Today I started fishing at 8 am. Chef Todd, my dad and I headed to the lake despite tons of ice and fog. Chad and his brother in-law Alex were running a bit late, but met up with us about 9 am. Jonn and his dad were going to fish with us today, but they were completely iced in. Jeff and his dad also were going to fish with us, but decided to wait until we headed towards their neck of the woods at noon. As soon as we got to the lake, we drilled a few holes and were marking some fish initially, but only caught one fish from our first spot. After about 10 minutes we all kind of headed to where we each thought the fish would be biting!
Chef and Dad headed across the lake to our usual honey hole, but I decided to try out a new spot in shallower water towards the finger of the lake where the creek comes in and OH MY GOODNESS! I picked the right spot!! In 9 feet of water right along the edge of 15 feet of water, the fish were stacked up about 7 feet down. After catching three 2lb bass and 5 boone and crockett bluegill in 6 minutes, I convinced the two old guys to head over my way. Chad and Alex showed up as we were all getting set up in the new spot.
Alex has never been fishing before, but caught on real quick! He immediately learned how to read the vexilar and kept us all updated as to what depth the fish were swimming by. His first fish was this unbelievable 11.25" bluegill!
Chad and Alex fished in the shallow water and were catching fish every time down!
Dad and Chef chose to stay on the deeper cut in about 15-18 foot of water, and they had to wait a minute or two between fish. I don't think they minded the little bit of R&R, I think they were very content with the little bit of a slower pace. (I tried to think of a good old person joke, but couldnt?) Anyhow, here are some action shots of the old men:
We fished at the bluegill hole until 11 am and then headed out to meet a client at his lake for some trout fishing! He has a 5 acre pond that is 65 feet deep and loaded with trout, catfish, yellow perch, monster bluegill, crappie, and largemouth bass. Jeff Lampe of the Peoria Journal Star along with his father Dave also met up with us at the trout lake.
The trout were absolutely on fire! They were so aggressive, that we caught very few other species of fish. We managed a nice crappie, a handful of bluegill, and 6 largemouth; but the trout by far stole the show. We caught well over 50 rainbow trout between 1 and 3 lbs each. They were taking a variety of jigs and spoons tipped with waxworms, but live minnows were the top producer. The trout were so aggressive under the ice, that occasionally they would chase our bait completely up to the top of the hole! They were roaming around the lake in schools and were caught anywhere from 1 foot down to 20 feet deep. An absolute BLAST to land with icefishing gear! Here are a couple trout pics, we also captured a ton of trout fishing video footage that I will post as soon as I get a chance.
What a week of fishing! Nice pictures, nice descriptions. At my lake, I've ice-fished most every year at least once. The most I've ever caught was 6-8 inch bass and bluegills. I may need a tutorial session, but only on a day of 3-40 degrees, please! Cleve K.
ReplyDeleteCleve,
ReplyDeleteYour lake would actually be best icefishing at night! I have heated portable icefishing shelters so it doesnt matter how cold it is outside.
One last tidbit to consider is that successful icefishing does not just happen by chance, but by successful fisheries management all year long. I know exactly how many and what kind of fish I want to harvest out of every single unique pond and lake that I manage. That also all depends on the exact goals of each unique pond owner.