Catchin Sunnys On Willow Creek Reservior

Willow Creek Reservior sunfish were the target today. After moving around some the best areas were found and that mean’t fish on the ice. The first pic is Mr Musky [Doug] with some fish that were caught.

After fishing with the Boy Scouts today we decided to stay longer and catch some more fish. It was alittle windy off and on but the sun sure felt good and catchin fish felt even better. The 2nd pic is Uncle Grump with some fish.

The technique used was a ice jig with a waxie. Most of the fish were tight to or just slightly up from the bottom with an occassional fish coming through at high depths. Using the Vexilars and Marcums helped greatly as you could see where the fish were and either raise or lower your jig right to the fish. Without a quality flasher you could easily be fishing were the fish weren’t. The 3rd pic is me with a 9 inch sunny.

Mike from HOF and RHW [Ron] were either a little camera shy today or had a great bite going and weren’t going to turn around so we could see and snap a pic. lol. Mr. Musky made the mistake of fishing close to me so he was very easy to catch on camera. lol. The ice was a good 8 plus inches on Willow Creek and there are sunfish to be caught. Good luck ice fishing and I look forward to your reports from your outting on the ice this winter.
Thanks, Bill

Mr Musky with some fish just caught.

Uncle Grump with some fish.

Myself with a 9 inch sunny.

Mr Musky at it again.

Uncle Grump removing a hook from a fish just caught.

It was a great day to be out fishing with the sun shinning, warm temps and the fish biting. They were biting very light though and you would just feel the weight and then set the hook alittle bit. Was great to put real faces with their names that they use here on the site.

We ALL learn from each others sharing and posting. I want to invite everyone to share their outtings with everyone by making a post about your fishing. Everyone of us can learn alot from your sharing. So please feel free to share and post all you want. Thats how we ALL learn. ”Thanks.”
Thanks, Bill

nice, i see you have an lx-3 sitting there on the ice…after fishing with both today, what is your opinion on how the vex’s and marcums compare? personally, before using a marcum, i never would have noticed, but the vex’s are so so noisy and it was really bugging me with my friend who had one today. We fished side by side in the shanty, and i got a tiny bit of interference so i hit the IR button and took care of that. i also got to use his for about 10 minutes, and was happy to get back on my lx-3 because it was so much different on the vex. Most people would probably not notice the little things i saw if they have never used a marcum, but once you use a marcum, you start to notice it. Just wondering what you think. Nice report, and great to see the pics. you guys are lucky to have those nice little, but deep lakes around to keep you busy. sometimes i can get bored of the same spots and my dad doesnt like to travel. keep it up bill, nice to see you have been having success as well.

Mike [ HOF] has a Marcum LX5 and RHW [Ron] has a Marcum LX3 and they both really like them. Uncle Grump had both a Vexilar and Marcum with him. The rest of us had Vexilars. I have not seen much on the Marcums as far as using them as I was busy with the Scouts and then doing some fishing with my Vexilar afterwards. I really love my Vexilar but am interested in learning more about the Marcums features. Mike spends alot of time on the ice as he can sneak away from work easily during the week so once he learns more about the Marcums features [this was only his second time using it as he just got it] he will have to show me them. There are alot of small bodies of water around the Rochester area and Lake Pepin is only 34 miles away and Red Wing is only 45 miles away.

Thanks, Bill

Sure was a great day on the ice, Good friends, some fish to be caught, & a short walk too!! As far as marccum vs Vex, They both will help catching fish, I have a buddie that fishes a marcum, & I’m a VEX man, It’s all in what YOU like. That’s what makes the world go around. They are Both great units. Good Fishin DOUG
If women don’t find ya handsome…….. GO FISHIN!!!

Hey Bud, since you work Landscape and the ground is frozen which means you get to ice fish alot. With that being said how about doing some reports/updates on your ice fishing. Same goes for everyone else who is out ice fishing. We ALL learn from each others sharing/posting so tell us how you do, what worked and what didn’t work. Don’t need hotspots just general structure like a flat in 7 ft of water or on a drop in 12ft of water etc. If everybody shares then we all catch more fish, learn differnt areas to fish and have more FUN on the ice and open water when that season gets here. Look forward to everybodies sharing.
Thanks, Bill

Sounds good Bill, Just let me know if ya guys & gals get sick of my posts, LOL You’ll be hearing from me, Good Fishin DOUG I’m headed out the door right now, Will post later,

I arrived on Willow “early” yesterday – about 11.00. What I found was that the fish had lock-jaw — big time lock jaw.

Drop a jig in the hole, the fish would swarm around it, but weren’t at all interested in feeding – but – get one that came in high – in this case at 5′ when the bottom was at 10, those fish hit. And w/o sonar, you have no idea those fish are even there.

As Bill mentioned – I did have my Vex (FL8-SLT) there and my new this year Marcum – LX3. Only my second time out w/ the Marcum – so I am still learning the unit. As mentioned, the LX3 is nearly silent, while the FL8 does make some “whirring” noise (but its 5-6 years old too – so that may have something to do with it).

Both units show fish, and all of the scouts who used my sonars caught fish – which is why I had them both out there.

I stayed on the ice until 5pm, caught 10-12 fish on the day, all on a white Marmooska tipped w/ 1 or 2 waxies. Bites were very light, and the fish on the bottom took lots of coaxing.

Got to meet Bill, and harass Ron, Mike and Doug. Pretty decent day to be fishing – even w/ the wind.

UG