If the ice is safe enough, I should be drilling holes on Sunday!
If you do, would you mind posting a few pics of your outing? Perhaps I can get a quick fix by living vicariously through your experiences, maybe it would be enough to tide me over until winter catches up with the calendar out here...
Will definitely do that spark. Hope the ice is good. Looking forward to TJ's report tomorrow as a good barometer.
We got some snow Saturday, then temps began to plummet. Was below freezing Sunday through today, last night down to 3. So I thought I'd be stupid enough to give it a shot, although I was doubtful we'd have enough.
Drilled a few test holes, just under 3", shuffled a few more feet. listened intently for crakcing, and drilled. This time a little more, closer to 3", shuffle, listen and drill again. Never did exceed 3, but it was hard first ice, so I tied myself off to the dock and ventured out, solo - again, because I'm stupid like that.
Have had a pretty dense planktonic algae bloom for the last several weeks, so visibility was only around 30" and the AquaVu hole had to be pretty close to the fishing hole to be of any use. Last year I had over 8' visibility this time of year...the zooplankton today was so thick I could see them crawl all over the camera lens and swim by in clouds. I suppose they are feasting on the plentiful algae and the cycle will soon crash and visibility will improve? At any rate, very cool to witness this beneath the ice.
Once the gear bomb was set up and my stupid proved stronger than my fear of thin ice I managed to focus long enough to jig up a wee BG. I was able to target on the Vexi, jig it up a foot - he followed, then just barely could make it out hitting on the camera. The plankton and zooplankton is so thick it makes low light viewing pretty fuzzy. Still, it's a cool process using all the toys together when it results in a fish.
Tonight is more single digit temps and I'm hopeful it will add a half inch or more and I'll fish much harder tomorrow afternoon and can afford to be less stupid. Hope to find some YP or HBC. Certainly must improve my single punk BG effort from today.
Is anyone else on the ice yet?
- Stupid
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Snowshoes to distribute your weight more evenly on the ice. Do you have a set of ice picks around your neck? They've got them in Cabelas near the ice fishing stuff - I saw them there last week.
Phone in a zip loc bag? (they don't work so well when wet) Extra set of truck keys stashed somewhere, or do you leave the keys in a place where they won't make it to the bottom of the pond?
Gotta' love that iffy first ice....baby steps all the way out, no sudden movements, staying close to the jet sled, no standing within 15' of another person... I've been there.
Thanks for the pics, TJ. By the way, what do you have tipped on that jig? Plastic, or do maggots come in pink now? I do well with the red ones....
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
You have officially started the season. I will be digging out my gear from the shed this evening! Hitting up a place in York on Sunday! Know anything about Recharge Lake?
Gotta' love that iffy first ice....baby steps all the way out, no sudden movements, staying close to the jet sled, no standing within 15' of another person... I've been there.
Thanks for the pics, TJ. By the way, what do you have tipped on that jig? Plastic, or do maggots come in pink now? I do well with the red ones....
I didn't have time to get waxies so I used Gulp or Powerbait waxie. If the panfish are really aggressive it doesn't matter what you use, but I still prefer live waxies to the plastics.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
You have officially started the season. I will be digging out my gear from the shed this evening! Hitting up a place in York on Sunday! Know anything about Recharge Lake?
Nope, nothing on that lake. I'm sure it's loaded with 5-7" BG like every public NE lake. You'll have lots of action at least, hope you find some crappie or bigger gills.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
My only experience with ice fishing was at Durand Eastman Park just in-shore of Lake Ontario. Was NOT well-equipped. Knocked a hole in the ice which was over a foot thick and water gushed up through the hole and soaked us up to the hips. Took 2 hours for his mom to come back and pick us up.
I have never been so cold walking around in underpants in boots with no liner. It was about 10 degrees out with a stiff breeze off of the lake.
I have always since remembered to keep matches in a sealed container. It would have been a lot less miserable if they were.
For some strange reason I have not been ice-fishing since. That was about 23 years ago.
I am not Dave Genz. Perhaps it is my age, hangin' with my brother Dwight, or various other natural phenominon, but I like to set the house near but not on top of structure, bait up, mix the ultimate bloody mary with a beer back, and attract the fish to me. I know this is not the way to go to catch the maximum number of fish, but it is ice fishing the way I like.
Good morning Dave, I've checked the ships systems, and everything appears to be running normally.
I am not Dave Genz. Perhaps it is my age, hangin' with my brother Dwight, or various other natural phenominon, but I like to set the house near but not on top of structure, bait up, mix the ultimate bloody mary with a beer back, and attract the fish to me. I know this is not the way to go to catch the maximum number of fish, but it is ice fishing the way I like.
I know lots of guys who feel like you do, stick. They enjoy the comaraderie, the routine, the ambience of the ice fishing experience nearly as much as catching fish. And it sounds like a pretty good time to me.
Myself, I'm a Dave Genz disciple. Give me my auger and a pull-behind, one man flip-up, and my boots won't freeze to the ice unless I'm crouched down over a hot bite. I've got the mobile mindset. Gonna' go find em'.
Good luck, stay safe.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
I am not Dave Genz. Perhaps it is my age, hangin' with my brother Dwight, or various other natural phenominon, but I like to set the house near but not on top of structure, bait up, mix the ultimate bloody mary with a beer back, and attract the fish to me. I know this is not the way to go to catch the maximum number of fish, but it is ice fishing the way I like.
It may not be the way to go to catch the maximum number of fish. It is certainly the way to go to catch trophy sized fish on Bremer Pond.
stick, you should see about using one of Dwight's cats for pike bait tomorrow.
I'm sure you're a dog guy.
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
Fired up the mule with the ice auger, 150 foot safety rope, Ice picks, ice strainer, and ice measuring device on board. Put on all the cold weather gear including ice-cleated boots and headed pond side.
On the pond:
Tied off the safety rope to the Mule and me. Bored the first hole about 6 feet from shore. 5.0 inches Bored another hole about 30 feet from shore, 6.5 inches Bored another hole about 60 feet from shore, 6.750 inches Bored 3 more holes, the last at 150 feet, all 6.0 inches plus
Good to go for walk-on ice fishing, for sure.
While I was out there I put a marker on each of the Xs and the tank structure. The markers are pretty much in a straight line. If one stays away from the marker line in every direction one will be close to structure but not on it. There could be an errant tree clump anywhere on the pond so one is never completely safe from setting up on something.
I dressed way too warm just as I always do that first time out there working. Live and not learn..........
Dwight, do you use your mule to plow snow? I spent this afternoon putting the finishing touches on a homebuilt snowplow for mine. I used a customers mule last winter with a factory 6' blade on it, and the performance was impressive.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
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