First off an apology to fishanytime. He sent me a pm and I missed it. While driving up, I also realized I never made the offer for others to meet up. It’s been a few years since I’ve ice fished and my gear needed some updating, which kept me busy.
On my drive up, the full moon cast enough light on the lake for me to see the lack of houses out. Seemed very odd. When I pulled into the access at 6 it was empty. Knowing there was open water out there made me feel a little (okay a lot) nervous. I fell through the ice 25 years ago. That memory is still fresh in my mind. Thankfully someone pulled up with a 4 wheeler and a pop up on a trailer. I felt better with him going out before me.
I got set up on a small outside bump in the break about 7.
There were about 10 houses out shortly after dawn.
This was by far my best day Ice fishing for walleyes. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t targeted them in the winter much so it wasn’t a high hurdle to begin with 
Iced my first fish at 8. A nice 17″ eye. The little perch (on the vex all day) were gone and I did some hole hopping. I had people on both sides of me and didn’t want to get close. That and the open water a block or two away limited my mobility somewhat. I worked deeper out on the little turn I decided to set up on. I iced another eye 15″ at about 9 and missed another bite shortly after. The wind was howling pretty good in the morning and my hands were numb after an hour. I pulled the house out to that hole. 18fow still on the bump out in depth. Just before 11 I iced my 3rd eye, 17 1/2 inches. The wind died down and I hole hopped again for a few hours, with 2 missed bites. All my box fish came on the slender spoon in chrome and green, with a minnow head.
The clouds didn’t move in like I hoped and I actually considered packing up and going to the red door for the afternoon perch and eye bite. When I looked at the map it seemed to be a bit of a walk to get to 20+ fow so I decided to stay put. Glad I did!!!
I asked the guys near me to watch my gear and I headed in to get some coffee. I was back out at 1:15. I had a cup of coffee and was going to eat my candy bar but figured I should get my line back down. The perch on the screen gave me some hope that the eyes were still around. It was pretty bright when I caught my last fish at 11.
The minute I put my line down the screen went blank. I jigged twice and a huge mark shot up from the bottom and crushed my lightning spoon (thanks James/Calvin) like a river eye hits plastic. I set the hook and the rod started pumping. BIG fish, wooo hooo. It was great to watch this fish from 8 feet down coming at me. She made 6 passes before I could get her up the hole. When the head turned up the hole my heart started racing. 27″ 7.5lbs. My pb through the ice. I was stoked. The guys who watched my gear took the photo for me. Nice pic of the fish, but I look like I’m missing a front tooth,lol. That sun was bright. Half an hour later I had another strong bite on the lightning spoon. A skinny 26″er made it to the ice and was cpr’d of course. I was thinking the dusk bit was going to be great. It never came around. I had a lot of fish come up and sniff and drop back down. I threw every profile and color I could at them and nothing. I packed up and headed home at 5:30..
I really have to thank everyone here for sharing tips. It’s helped give me the confidence to become a better fisherman instead of just going fishing. 
May have to head up again next week.
Dan
