My ice equipment looks a lot like yours except I use bait casting reels and fly fishing reels which cause me fewer line tangles with light # test line 1-2 lb. I also make my own spring bobbers. I like ice fishing best with frozen minnows on small ice spoons. I make most of my ice spoons. I never got the knack for using the jigs. How much snow is on the ground now? Usually at CMU when the snow started it stayed until spring melt.
I also love light line. I usually use McCoy Mean Green in 1 lb test. The "spikes" and "mousies" are larval bait that is actually a couple varieties of caddis. I usually buy a 1000 of each at the beginning of the ice fishing season as they keep well in cottage cheese containers in the side door of the frig. Just make sure the lids are back on tight when grabbing a few for the film canisters on a fishing trip. Wives don't take kindly to loose maggots roaming about in the bottom of the frig or on the floor. Much like the larval stage of a Mayfly, is called a wiggler at bait stores, and my fave bait for perch.
Right now we have about a 1/4 inch of snow, although we will probably get an inch or two in the next couple days, and then up to a half foot by the end of next week. A fairly mild winter so far, although we are about to get our first real cold blast of the winter with single digit and low teen temps predicted, along with sub zero wind chills. Winter in Mich. It could be in the high 30s or 40s a day or two after the cold snap.
J
McCoy Mean Green 1 lb.
Mayfly (hexagenia limbata)
Mayfly nymph "wiggler". I have a hatch of these in our pond that happens nightly for
over a week. Fish stuff themselves when this hatch is going. After 3 years in the lake, river, or pond bottom, they finally emerge from their larval casing and as winged Mayflys,usually mate shortly after getting wings, where they die shortly after mating. The female will die after spending her eggs into the same body of water starting the 3 year cycle over again. An amazing life when you think about it. They grow about a half inch per year for 3 years before emerging. One of my favorite baits.
Mousies and spikes (larval caddis)
The thread art I do on rods I build sometimes takes longer to do
than glueing the 1/2" cork, reel seat, and wrapping thread for the eyelets on the blank.
Another bird pic taken from the man cave. Rose Breasted Grosbeak
Nuthatch
