Second chance for ice fishing?

[Bowhunter57]

A new forcast of an arctic blast with temps well below freezing for the next 10+ days will put ice anglers back on the ice...possibly by next weekend. :smiley_chinrub:

My gear's in the garage, waiting to be loaded into my truck. Get after it and freeze...FREEZE! :smiley_asswhip:

Anyone else feeling the urge?
Bowhunter57

 

[jagermeister]

Told you we weren't seeing the last of it, 57. :smiley_bril:

 

[Bowhunter57]

JBrown,
Under these circumstances, I like being wrong. :smiley_blink:

Bowhunter57

 

[Archertl]

I hope you get some ice thick enough to fish on 57.

 

[Redhunter1012]

I screwed around for an hour yesterday getting line changed and reels greased. Can't wait to ice some big gills and crappie

 

[jagermeister]

I screwed around for an hour yesterday getting line changed and reels greased. Can't wait to ice some big gills and crappie

You and me both, brother!

 

[Eye Spy]

I will be on the ice this weekend for sure

 

[Bowhunter57]

Yesterday, my brother and I went out some of the local reservoirs to check the ice.

Ferguson, Metzger, Lost Creek and Lima Lake were all 3" of clear ice. Schoonover Lake (City Park Pond) was about 4" of clear ice too. I'll check it again, on Sunday and hopefully get in some fishing...with a little more ice.

After not being on the ice for a while, it was a little unnerving to be able to look through the ice and see the bottom about 6 feet below. It felt a little strange...like I was floating there or something.

When I was checking the ice at Metzger, I walked out about 20' from the bank, onto the ice. You could see a tiny air bubble, here and there, that would let you see the thickness of the ice. As I chipped a hole with my spud bar, a crack suddenly appeared...and it shot straight behind me to the bank and over 200 yards across to the east bank. :smiley_baby: As I stood there and watched in shock of what's next...water started to seep up through the crack and soak the snow patches. I stepped off of the ice, back to the bank and decided that there needs to be thicker ice, A LOT THICKER, for me to fish the larger bodies of water. :smiley_chinrub:

Bowhunter57

 

[Bowhunter57]

I got out on a private farm pond, yesterday and it had 4" of clear ice. It didn't take long and I was hooked up on a nice largemouth, which was followed by several more. I ended up with around 10, but all under 14". I started jigging a little higher off of the bottom and caught 3 bluegills over 8"

Bowhunter57

 

[badger]

My buddy just texted me a pic of an 18" largemouth from Mosquito Lake. He lost a decent pike there yesterday.

 

[badger]

Here's the bass I mentioned earlier and a small northern he just released.

 

[badger]

And the Northern...

 

[Gern186]

The kids and I fished yesterday for over 2 hours and only had 3 little bites...no fish landed. I was marking some fish, just couldnt get any hooked.

 

[jagermeister]

I got out on Chippewa Lake yesterday afternoon, only for about an hour. 3 - 4" of good clear ice. Water was pretty damn murky, though. I could only see about 12-15" with my camera, with the LEDs turned on. I saw a few yellow perch on the camera but nothing wanted to bite. Quite a few guys were out there but I didn't hear anyone getting too excited. Hopefully this brief warm-up doesn't screw up the ice too bad.

 

[Redhunter1012]

My buddy and I tried Fostoria #3 for trout on Saturday. About 4-5" good ice. No fish. We left for a buddy's farm pond and only had 4" ice thre. We did catch and release around 20 gills. Most were 7-8"

 

[bowhunter1023]

You guys are all insane!!! But I'm glad you enjoy it!!!

 

[Bowhunter57]

My brother and I went back to that same farm pond and pulled out several nice bluegills. I caught 2 small bass and that was about it.

We had 2 holes drilled about 4' apart and were sitting comfortably inside my Cabelas Ice Shelter, fishing. After about an hour and a half the fish stopped bitting, so we thought we'd move to the back of the pond and drill 2 more holes. Upon drilling the first hole, I thought I heard a cracking sound, but my brother said he didn't hear anything. After drilling the second hole, there was a very loud CRACK, the water started oozing up through the holes and we could physically feel the ice shift. :smiley_baby:

I looked at my brother and said, "I don't know about you, but I'm done fishing. How about you?"
To which he replied, "I'm outta here!"

We threw everything in the sled, grabbed the ice shelter and drug it off of the ice to fold it down on the bank. :smiley_blink: As we stood there, looking over the pond, more and more water was seeping out of the holes I'd drilled and covering the pond. I guess it's over, until it refreezes. :smiley_chinrub:

Bowhunter57

 

[Eye Spy]

I walked out of Catawba with a group of 4 other guys. We fished from 9:00-4:30 and only landed 7 eyes between us. All of our fish were between 16-18". We were approximately 2 miles nw of the state park in 22 fow. We had 6-7 inches of good clear ice in most areas but a few spots only had about 4". Hopefully the next couple of days will not ruin it for the rest of the year.

 

[jagermeister]

I walked out of Catawba with a group of 4 other guys. We fished from 9:00-4:30 and only landed 7 eyes between us. All of our fish were between 16-18". We were approximately 2 miles nw of the state park in 22 fow. We had 6-7 inches of good clear ice in most areas but a few spots only had about 4". Hopefully the next couple of days will not ruin it for the rest of the year.

Glad to hear you were able to at least catch a few before the season ends. Sure is better than not getting out there at all.