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

My neighbor takes care of snow removal as needed with his turbo-diesel tractor mounted snow blower in trade for Internet Access beamed from my office.

A blade wouldn't even get close to taking care of snow removal here.

I should mention that he also blows an 8 foot wide path down to the pond when needed for ice fishing access.

The nice days don't make much difference in the ice this time of the year. 3 or 4 hours in the 30s can't compete with the rest of the day and night being below freezing. I do prefer the warm sunny days with winds 0-5 though.

I heard thru the grapevine that TJ was catching pike bait today.....

I guess I've come full curcle, as I started out with a blade, then switched to a blower which I have used for years, until last year. A dual stage blower will move a lot of snow, however it will also move a lot of rocks if you set the skid shoes down far enough to get the majority of snow cover off. I've had two shattered windows that can attest to that. After using the blade last year, which was a heavy snow year for us, I'm going back to that. I had snow rolling over top of the 18" high blade, and the mule just kept pushing. And I didn't replace a single shear pin, like I would've on the blower.

I'm guessing I might rethink my strategy if I lived in an area with higher snowfall amounts. But, then again, whether I was using a blower, or a blade, I've always approached removal the same way... if the snowfall amount is predicted to be over 8", I don't wait until the last flake falls before getting on it. Going over it twice, or even three times, works well for me and is easier on my equipment.

Ice fishing is on!

That's the report???

He just got set up, sent via i-phone. The holes have only been drilled for 2 minutes at the taking of this photo.................

Looks like the distant shore is the place to get on and off.. surprised to see any open water.

The open water is from his circulator at the barge I imagine.

I took the photos standing on the Barge. There is always open water there because the circulator keeps it that way all winter long.

If you look to the left of the ice fishing house in the closer up photo, you can see some YP laying on the ice getting a sun tan. They had been setup for about a 1/2 hour at that point.

I went down there for an hour or so, caught a couple fat-bellied YP and missed a few others. Oh, and had a tall Bloody Mary, Corona with lime and a Mikes BB with a booster.

More later......

Sounds awesome!!

Duck hunting today was fun, but that style of ice fishing sounds like more fun!

Dwight, how cold was it up there?

Mid thirties in the middle of the day.

We had a great time on the ice. Caught a variety pack of sunnies, perch, and crappie. The clarity on Bremer Pond is about two feet. Every other year it has been very clear. Had a couple bite offs, and then got a 28" NP. I was fairly surprised that it was that small since we usually see them at 35"+. Must be a runt, or sterile male.
Thanks Dwight.

Plump perch on the ice -- sounds good!

Since they are going to be smoked. I used the electric fillet knife. Cut off their heads, then about a half inch off the bottom of the belly to de-gut, and wash. A little running water to get the slime off and they are ready. I am reading the fish section of "Home Book of Smoke-Cooking, by Sleight and Hull.

Were out there yesterday afternoon and evening. Good ice, 5", but the lake we were given was a tough one. Extreme depth variations, a ton of structure and when we could find the fish, they were reluctant to bite. And were scattered throughout the water column. Very little luck. Nothing worthy of a picture.

Thanks for the update, Omaha. Sorry to hear the fish were uncooperative, but hey, there's a lot of winter left....

I broke ice today off of the pier in one of my smaller ponds to release a 4 inch perch from one of my RAS tanks. I aclimated him first in a container by allowing it to cool down most of the day.)

He had made his way through the screen around the center drain. Most of my perch are too big to fit through the screen. I found the little rascal in the bottom of my clarifier tank when I pulled the gate valve to purge the center drain pipe of solids.

Call me a softy but considering the time and effort it took me to produce this little guy, and the fact that I think all life is precious, I had to release him into the pond. It took some effort to break the ice and it was pretty dark out there at 9:30 P.M.

There were four other small ones that other day but I forgot about them in the bucket outside and they froze solid.

Perchcicles!!

There some sort of moose in Dwight's pond. Had it on for about 10 minutes last night before it ran into structure and broke me off. Didn't get to see what kind it was although I am assuming NP. Did catch a bunch of other fish, dominated by crappie. One more thing about that fish, I know where it lives, and expect to see it again this winter.

Heavier line, tighter drag! Good luck!

IIRC I heard Dwight stocked a couple of mini-whales with the SMB and WE.

just had to push the first of my annual trips to my dad's house back by a few weeks. Completely unfair, weather. 48 degrees on the 19th of december in Chicago?

What the French, Toast??!!

So the first date has been pushed back to the weekend of jan 21st. Anybody in that area (N. Illinois or S. Wisconsin) please let me know if you get good ice in the near future.

I'm pumped...and I've been itching to drill into solid ice for over a month at this point.

Bring it, Winter!

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lg3zg5q99e1qd3ppyo1_400.jpg

There was some ice early last week, although it wasn't safe to walk on. The rain on Wed. made that disappear and I don't see any ice forming in the next week or so. 53°F out now.

Call up the Discovery network and tell them you think it's a lone, surviving plesiosaur. They might put a team together and fly out to film a new docu-drama. I, for one, would appreciate something entertaining to watch.....