ice time nice time

[acabtp]

with that cold bomb i knew i would have to try to get out after all the xmas celebrating was over. schedule finally cleared up and wednesday afternoon i was able to load the gear and go prospecting. bounced around and found 4" at a couple places that each had guys out on them, but i drove a little more and found a small spot with 6" solid on it.

ice was beautiful clear and black. one finger sled pulling. drilled a few holes and jigged for a bit.
first fish of the season

my hands are big so nobody will believe it but that bluegill went 8"+

jigged up a few little crappies with a glow jig just after dark and then took off

[acabtp]

thursday morning was at the bait shop dark and early waiting for them to open, grabbed a couple dozen shiners and then met my buddy at one of the other places i scouted the night before that had 5"
we set a spread of tip ups and by dawn it was flag city. we were trying to jig too but ended up mostly just running around servicing the tip ups for a while. several times had multiple flags going at once as fish moved through, real busy early morning.
plenty of chains, a couple nice ones over 20". whole lot of flags where you'd see a fast run on the spool but then they'd drop it.
after a couple hours things slowed down and jigged a bunch of the little panfish that keep the pickerel fat and happy. couple nice perch mixed in but they got a pass that day. jigged up a some nice trout during the day too, great fun on an ice rod with a 500 class reel... we figured these were probably the fast hit & runs on the tip ups. headed off the ice around 2 with only a few shiners left, great day.









since the edges were getting soft and thin by thursday afternoon i'm sure things are pretty well shot by now, and the forecast is looking just awful. hopefully things turn around and we get more of a season later in january. wear your picks, bring a buddy if you can, and be safe out there fellow hardwater nuts!

happy new year everybody! 🥳

[FASTEDDIE29]

That’s some great catching on early ice buddy! Awesome mixed bag! Hoping that Arctic air makes a comeback sometime soon. Looking a little grim right now for a good season.

[icebadger]

NICE you got some rare trout caught through the ice. nice mixed bag well done. you do not hear of trout reports on the ice to often.