Well, Made it out to Coon today to try a little Northern Fishing. Wanted to get an idea on the ice conditions so I stopped by 2 different bait shops. The first one I stopped at, the fella said that he wouldn’t be driving on it just yet. Coon is notorious for having spotty ice. Just to be sure, I stopped by one more shop. there, the bait shop owner and a couple of locals said that the ice is plenty safe for even 3/4 ton trucks. Well, I hiked it by foot, drilled more than a dozen holes all day… and the ice is NOT safe enough. At best, I found 8-10 inches of ice. Top 2 inches not that great either… so maybe 7 inches of SOLID ice. I can’t beleive people are so stupid as to tell someone it is safe for big trucks when I wouldn’t even drive a small hatch-back out there yet!
Anyway, I set up shop starting in 6 1/2 FOW along the western shoreline straight out from the north access. Morning was REALLY slow. A few other people out there, and I only saw 1 flag. Come afternoon… things picked up a little. That is to say, I pulled in a nice 4 pounder using my St Croix Permeier Ice rod. That was fun. Had another flag with a baby snake… and that was about it. Had to call it a day early as my daughter has a B-Ball game that I have to help coach. Here are a couple pics of the northern I kept. Wasn’t long (measured at 28 inches) but the thing was a beast. The head on this thing was monstorous… when I first got it up close to the hole… I couldn’t think of anything but reaching for the gaff…. Head on this think had me thinking it was 10+ pounds. Little disappointed when the rest of him came through the hole. Anyway, Happy Fishing!