Ice Fishing

[Lawdwaz]

11 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

Ice is getting sketchy have to get it in while we still can!


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Go ahead and get started without me........

 

[GreeneHunter]

Please tell me it's not over !

[Meatball]

I was on Thompson's lake yesterday, still 17" thick and a nice 6" blanket of snow insulation on it. As a group we had 2 rainbow trout ,2 perch and a pickerel. 

My pickerel was 24" and 5 lbs!!!

The eagle visited us and almost made off with my trout, but my buddy running towards it made him decide to pull up about 15 feet away . I was an awesome experience to have the eagle so close. Great day with friends and weather, fishing was slow. All my catches were within 10 mins. 

Stopped down to Collins Park to throw some more minnows in for 2 hours while my kid was at baseball practice. No action, but there the ice was still 11". 

[Robhuntandfish]

Madison county sheriff's just issued a press release to stay off the lakes. 2 ATVs and riders went thru the ice yesterday and also a sheriff during a rescue

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[coonhunter]

I am officially done ice fishing for the year. It has been a good season for ice after a couple years of hit and miss ice and a shorter season. But dang, the weekends sure seemed to be bad weatherwise. It was either super cold or really windy, or both most of the time. My buddy and I went out one Saturday morning when it was calm and 6 degrees, and we were saying how great it was to finally get a nice morning to fish on a Saturday. So, it was 90% of the time spent in my shanty with a heater instead of being out in the fresh air.

I had a great year for panfish with lots of perch, crappies and bluegills, and a couple evenings with a bunch of big pumpkinseeds. I actually caught probably a third of my fish on jiggin raps, z vibers, and z viber micros. When it was low light early in the morning, or close to dark at night, the crappie and perch really came after them. Of course I caught most on tungsten and spikes. I also tried out beavertail baits that I cut a little smaller, and they also produced pretty well on the tungsten.

 

[Meatball]

I don't think I'll have any opportunity for the ice to be safe enough to get me out there anymore this season. But I did start looking at people selling their gear, and found a free 8" auger I picked up. I'm planning on converting it to a drill auger to give me a break from my 6" hand auger for next year. I had a later start getting on the ice this year, but did have some nice memories.

[stubborn1VT]

Not sure if I'm done or not.  Had a couple OK days last week on bluegills and pumpkinseeds, but the shoreline is starting to break up.  Not a great year for me.  Seemed awfully windy most days.  Looking forward to getting the boat out, but I may try to get out on the ice one or two more times.  Usually I'd drive to some of the smaller lakes, but with the price of gas I hate to make the trip. Champlain is just across town for me, so I guess I'll stick with that.