Thread: Saturday ice fishing with Steve and Jeff

After a good breakfast and a quick stop for bait, the three amigos headed north to Holland Lake near the town of Sheridan. We got on the ice about 8:30 am and soon realized that we should have brought our ice cleats. The ice was smooth as glass and, luckily, wasn't wet or we wouldn't have been able to walk on it.

We made our way out to the same general area we have been fishing this year and started drilling holes through 11"+ of good solid ice. Steve and Jeff set up their portable shantys and I went into search mode, looking for the school of bluegills that have been hanging in this area all winter. After cutting a dozen holes all I found were tiny perch that were laying right on bottom. Steve and Jeff were having similar luck. I finally found a fish suspended 4' off bottom in 24' of water and when I lowered my maggot tipped smelt stick , it came up another 2' to take the bait. The first fish on the ice was a nice 7" gill.

To say we had trouble finding the fish today is an understatement. After cutting close to 30 hole at various depths, covering what has been very productive water, all we were finding was dink perch and an occasional single gill. Finally, after much drilling and searching, I punched a hole on a patch of snow right next to a local canines work of art and when I dropped the vexilar in the hole, I had fish 5' thick on the bottom. And they were aggeresive. I was able to pull three keepers and half a dozen throw backs through the ice before the school moved on. The dog turd hole would end up being the hottest hole we had today.

One of the small perch we caught was used as bait on a tip up, set 8' down in 12' of water on the edge of a sunken island. This set up produced a nice fat 26" pike. Only flag we got all day and the only keeper sized pike we've caught this year.

At 2 pm we decided to pack up and head home. Total catch was 14 bluegill and one keeper pike. Temps were in the low 20's and the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip most of the day. Didn't have a lot of luck locating and catching fish today but it was nice getting out with friends and trying.

I have two, you can use one! I grew up ice fishing and, after getting a flasher years ago, I cannot tell you how I got along without one. Oh wait, yes I can:

Drill hole, wait for fish. No fish... Fish were not biting that day!

Now, drill 40 holes, go to first hole and put down flasher, NO fish, move to next hole and repeat. Once you see fish on the screen, it is like a game! Throw in an underwater camera and it makes it even more fun.