Cranberry 01-17-2015

[Andrushkin33]

So,

Original idea was to fish at big H. Got there around 6 in morning and going to Dows I realized this is not happening. Was a circus early in the morning and I swear I all I heard was Russian and Polish. All out in full force.

Got the bait and we hightailed out of there. Saw people on the ice already starting out early in a dark. I guess I am not the only one with a habit of going out on the ice in a dark.

Anyways that being said we decided to move up to Cranberry. I probably would of still fished at H but the crew made a decision so we all moved there.

Ice was solid at the places we were at, no complains there but was cracking all day long. We claimed out area and pretty much just moved around it looking for some bites.

Fished from 7am till 4pm
Bait used: Shinners, flatheads, wax worms and moussies.

Personally did not catch anything so no fish porn from me. In total we had about 10 people in our group. Ours had 4 and there were 6 others that we knew. Used jig rods with moussies for some perch action but they were so small that we thought about using them for bait. Cooler heads prevailed and they were released. Got nothing on wax worms but some sunnies which were released as well. Between 10 of us we caught about 12 pickerels (biggest one was 21 inches with rest between 17 and 20), One lonely bass around 17 inches, One lonely crappie around 12 inches and couple of perch which was around the same size. All of the above were caught on tip ups and most were caught by 11am.

After 11 fishing slowed so had the grill out to warm up a bit and have some snacks and enjoy the scenery.

Overall great day of fishing.

Quick question. Since I am starting out and still have lots to learn a question about tip ups. With all that open space on the lake I was really surprised about someone (not from our group) drilling holes 5 feet away from my. I didn't say anything just wondering if that's considered okay.

Andre

[buzzbaiter]

I'm no ice guy but if somebody pulled that crap with me, I'd be screaming about it. Typical fishing rude behavior so not surprised it happened. I've had guys in boats/yaks fish within casting range when they have 500 acres or 40 miles of river to fish. Obviously if I'm standing there, I can't go very far :rolleyes:

[Esox Luciano]

Some real iceholes out there, lol. As a prank when the bites slow, me n my buddies throw snowballs at tip-ups that nobody's lookin at. Tip-up guys know the slightest touch will make a flag go up so you don't need the best aim either. I'd do that next time, it'll be fun watching em' run back n forth all day, hahaa!
Buzzbaiter- I know exactly what you mean about the boats. I just keep casting RIGHT at them when that happens. I haven't seen those guys pullin the fish I do, so seeing them as seldom as I do it's not soo bad.

[Andrushkin33]

After combat fishing upstate nothing seems to surprise me.

But still it irked me. I mean there were tons of open space so I did not see a need for someone to be that closed to me but oh well. They have kids with them its not like I am going to confront them with the kids present. Let them enjoy it.

Andre

[lennysky]

I feel a fist fight brewing for next time. NJ and NJ it's all the same ole story. Inexperienced fishermen think the bite is where others are. How absurd, I never catch anything while they are near me. I wonder why?

[Andrushkin33]

I feel a fist fight brewing for next time. NJ and NJ it's all the same ole story. Inexperienced fishermen think the bite is where others are. How absurd, I never catch anything while they are near me. I wonder why?

LoL Lenny,

Nuah nothing like that. But would prank the hell out of someone like that next time around. But above is true .... His group had about 30 tip ups set up compared to our 10 and the only time I saw them catch anything was a when he caught a perch on his jig rod. Otherwise not a single flag went up all day.

Andre

[lennysky]

I fished a private lake w a buddy. Only us on it. 5 ti pups and we caught 4 bass including 1 3 lb and I jigged up 4 perch including one at 12.5". Lost an approx 2 pound crappie at the hole too

[Andrushkin33]

Hmmm crappie. Love them.

Not to shabby at all. First time I tried fishing with moussies and man they worked much better than wax. But perch was all to small. Crappie we had was nowhere close to pound but pickers were all pretty nice.

As for sunnies they were way to small and had to be released. Couldn't even grill them.

I still got to look you up going to splitrock.

Andre

[lennysky]

My spies telling me that Rock been slow for some reason. Could be the front who knows. If you not working I can invite you for a few hours on my lake

[Andrushkin33]

My spies telling me that Rock been slow for some reason. Could be the front who knows. If you not working I can invite you for a few hours on my lake

I wish .... hard for me to get out during day.

Andre

[Chrisper4694]

i think rock slow cause of the water level being down if you ask me...some say less places for the fish to hide, easier to fish...i say bigger older fish get their environment changed and get stressed out, more cautious, you name it....adds up to harder to catch.

[saxmatt]

When I first moved to NJ in 2006 I was shocked at how close people set up to me. In New England people give you space, unless it's a small popular body of water. I've been the only one in the lake at sunrise in NJ and had people set up right on top of me more times than I can remember. I just let it go because those people don't know what they're doing and don't know how to fish. I go out to relax and catch big fish, I'm not looking to get into an argument. If I'm in a spot someone likes I fish and they come up and talk to me before they set up and keep a respectful distance all is good. Ive met some good fishing buddies like that. There are plenty of good ice fisherman in NJ, but just as many who have no regard for ice fishing etiquite. That's why I like to show up early and get the spots I like, often taking a long walk. If someone sets up on top of me I let it go. In the past I let that ruin my whole day but I know they don't know how to fish and I'll catch them anyway.

[Eskimo]

.



With all that open space on the lake I was really surprised about someone (not from our group) drilling holes 5 feet away from my. I didn't say anything just wondering if that's considered okay.



Go to a mirror and practice making a blank serial killer stare.
That sometimes works for me. Especially after they say something and you don't say anything back. Just stare into their eyes.

If I am especially cantankerous, I'll pull out my iPhone and start taking their picture -without saying anything.

If that fails and it's not too cold out, start taking off your clothes. Nobody wants to fish next to a naked man.

If he still doesn't move, pull your iPhone back out and start taking naked selfies with him in the background.

If he is still there, run the hell away from him!


.

[Andrushkin33]

.





Go to a mirror and practice making a blank serial killer stare.
That sometimes works for me. Especially after they say something and you don't say anything back. Just stare into their eyes.

If I am especially cantankerous, I'll pull out my iPhone and start taking their picture -without saying anything.

If that fails and it's not too cold out, start taking off your clothes. Nobody wants to fish next to a naked man.

If he still doesn't move, pull your iPhone back out and start taking naked selfies with him in the background.

If he is still there, run the hell away from him!


.

Oh man you made my day. Only thing I would add is to make my best George Constanza impression and go talk to him about "shrinkage"

Andre