Today I got to experience something I’d never witnessed before… a strong and relentless current on Mille Lacs in the winter. I’ve fished in and around current on Mille Lacs in the summer… but this under ice “river” was a new one by me.
A buddy and I walked out on the west side today. Stayed inside the first major crack. Open water was visible to the east hundreds if not thousands of yards away. Ice thickness was 8″+.
After punching holes we started to fish.
Buddy says “hey, is there something wrong with this LX7?”
Me: No, why do you ask?
Him: “The unit will mark a jig as it starts to fall below the ice then loses the lure. No matter how high I turn the sensitivity… no lure.”
Me: That’s weird. Is your ‘ducer leaning up against the side of your hole so it isn’t pointing straight down?
Him: “@#&&@ you.”
Me: No, seriously, there’s nothing wrong with the electronics.
Him: “Well can you see your lure?”
Long story short when I went to make my first drop of the day I watched the Slender spoon ROCKET off to the SE as soon as it cleared the bottom of the hole. This wasn’t the flutter and wobble this bait is known for. This was something else. Current. Lots of it.
As in a 1/4 oz. lightning spoon fished in 15′ of water was not visible in the transducer cone while a 3/8th oz. spoon danced on the edges. Some times it was visible. Most of the time it wasn’t. We had to punch holes 4 – 5 feet “down stream” of the hole we fished in for our electronics if we wanted to “see” our lures.
The ice was stable. It wasn’t cracking or popping and ice thickness was consistent. All we could figure was that the wind out of the south was creating a STRONG reverse current under the ice.
Again, never seen anything like this on ice on an inland lake. Anyone else see this today?
