First day on the ice, but

[briansnat]

The great weather brought me and my girlfriend out on the ice. Unfortunately when we hit the bait store I was advised that all they had left were fatheads. The idea of driving from Greenwood Lake to Rt 23 or Wanaque in search of shiners was out of the question so I bought two dozen fatheads and the owner threw in another dozen as an apology for being out of shiners.

Because I generally only fish shiners through the ice, the smallest hook I could find was a size 1. Definitely not ideal for fishing fatheads. The hooks were bigger than the bait and it took some effort to hook the bait without killing it.

The only thing we caught was the rays of the sun. Still, nice to be out on the ice for the first time this season. I was surprised that the ice was only about 8" despite all of the really cold weather we had lately.

Ultimately I added a small school of fatheads to the lake. I hope the trout enjoy them.