Weekend ice report

[Chrisper4694]

went for some smallies Saturday just with jigging rods. Slow start, only got 1 at 15". Still tons of fun on the panfish Rod though. Moved over to cong on some humps and weeds but only picked up a bunch of ok and small perch and one nice one along with a pickle dart. Small micro his with mousie or gulp caught all my fish.

Sunday fished in the freezing cold rain for some reason haha. Used the same micro jig with mousie/ gulp all day. Found a bunch of small crappie but they were picky as hell and only caught about 25% of the fish I marked any wrong move on the jig made them swim away. Only one perch on our 8 tip ups,

but then I marked something huge and when I set the hook with my 4 lbs line noodle stick it just ripped line at will. I eventually got it near the hole after having to dance the line around the edges for 2-3 minutes.

Big pike probably 30-34". Not sure how he was still hooked by this micro jig and hadn't gotten his teeth on the line. I maneuvered his head into the hole and had one chance to grab it. I couldn't quite get my hand around it and it slinked downward and swiped the line...bye bye. Heart breaker on one of my arch nemesis lakes to top it off! Left soaking wet and cold kneeling in an inch of cold water cursing like a sailor...after I calmed down I realized I should be proud I got it to the hole on that gear anyway.

I'll be crafting a mini mouth gaff to prevent this from happening ever again. I figure it's safer for the fish and me to gaff its lip with a small barbless hook to get it out rather than pulling it out by its gill plate or squeezing the back of its neck or eye sockets.