The boys and I have been very busy with our ice fishing this year.We’ve been going strong for the past 2 months so I thought this would be a good week-end to take a break.We got taxes done early this morning,then did some yard work.Cole was in my ear the whole day about going and finally I broke in and out we went.We got on the water about 3:00 p.m and after a little searching we set up on 17′ of water.It wasn’t long and Austin had a gill.
After a little while of trying differnet lures we all went to Hali’s in different colors.Cole had on lime color,I had a firetiger,Austin went with a perch type color.They were tipped with a single waxworm.Some of these Hali’s have black stripes on them.I doctor the black stripes with a permanent black marker,making the stripes stick out alot more.Here is Cole with a gill.
Cole was out in his one man shack working different water depths but could not get a good bite going.He finally sat up close to Austin and I and got the hot stick going.The last hour of daylight we had a great bite going.Had fish under us the whole time and caught many gills,perch.Austin was watching the vex and noticed a huge group of fish at about 8′ and reeled up to them.It only took a second and he iced a small crappie.This was the only crappie we got today,we never did see anymore fish come in high in the water column.
The best part of the day was Cole catching 3 catfish through the ice.These were the first catfish he had iced and he was very excited about it.He yelled at me that he had something nice on so I ran over to help.I was expecting to see a largemouth but to our surprise it was a whisker fish.He caught 2 more before we left and is still in cloud 9 about it.
Best of luck to those that are still on the ice.
Ryan Hale
Alright !!
Way to go Boys !!
Ryan, congrats to you and the boys on a fun evening on the ice! Bet seeing them whiskers got you a little pumped, eh?
Wish I could get my son interested in fishing again, but at 18, I think the females have him in a trance! 
Thanks for the report Bud. Sounds like you guys had alot of fun. Also shows that if you aren’t bit to try different colors and even different depths to catch fish and it pays off.
Got your boat ready to go for open water yet? You know the boys will be in your ear as soon as the ice is off the lakes. 
Thanks, Bill
….and somepeople call them…”trash fish”, I don’t think trash could make a person smile like that!!
Way to go Cole!