I drove through the fog down to Faribault this morning to see if I could find any pan fish. It turned out to be an interesting day.
1) Smitty sleds rock. Significantly easier to pull than my Otter sled even with Hyfax runners. I got the skis at Goodwill for $1 and used scrap lumber.
2) Good rods make a difference. This year I built myself new ice fishing rods on high quality carbon blanks. There is no comparison to the $25 combo specials I was using before. I am definitely putting more fish on the ice.
3) Pay attention to everything James says. I was on a lake that has two basin areas. One is over 30 feet deep, the other is flatter bottomed and 20 feet deep. The 30 foot hole has a hundred houses on it and the 20 foot hole was full of fish, exactly like James described in last week’s episode. At one point I thought I wad a problem with the Vex because it was so “lit up”. Nope, it was a huge school of Crappies.
4) Ice Fishermen are some of the best people you’ll ever meet. This morning I found 22 inches of ice, 36 degrees, rain, and about 2 inches of water on top of the ice. Walking was very difficult, almost impossible. On the way out a guy in a truck stopped and asked me if I needed a lift. He hauled me right to my spot! I wasn’t looking forward to the walk back, but when I was tearing down the same guy said he’d haul me back to the access. He was meeting his nephew there. These old legs really appreciated the help.
SR
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