Not satisfied with the morning outing Brendan and I loaded up and heading South to one of our old lakes that in the past has yielded some nice crappie catches. As we unloaded Brendan remembered that it’s a good half mile treck out to the area we fish But with minimal snow on the ice made pulling our Frabill pretty easy. I started cutting holes and BJ got out his Fl-20 to look for suspended fish. Didn’t take and we found some fish schooling through. A mild night in the mid 30’s made for a comfortable evening of fishing. The bite never really got going until about 9:30 then we had multiple schools at different depths. We just kept working the active fish and ended up with a fine mess of crappies and a few blugills mixed in for lunch today. All fish including the bluegills and a smaller bass came on the glow jig/minnow combo. We jigged a little but dead sticking was the dominate presentation. Another fine fishing adventure with my son Just doesn’t get any better than that …………

Merry Christmas to all on the site The plan tonight was to get out locate those crappies and get my son Brendan on some Slab Action. As fishing goes things can change from day to day. The good side of the coin was we were marking smelt up high in the water column and he got to catch a few of those tasty little piranhas. We met up with my buddy Lon and he was working minnows for those Magnums that we were searching for. To my surprise he caught a smelt on a minnow, unbelievable Well I hole hopped for awhile looking for a just a rouge crappie roaming around. I heard Lon yell he got a decent eater size one. As I headed back that way he ended banging 4 crappies out of that hole really quick and then that was it. I sat and watched Brendan catch some smelt and Lon moved to some other holes. It was time to pack up and Brendan and I walked over to say goodbye to him, He said oh here comes one. He set the hook and I could tell right away he had some weight on the other end, now it was “Game Time” Couple of really juiced up power runs I knew we had more than a crappie on With the solid black ice and the lantern going we finally saw what was on the other end of the line right under Brendan’s feet, a beautiful northern with its yellow spots gleaming from the light of the lantern. The look on Brendan’s face was priceless not to mention the look Lon’s too Lon worked the fish like a pro not stressing the 2# line and keeping the line in the middle of the hole, finally I saw an opportunity to gill her and seal the deal. Knuckle Knocks all around and Lon said that was his first pike on a jigging rod Booyah, What a hoot, I live for these moments and to get to share it with a good friend and my son tonight was icing on the cake …………

Lon with his first Pike on an Austin Elite Rod {UL}…..

I have been fishing the Wolfram jigs in the Fiska line for nearly 10 years now. A must for me when fishing deep, The weight of the jig and being able to downsize is the key for me when fishing pressured fish. No matter if you match it with a micro-plastic or live bait you have a deadly combination. I like the basic colors and probably 80% of my collection are in the glow colors. 3mm and 4mm will cover all your water levels. Yes they are a little steep in the sticker price but you get what you pay for. I had some issues with quality on a few last season but looking over the racks of them this season they may have had a small batch sneak through the Quality Control person. I saw a guy last Fri catch a 27” Northern on 2# test and when I walked over to help him out I was surprised to see a 3mm clown color Fiska in his beak. I laughed as he said thanks for helping me out that was my last one of that color and I lost $12.00 worth of jigs the last two days ……

I will have to admit, I did get out fished last night by a dozen or so…….

Tom- I live about 1/2 hr West of Marshall in Galesburg….

NTW- We havent got the snow so ice conditions in my area are improving everyday. The bigger lakes are still a little shaky with 2-3″. Little snow accumilation in the forecast so it’s only going to get better ……….

As soon as the ice is safe I will be out at Night ….

They were $18.00 for two. I have 4 in my shack and lights it up nice. I’m not sure how many lumens they are but recommended for on and off road use. Very durable they don’t draw to much juice out of my extra vex battery.

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I must be missing something, but what are you guys fishing for after dark that hyou need these types of lights? Please teach me what you are doing. Thanks cause I was thinking that in my portable I use either a coleman lantern using either the 1 pound propane cylinders or white/unleaded gas. I use it for both warmth and light.

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Jeff- The gin clear natural lakes I fish here in SW MI produce fantastic action at night The main lake I fish throughout the winter has at times 30 foot of visibility. With a large multi-specie predator base to boot the crappies {and I mean some dandy Magnums}come to feed at night. I would say 90% of our fishing comes at night and the other 10% is scouting out new areas to fish. Like the couple of posts above mentioning broken globes and I have seen my fair share of burned holes in shacks from the lanterns too We use the Buddy Heaters for warmth. The light set-up I use has had been working flawless for 3 seasons. So get out there and give it a try

Couple of Night Pics………

The only thing the steers me away from some of the newer lights is that they run on AAA or AA batteries. I like something that I can recharge with ease. An extra Vex battery is the way I like to go, I found some 12 volt LED’s at Autozone that work really well. I attached a broom clamp to the back of them so that the lights latch onto the tubing in the shack. I ran four of them across the top of the shack and they pivot to the desired spot. Never ran a battery dry yet, and 75% of our fishing is at night. Everything fits nicely into a plano dry box for safe travel.

Pics……

Thanks for the kind words Todd and I appreciate all the hospitality here. It’s a waiting game on the ice now. Here in my neck of the woods it has been only getting into the 50’s during the day and the night time temps have been really nice Dipping into the low 20’s for the last three in a row. I will guess in about 29 days till we have some safe areas here in SW MI

Thank you for the hospitality ….Looking forward to posting some pics from my corner of Michigan when the hard water gets here………..

Pete- Found my way over here and see I will be spending some time surfing around. I am looking forward to the coming of the ice season I have had some other contacts thanks to you on getting in on some hand built rods. Thank you very much Another fisherman out of New York sent me some info on a big show in Syracuse in Dec. I might look into maybe attending it next year. As for now enjoy those new rods