their website:

http://www.weareiowa.com/news/local-news/ice-fishing-at-dmacc-pond/646964170

Icefishing 1-1-2017

Fished with Jay.  We visited a different pond than the one I fished last week.  7" of decent ice.  Jay was smart and knew when to cut his losses, although he certainly caught his share of fish.  I stayed way too long...fished from 9:15am-5pm.
Action was very slow and the fish really seemed negative.  Had a few aggressive crazy fish that helped the day pass.
I caught 1 bass, 4-5 pumpkinseeds, 4 hybrids sunfish, and 20 +/- bluegills.
Caught 2 Master Angler-sized pumpkinseeds...9" and 9.5".

Ice Fishing in Central Iowa - December 24, 2016

After seeing the windy/rainy forecasts for Sunday and Monday, I decided to rearrange some plans in order to free up Saturday (24th) for icefishing, while the ice is still in good condition.

Visited one local pond, had 9" of good ice.  Caught a bunch o' fish....largemouth bass, bluegills, hybrid sunfish, and pumpkinseed sunfish.  First time I'd ever caught pumpkinseeds from this pond.

I tried a few different ice-lures, the most effective for this day seemed to be a Lindy Frostee Spoon tipped with a waxworm.

Pumpkinseeds:

Hybrid Sunfish:

Icefishing - March 1, 2015

Been awhile since I had anything worthwhile to post.

February passed by with only one short ice-fishing trip to show.  The fish were as negative as I have ever seen them, usually running away from my presentation as fast as they could.  I felt very lucky to manage just 3 small bluegills out of that trip!

So, I sure am glad its MARCH!  I went icefishing yesterday (March 1, 2015) with my buddy Jay.

The pond we selected treated us well when flyfishing it this past summer, but we icefished it one day last winter and only managed a combined total of ONE fish for a couple hours of effort.  The only fish we marked that day (besided the one caught) were TINY fish not interested in eating.  Flash forward to yesterday.  I was the first to arrive at the pond, and drilled 5 holes across one end of the pond.  I marked fish in 3 of the 5 holes.  Good sign.  As Jay pulled up and started unloading his gear, I dropped a tungsten jig tipped with a waxworm down one hole, and immediately had a fish on.  Then I missed a couple, and then landed another by the time Jay walked out on the ice.

We did well.  I don't know Jay's totals, but by the time I left @ 5pm, I'd landed at least 50 Bluegills, 5 Pumpkinseed Sunfish, 5 Crappies, 5 Bass, and at least 10 Hybrid Sunfish.  Fantastic!  The fish were mostly VERY positive, often charging the lure from 4' away and striking immediately.

The bass weren't big....probably all less than 12".  The bluegills weren't very big either, probably topping out at 7.5", although I've caught bigger ones there during the summer.  The Pumpkinseeds were pretty decent, fought REALLY well, and are pretty rare to catch while icefishing.  In fact, they were the first ones Jay and I had ever caught through the ice.  The crappies were healthy.

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.

First Fishing Trip of 2014!

Jay and I ice-fished on Saturday,  Jan. 4, 2014, from 10am-5:30pm.

We fished a different pond than last week.  There was 8" of good solid ice
.
Once again, we didn't have any live bait.  Once again, it almost certainly affected our success.  Last week when we fished a pond that has decent bluegills, neither of us caught single one....we only caught crappies and bass.

This trip, I had fish under me at least 95% of the time.  They would follow my lures quite willingly.  Few would actually hit.  We moved around on the pond looking for more aggressive fish.
In the first 6.5 hours, I only caught 2 fish!!!  And they hit within just minutes of each other.
Here's my first fish of 2014, a 16.5" Largemouth Bass:

The next fish was an 11" Crappie:

Jay had a bit better success during that time than I did, but it still wasn't good, considering the time and effort spent.

Around 4:30p.m., Jay and I both moved once more, and it was like a light switch.  I caught 14 more crappies (all were small...like maybe 8"?) and (finally) 2 bluegills in the last hour, and Jay did about that well also.  The crappies all hit in the top 5' of water, and Jay had some strike just inches below his hole!

Ice-Fishing, February 3, 2013

My buddy Jay and I headed to Big Creek Lake on Sunday morning.  We fished from 8am to 2pm.  Weather was decent, mostly cloudy and high temperatures in the lower 20's Fahrenheit.  Ice thickness was a solid 12" of quality clear ice.

Jay used his handheld GPS to locate an old brushpile.  We drilled several holes in the area before locating the brush, then drilled more holes to cover the length of the brushpile, which topped out near 12' of water, and was placed on a slope that dropped down into around 27' of water.

I fished a great hole, and the fish were active.  I had plenty of good solid strikes on jigging spoons tipped with plastic, and tungsten jigheads tipped with plastic.  I could not hook any of these fish!  At most, I had fish on for less than 2 seconds, or two feet of vertical reeling, before they shook free.  It was fun to be getting so many strikes, but frustrating not be able to land any of them.  Jay used a jighead and waxworm, and landed a half-dozen bluegills, mostly chunky 7.5"-8" fish.

The bite died there for both of us...the fish seemed to just disappear.  So, we headed across the lake to look for some other fish.  The first think I noticed was that the water clarity on the west side of the lake was excellent.  I could see my jig down at least 10'.  We drilled a lot of holes, and found some good-looking structure, but no fish.  We drilled some holes in featureless areas, and actually saw some fish that would move in, and quickly move back out again.  We suspected these were White Bass, which can be a lot of fun to catch while ice-fishing.  I used a jigging spoon tipped with plastic, and Jay used a jigging spoon tipped with a waxworm.  I caught two White Bass, and missed several other good strikes.  Jay landed at least 3 White Bass, before these hyper-active fish disappeared.  My biggest White Bass measured 10".

Before we left, we stopped by the brushpile where we had started the day, to see if any fish had shown back up on it.  I didn't find any fish, but Jay managed to catch one or two more nice bluegills.