Macbride Report

I got out on Macbride last night for the first time this winter. On top of my favorite brush piles close to shore, I found 4″ of good ice and an inch of frozen white slush on top of that. I caught a lot of small bluegills, and a few good crappies, which is par for the course through the ice on Macbride.

I only checked the ice on the west end of the north arm, so I cannot say what it is like elsewhere. That lake has a thoroughly deserved reputation for having uneven ice conditions, so if you go out this weekend be careful.

There were three portables set up below the powerlines, but towards the west shoreline. The ice over the old bridge on the east side below the powerlines is always bad, and I would steer clear of it for a while yet. There were also some guys out around the main boat ramp, but I do not know what the ice, or the fishing, was like there.

Thanks for updating us with what you have found…

Don’t you just love macbride bluegills??? “stunted”…

Thanks for the report VikeFan. Just out of curiousity, which boat ramp do you consider the main boat ramp??? Not trying to pick on you, just curious.

To me, “the main boat ramp” is the one straight west of the swimming beach and boathouse. It is on the north shore, and has the steep downhill drive going down to it.

I sometimes refer to “Macbride bluegill” without explaining what I mean. Macbride bluegill, as everyone around IC knows, are small, stunted, and in the winter are good mainly for getting rid of excess bait.

If anyone is heading out to Macbride this afternoon, take note: the fish did not like the high pressure and cold front that rolled through this morning. My experience with that lake is that it is very sensitive to weather changes, and that when the fish shut down on one patch of good cover, they usually shut down everywhere on Macbride.

I was out there at 6:30 this morning on one of the deep brush piles that usually yields all the Macbride bluegills one could hope for. I packed up and left at 9:30 after three hours with only one or two light bites. Fish would come through, but showed no interest at all in my baits. Funny how you never appreciate Macbride bluegills until you don’t catch them.

I went out yesterday (Saturday) afternoon for a while. Any concerns that I had about the safety of the ice were at least put to bed, with a solid 6-8″ underneath the power lines.

There was a small village set up on each edge, probably to stay out of the gusting winds. We drilled a line of holes in the middle until we started marking fish and got set up. Marked a load of fish suspended from 12-22 feet over 27 feet of water, but had a tough time making them bite. The ones we did catch fell into two distinct categories (1) tiny and (2) “You call yourself a crappie?”

The fish dissappeared off the flasher, so we decided rather than chase 5″ crappies all over the lake, we’d head to the pond by the house. Hauled up a few bluegills that were absolute monsters – next time I’ll take the camera down and see if I can nab a shot of one. No bass this time, a few lookers, but no takers.

Either way, for a first trip away from home, the safe ice and a slushy 12-pack made for a pretty decent day.