What a great late ice trip. Headed out with Juan, Trav, the Rodgers bros, and my good buddies Charles Schmidtbauer and Dan Olsen.
Plan was to hit a lake for some giant slabs. After a lot of holes and not much to show for it. We packed her in. Trav and Juan ran to a big, popular lake in search of fish. The others, after spinning them around in circles, blindfolding and hiding everything possible to keep the lake a secret we were there. As from what I learned from Pat Smith, one of the three best bluegill lakes in the state. Its a lake that receives ZERO pressure. So I made damn sure that the guys I take keep their mouth shut and they better will.
Lake is a few hundred acres big and is a big basin. Lots of timber, hard bottom and other “human structure”
We started off in 24 feet of water, the deepest part of the lake. We then moved to a point of trees. Drilled that out. We worked a large area, ranging from 8 feet of water to 17 feet of water. First drop of the day with a small jig and J&S Icemite Extreme Glow yielded a solid whack and after a brief fight a nice mid 20s inch walleye came on top of the ice. A few other walleyes later we were so far swinging and missing on what we were looking for. So “Fancy Boots” Schmidtbauer pulled out the barbie, grilled brauts, enchiladas and burgers. Rejuvenated, we went back on the hunt and bound and determined to find the fish this lake has to offer.
Then the perch moved in! Not great perch but the 11-13 inch class of perch. Great eaters. With this lake I told the guys up front, no keeping of the gills and crappies unless they are badly hooked and will not survive or you are going to have it mounted. PERIOD. So we all kept a nice meal of perch for the day. Then the bass started to trickle through and then the gills and then the crappies! From there on out it was lights out fishing! Fish were chasing the bait up way high. Most of the time it was two strips off the fly reel, than have to reel up a foot to pick up the slack from the “upbite”
J and S Icemites were the top plastic of the day, without a doubt. For a small finesse plastic, they did a number on the perch, gills, crappies, bass and eyes. Yes, I said eyes as in plural.
The bass were a ton of fun on the power noodles and 2# test. We were not targeting these fish, but they kept showing up.
In the videos you will hear Mike and I both talk about the backbone of the power noodle. There is not a rod out there that is that touchy (It eliminates a spring bobber.) That has the beef to handle gamefish that show up inadvertently while chasing panfish. Period.
As the night went on, as Pat Smith said, the lake turns into a meat lake. We took care of the aggressive ones, then had to put on a couple of waxies. To get them to keep going. Fishing was so good you would catch a quality fish and could not get anyone to leave their Vexilar to come take a picture. (Which isnt a bad thing I guess..)
So I talk to Pat Smith today, showed him the pictures and I am happier than hell. He goes, “Wow, nice fish but you didn’t get the good ones in the lake…” Well, I guess I might have another road trip in me yet this year!
Enjoy the pictures and video!
Charlie Whooping On A Bucketmouth!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaDZ1W5imqY
Mike Rodgers Gets In On Some Largies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmJ3hJvAUlQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
I decided to tag a few too…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV_CzP9Qeds
Charlie Pops Another…Picha Was Not Thrilled
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blxBXHHmByM
Charles Again…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bxyMCauqus
Needless to Say I am Pretty Sure I Will Be Taking An Order From Charles On A Few Of My Set Ups He Used For The Trips.
Hooked up on a largie
Largie Going Back
Danny With A Quiverstick Bass
Charlie
Nice Crappie
Pat With A Slab
I will get the other pictures uploaded later. I am having a hard time finding a photo hosting site to get some pictures that are bitmap I am not sure how or if its possible to convert them. So the big gills of the trip are not coming through.
Here is a nice limit of perch that posed in front of the 22. I love that damn thing! Been a long time since I got to hear the old vexilar hum!
Picha Posing With A Largemouth
Mikey with a nice gill
Another Nice Gill
