Mississippi River Panfish – Late Season Ice

There’s something about late season ice. It’s like extra innings baseball or overtime in football, you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for the end, but ironically your don’t want to see the end to come because it’s too much fun to watch. That’s where I’ve been lately, looking forward to open water, but cherishing the ice we have.

I’d like to say I have my fill of this ice season, but I can’t because I took much of this past winter off, trying to get my body back into the shape it should have been in years ago. The after work “therapy sessions” were replaced with high intensity workouts as were my Saturdays. Sundays, those my day of rest(boy did I need it). I did get out a few times, but not nearly as much as I used to.

So now I’m holding on trying to make up lost time by running and gunning from favorite to favorite spot. The bite as a whole isn’t what I thought or hoped it would be. By and large it’s been hot today ice and cold tomorrow. The fronts moving in are just as sporadic. Pre-front conditions that are usually spot-on are a flip of the coin as to whether the bite will be good or awful. Standing in rain showers/drizzle/sleet/snow/whatever gets thrown at me has been in the past a thing to look forward to. Not so much this year. I’ll take it regardless. There’s always some thing to learn.

That’s what I’ve been doing the last couple weeks, learning a new tactic for ice fishing. I bought some tipdowns from IDO member IceNutz and I’ve officially gone nuts over them. What a fun way to run a 2nd set up.

I’ve been targeting Crappies with mine, running a Gold/Chart. Slender Spoon on it tipped with a minnow. I’ve found it’s not a good idea to get very far away from them…they tend to trip when you’re either not looking or more than a few paces away. Don’t bother trying to drill holes after setting one up. You’ll get about halfway into drilling a hole and the thing will trip. At least that’s my experience with mine…

I like the flash the Slender Spoon gives when that minnow is hooked near the tail and as far as I can tell the Crappies do too. The last trip out I set up a tipdown rigged the same way but I set it about 6″ off the bottom trying to target Perch and results were the same. A great success story and a hearty fish fry. Not much more a guy can ask for.

One other thing I learned was to pay attention to what the fish are eating by the things they burp up when they hit the ice. Almost every one of the Perch were caught either threw up Mayfly larvae on the ice or in the water bucket we put them into. This caused me to switch my baits and try some different combos with jigs and plastics with great results.

Pictured you’ll see what they were burping up. It’s pretty clear to see they were grubbing through the river bottom contents, sucking up all the bugs they could get into their system. Noticing this and putting that info to use made the day for sure. Again, the little things matter the most, even if they are kinda gross.

It’s been a fun few trips out on the ice, and I can’t wait to get out again hit it hard with my Dad. I know he’s been enjoying himself and even stopping down to get my electronics when I’m at work. The retired lifestyle has been suiting him well. The forecast for this weekend is rain, so I’ll break out the guidewear and hope the flip of the coin points to a solid bite. Even if it doesn’t, it surely beats working or sitting on the couch.

Good luck to those of you that get out and enjoy the “extra innings.”