Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Ice Fishing 2011 - 2012

WOW, makes a guys Gelious!!

That is huge! Well done! Just as impressive is recognizing that the camera was rolling in hopes of sharing it here and not swearing when you pulled the fish through the hole!

Finally got on the ice this afternoon. Only picture worthy fish was a 16" LMB that broke off just as I lipped her.

Not his fish guys...he's just trying to pump people up! Great fish but had seen that one a while ago

That's not a fish, that's a battle-station! My God, you could have set that thing out for Thanksgiving.

Oh, finally grew a pair, and tested the ice. We are at 6" over most of the pond except where there are springs along one edge. So... WENT ICE SKATING! My son's first time and he did well, just one bruise on the knee, but he passed out at 7:30 from skating over 3 hours today. He loved it.

Finally, finally, finally got on the ice today. Only three inches. The pond yielded five nice BG and a YP. The YP's stomach was full of small snails. Is that a good or a bad thing for my pond? It is supposed to get in the 40's again tomorrow.

B

CoachB, do you have RES or PS in the pond? If not, you may want to look into getting some. You are at the Northern edge of RES survival, so they may be a crapshoot.

That is unbelievable footage and a lesson in keeping your cool. Hail to the master!!

I have RES and they are doing well. I caught two today that were nice and healthy and my friend caught a small one. I would like to get some PS but have not found a supplier. Maybe I should stock some more this spring.

This was only a motivational video that I got from the friend of a friend.

was out all weekend. Shallowest ice we found was 4.25 inches. By the time i left on sunday it was 6 in spots, but chicago's looking for a warmup in the near future.

Caught a few, mostly BG, but also a few small bass and 3 small pike, I'll post some pics once i get them uploaded. Look for them in the next few days.

My homemade tip-up made it out on the ice but never got hit.

-mike

I figured you'd be making ice with the cold temps. 45°F now, with almost 1/2" of rain overnight. All the snow that fell on Friday is gone.

So.....thursday was mostly a bust. Got one pike that was 19 inches (all measurements are from after they froze into pikecicles) on a tip up in about 9 ft of water, large shiner 3' off the bottom.



Second pike was the biggest i have a picture of, at 24 inches, in 6' of water on a medium shiner, 2' off the bottom.



My friend matt, with his first ever ice fish, and his first ever pike, at 21.5 inches. Great story here, flag popped, by the time he got to it, nothing was on the end. He pulled the line in, saw the minnow still alive, placed it back in the hole and allowed it to sink while re-spooling the line. He said he watched as the minnow started to freak out, then watched the green rocket cross the hole, then the line started screaming off the spool in his hand, he dropped the tip up and brought the fish back in.

And here is one of the bass. we didnt take too many pics, because we like to get them back int he water asap, but this guy was gut hooked, and died on the ice. Pretty much all bass were the same size.


Finally, one of the neighbors was out and did pull out a 32" pike, which he promptly ate.

Sunday was the killer day, though. I was packing up all my stuff and loading it into the car for the drive home. I took 3 tip ups and laid them out in front of dad's pier. I didnt even check for depth, just put them all at 6' under the ice.

In the 2.5 hours fishing i did, i had 12 flags that i had to race from the house to catch, and landed 3 bass and my dad nabbed a pike which he laid out on the yardstick on his pier and said it was 27. He should be sending me a pic shortly. I left him those 3 tip ups and my auger considering that the fishing was awesome at the beginning of the day, hoping he would land a few more. Unfortunately, they were calling for icy conditions for pretty much my entire drive home, so i couldn't stick around. I might try to go back for next saturday, but have a lot of projects to take care of, so we will see.

-mike

Awesome Mike!

honestly, i'm just relieved that i got to go. No more panicking as i check the weather forecast each day.

You had a good trip! I can see the main focus now will be removing pike rather than LMB.

absolutely. The person who stocked them in didnt clear it with the rest of the lake committee, and they all agree they dont want any. Not to mention he put way too many in for a 7.5 acre pond.

The way i see it, any pike minnows and yoy need as many bass in the lake as possible to gulp them down.

It was a little disconcerting to see the shiners that were victims of drag n drops (flag pops, only pulls out a foot or 2 of line and drops the bait) had lost so many scales and many had puncture wounds.

No matter that i get at least one or two out each time i go up there, it seems as if it is still a pretty significant problem. And now they are all old enough to spawn. ugh. but....6 down this weekend. 3 of mine, one of matt's, one at the neighbor's and one dad got on sunday.

Now adorning the dock in the form of pikecicles.
-skinny

Should fillet and eat those babies. Young and tender taste the best!

I am glad you got to go. I was beginning to worry about your well being; shore locked so far into the winter.

next plan is for the weekend of feb 4. We'll see. I doubt they will lose an inch of ice between now and then, but other things like employment might get in the way of another trip.

-mike

I'll bet they lost at least 1" of ice from Sunday night to tonight. Mid 40's and rain made all the snow here go bye-bye.

Yeah, looks like there are more warm days than freezing days in the near future, and each freezing day is followed directly by highs in the mid 40's, so I guess that was my only trip of the year.

Oh well, the pike hit buzzbaits and rattletraps too.

-mike

looks like there is another cold snap coming in 2 weeks. Assuming that an inch and a half of ice has been lost between the last cold snap and the next one, there might be time for another trip!

mike

Headed out to my ponds today - main pond had around 2.5-4" - felt like it was a little dicey, but this is the first chance I've had to fish since early December with our warm weather.

We caught and culled approx 40 BG from 3-6", but managed one Bull CSBG which was a very pleasant suprise, a few 6-7" RES, 3 nice SMB from 12-14" and a couple YP before the wind started rolling.

Coolness!

Thanks for the pictures!