With Mother Nature giving us “lemons” in the recent warm temps, I decided to make some “lemonade” today! I had a hunch that a certain secret honey hole might have some open water 
I rounded up the open water rods, ranger, and headed for the soft water this morning. When I arrived it looked like about 1/3 of the area was open while the rest had a nice 3-4″ hard sheet of ice. The best stretch was frozen in beyond bustable ice. I made do with a point that was productive occasionally this fall. I had to do some donuts and ice chipping to open up part of the sweet spot but eventually I was fishing. A comb over with a jerkbait only produced a bite off by a pike. I picked up the jig and it must have been my second cast. My line was draped over a giant ice block when I set the hook into a good fish. The fish eventually popped out of the water where it flopped on the ice for a couple of seconds before I wrestled it back into the water and eventually fllipped it in the boat. This fish was special- not only because it was just a hair under 4 lbs, but because it is the latest bass I have ever caught. With Christmas being barely over a week away, I thought it was a pretty crazy feat, and one worth sharing. Though I embraced this day and enjoyed every second of that fish and getting one more taste of bass before the deep freeze, I still have got the hunger for more ice fishing and Winter can get here whenever it wants! 
I did manage to catch two other non keepers on a jigging spoon but otherwise the day was a grind for 4 bites, 3 of which made it to the boat. Can’t ask for much more though with a water temp of 37 degrees, ice all around you, including in your guides/worm gear, and December 16th! Here’s a couple pics.
