Hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving! I sure did. Decided not to fish today but I just wanted to give an update on my adventures on the ice so far this season.
Last Friday, Nov. 21 was my first day on the ice. Fished a small lake within 30 minutes of my home. Solo trip, not the safest this early in the season, but I limited my gear, wore a life jacket and had other safety equipment ready for the worst case scenario. As I walked on to the lake I saw others had already been out within the last day or two. I followed out along the other tracks and drilled holes about 200 feet out. Found about 4″ on the first hole, drilled plenty of other about 50′ apart. Ice thickness was anywhere from 3″-5″. Good solid ice except for top 1/2″, the lake was also covered by an couple inches of snow. Drilled holes earlier in the day just to get a good idea of the ice depth and conditions. I decided not to wet a line as it was around noon. Wasn’t going to come back and fish that evening but after a couple hours back home I thought what the heck I don’t have anything better to do until picking up my kids around 5.
Got back to the lake as the sun was fading. Got all set up, checked the locator and it showed a few fish down below! I was pumped! First hole, first drop down of the year a dandy crappie took my offering and the fight was on. Coaxed up a decent metro crappie, around 8″, on a small spoon and Gulp minnow head. Instant release, still fish on the screen… I got my bait back down. Over the next 20 minutes I was able to catch 3 more, smallest 7″ biggest 10″. Fun, fast first outing of the 2014-2015 season; I still can’t believe were are ice fishing already!
Day 2 Saturday, November 22
Same lake. But I got out earlier, around 1:45PM. Got crappie minnows this time. I checked all the holes from the previous day, barely iced over at all. No fish on graph, in 20 different holes… for nearly two hours! Then all of a sudden a switch went on, and I couldn’t keep them off the hook! Picked up around 20 crappie, most fish were 10-11″ a few smaller. But also handful of real brutes for a metro area lake. Two 12’s”, a 13.25″ and a 13.5″! Released all over 12″. I kept a handful of mid-sized fish for a family fish fry. Oh yeah! I also caught 3 decent pike which I also released, but they made for an interesting change in action on 2 LB test.
Anyhow, that got a bit long… but figured I would get my first post under my belt. Just joined up today. Stay tuned for more updates or send a friend request.
See ya out there! Good luck!
Adam
