Ice Fishing Pool 5 Backwaters

Another day with nice weather , so for me that means another day of ice fishing. I’m having a blast out on the ice! I decided a change of location was in order, so I headed to pool 5 today. The ice seems to be a little less thick than what I had on pool 4 – about 3-4 inches instead of the 6 inches I was used to. It was good hard ice though and I only saw a couple shoreline areas to avoid.

I found fish in about 5-6 fow. They were fairly aggressive when I first started fishing around 10:30, but things got much tougher within the first hour. The fish were hitting anything I put down the hole when I first got there, but almost all the fish were on the small side.

Once the catching slowed down, I switched to a larger offering – a tube jig on a 1/32 oz. jighead. Hole hopping was the best method. It seemed I could catch 1 fish out of a hole and that was all, so switching around to different holes was necessary. Sort of like trolling through the ice.

I worked the jig down to the bottom and then back up toward the top of the ice using short little jiggles with barely a pause. The fish usually hit hard when they decided the jig was worth eating. The larger lure and aggressive jigging made a big difference and I ended up with a nice meal of fish, also releasing many fish. The largest crappies were 12+ inches and the largest gills were 8+ inches. It was another great day to be out on the ice. Hope you get to enjoy some time on the ice soon!

Dinner!

Very nice. I’m ready to do some exploring myself.

Sounds like someone played ”hooky” from work today. As long as its for fishin we will excuse you. Thanks for the report and pics.
Thanks, Bill

ps. has anyone else noticed that he goes to the best spots on days that he knows I’m working?

Let me know when you have to work a couple week-days in a row. I’ll call in healthy for you and you can hide for the day in the back of that big blue bomb. Just pop your head up over the seat back about the time he gets to Plainview…tooo far for him to want to take you back home. Better yet, stay low until he parks, then sit up and say “hi, bud”.

Does that mean you are willing to share the back seat where you are hiding with me?

Way to go Mike,
I’ve been away for a couple of weeks waiting for a computer and an Internet connection, and I log on tonight to see those, Nice I didn’t realize there was good ice yet as down here I’ve been walking to and from work sans hat, and sometimes in shirtsleves. Keep up the good work guy

dave

nice report Mike I hope to report back monday from chisago lake area at the cabin with the panfish bite up there….have to remember the dang camera one of these times excellent report love the pics

Ron (RHW) and I made a day of fishing the same area again yesterday. Fishing was slower than the previous day, but we were still on lots of fish. Here is a picture of Ron with a couple nice crappies we got.

Good Fishing,
Mike

We had a great time, didn’t we Mike? Weather was cooperative, NO WIND!! Managed to each take home a great meal.
Both Mike and I are having our triditional Christmas Eve fish fry for the family.
This has always been an all time favorite and the family looks forward to that just as much as Turkey on Christmas day. Fry the fillets to a golden brown, pat them dry with a paper towel and serve them with a baked potatoe, smoothering in butter, a tossed salad, home made hot dinner rolls with more butter and wash it down with your favorite beverage. Life doesn’t get any better.

Ron….

This must be some photo-workshop trickery. You look just like your avitar, only on wet pavement and dolled up in heavy clothes.

I saw Mike this morning and he said you got the biggie yesterday. You are right about those critters on a plate too…..there is nothing better than pan-fried pannies. Nothing.

Happy to hear you got into them. Now excuse me while I hunt for my bog boats so I can try to fish Foster tomorrow morning.

Tom, wear a life jacket if you are going to venture out onto Foster.
Yesterday, we found that a larger presentation attracted more bites and fish. Even the little guys would gobble up the larger jigs tipped with a waxie. Tried a variety of colors this time, wasn’t too cold so didn’t mind tying on different jigs to see what they wanted.
Purple of course was a preference, followed by Moon Glows, even managed a few on that new Diamond Head.
The fish moved, so we had too. Not far, maybe 25 yards to pickup the bite again. Could snag five or six out of one hole, then it would go to sleep. Moved and found them again. Just kept repeating the movement to accomodate the bite. Anywhere between 4 to 5 /2 feet of water.
At first they were tight to the bottom, but as the day wore on, we got them 2 to 2 1/2 feet off the bottom.
Real secret here is to work the entire water column and not just get stuck on one particular zone.
In shallow water like that, it is not tough to do this in a short amount of time.

Life jacket?……lawn mower is more like it. lol

Not to worry Ron. This boy is going to a land lubber for a while. I was taking the grandson fishing tomorrow to Foster, but am going to pull the pin on that venture. I think we’ll be seeing some cold after this garbage weather passes and the ice will snap back in a hurry. Next week, dude. Next week.