I was fortunate to spend a rainy Monday on the ice with Steve Hix(aka BFD). While the fishing was excellent, the ice was shot by the time we left at one oclock pm. I can’t stress enough that the Ice is no longer safe at Belva Deer!!! Warm temps and rain have taken their toll. STAY OFF THE ICE!!!
We left after about five hours of rain began to blacken the ice and open up areas next to the brush. Since most of the lake’s best fishing is in the brush,over 20-25 ft of water, this is not a good thing! Here is a pic of Steve with an early morning gill.
We found the fishing best between Eight and nine-thirty AM. Although we did not fish our best spots due to poor ice,we did enjoy nearly nonstop action for the first 1.5 hours. At around ten oclock we set up the tent and got in out of the rain, proving wrong a widely held belief about Steve’s intelligence. The next pic is Steve with a pair of nice Belva Deer Bluegills.
Most of this day’s fish came near the bottom in 20ft of water. Nearly all were between 8.5 and 9 inches long. Best baits were moon glows in orange/white or pink/white and flirty girtys in purple or green. A vex. or similar flasher is indispensable on this lake for keeping the bait at the right level and out of the puckerbrush. Let’s hope for some cold temps soon so we can get back out there, but for now stay off and stay safe! This last pic is Mrs. Lyons with a farm pond gill from a week ago. Check out how much snow we had just one week ago!
Nice Gills!You have Steve and Mrs Lyons catching them for you and I suppose Riley the lab is filleting them,attaboy Big B
Thanks for the report. You still look the same as last year, don’t no if that’s a good thing.
Good one Jeff
But would we really want him to change
Might have us worried if he did
Thanks for the report Big B. Good to see Steve is still hard at it, and knows to come in out of the rain.
You are right about the dramatic change in snow and ice, mid Decmeber we had nearly 15 inches of snow in my yard, almost to the top of my pack boots, now bare grass
stay safe everyone!
dave
Nice pics Big B…I like the title of your report
Yes it was a great time, however the gills were even nicer than Big B thought. I measured some when I got home and most of them were right at 9.5 in. and some were just short of 10 in. He wouldn’t know this because he wanted a few for supper and I sorted through and gave him the little ones!
Hi Dean;
I do have it made as far as the fishing goes
As for Riley, he opens Christmas presents and beer cans…not fish
Every man has his own definition of “just short of 10 inches”
All I can say is the little ones were delicious