Here is my fishing report from Eagle Lake in Maple Grove and a quick review of my new toy – a Humminbird ICE 55.
I hit Eagle Lake Monday, Dec 13 from 10:00 to about 3:15. I went in search of anything that would bite. I fished in the southern bay of the lake. I drilled a few holes in 4, 16, 19 and 22 fow. All spots had ice about 5 to 6 inches thick. After drilling through, water came up out of the holes and I would have a puddle about 1 1/2 inches deep on the ice. I could see where other people had been fishing because there were large areas of snow that had gotten wet and froze into large ice patches. I originally avoided these areas because I didn’t know what that was from. I assumed later it was from others drilling holes and I decided to trek across them and see what would happen. I wear Arcitc Armor when fishing and have spikes to help pull myself out, so at the worst, I would be cold and wet and not too far from my truck. Needless to say, there were tracks left from others who had fished in the middle of those areas.
I went out with crappie minnows and euro worms. I set up in 19 fow water as this was where I was seeing the most active fish on my Ice-55. I did jig in 16 and 22 fow, but only saw one small return on the locator in 22 feet. I set up may shack and fished away. I jigged Gold, white, fire tiger and red gill pills with a minnow, minnow head, and euro worms. Nothing. I set up a small bare hook with a euro worm, then later a minnow on the bobber near bottom. Nothing. I also jigged gold, silver and white Swedish Pimples with a minnow head. Nothing. I marked a lot of fish, but most were small. I had a few decent and large hits on the Ice-55 which would hover near my jig, then sink to the bottom and disappear. The white and red seemed to produce the most curiosity, but there were no takers. I got skunked.
There was another ice house that was just outside the south bay. They left at about 1:00 and I don’t know if they had any success. When I left, I saw two other portable houses. One was on the north end of the lake and the other looked like it was near the public access.
My Ice 55. I upgraded from a Vertical Showdown. I like the showdown because it was easy to read and very easy on batteries. What I did not like was that it is grayscale, not color. If you had fish hugging the bottom, you had to watch closely for a fluctuation in the line on the graph at the bottom. Also, when it would get really cold, the screen would slow down and it would not be readable unless you turned the screen heater on. It is a nice unit, but I wanted color to better see the fish on the bottom.
I got the Ice 55 because I had read some good reviews on it. Also, I got it for $400 with a $50 mail in rebate. I am not going in to a full description as you can see the features through other websites. This is a basic review. The flasher was very easy to use. I turned it to Auto and it automatically set the depth. The screen was very easy to read in sunlight and in the ice house. The knobs and buttons were all easy to use with gloves on. I used both the wide and narrow angle settings for viewing the bottom and they worked great. On wide, I could see bait from both my rods in separate holes, and in narrow mode would see only the jig that was in the hole with the transducer. I love the unit. The only thing I didn’t like was the system for suspending the transducer in the water. It uses a dual cable system. One cable is the wire to the unit, the other is a rubber cable used only to support the transducer. I am told it is like that so it does not infringe on a patent. I know a simple way to correct this and impede on a patent.
I hope this report and review helps. I would not mind hearing some tips if anyone has any for the Maple Grove area.