With the weather going to be pushing the upper 30’s today, we decided to try a different area today, so off to the backwaters of 5a we went, looking for a panfish bite.
Dodge Boy, J_Ericks, Jeff’s roomate, and myself headed out across the ice this morning a little after 7 this morning. Like most backwater areas, we had a pretty good walk ahead of us. When we finally reached the spot we wanted to fish, which seemed like eternity to my burning legs and frozen lungs, there were only 3 other people back there. Sure is nice when you can get away from the masses. Dodge started off by drilling a bunch of holes and setting up the flags. Jeff got the surround sound system unpacked and I got to jigging looking for some panfish.
We marked fish immediately tight to the bottom. We were fishing in 4 fow with a good 6″ of ice. The morning started off with only small fish caught here and there. We had to hole hop to keep on the fish. As the afternoon came around, the fishing picked up along with the size of gills. We only caught one keeper crappie and quite a few gills. We only kept a handful of the gills today. The weather was perfect for sitting around outside and not freezing. It was kind of funny because everytime we have gone out fishing we have noticed a trend. There is always an old timer on the ice just spanking the fish. Even if everybody else is getting skunked, the old timers always manage to land good fish. Today was no different. An older fella was fishing pretty close to Dodge and nailing keeper gills and crappie while Dodge and myself were getting pretty much all small ones. Then Dodge figured out the presentation to get bigger fish. The key was to double up on waxies. We caught almost all the keeper gills in the last hour that we fished. No one jig was any better than the other today. I switched up close to 20 different times with only a few fish on each jig. One color that stuck out the best was pink. So, there is still good ice around so get out and enjoy it.
Next time we go out remind me to bring my rod and not just tip ups
Good to see that you guys pulled in some nice fish after i left 
Nice Report Mike.
I know what you mean about the old fellas.
Great report Mike
Sounds like you guys had a good time. By the way you described the walk it sounds like some of the places Bret searches out 
Steve, George and I tried the after work bite tonight – marked lots of fish, but it was a tough bite but we sent George home with 3 crappies, a gill and a perch for his boys 
I should have remembered that trick of doubling up on waxies 
Sure was a nice night out though 
Great report Wats. Old timers are good dudes to know
Good report Wats, sounds like you had a GREAT TIME
This time of year for me gets frustrating. So when we do get on even an average bite, it is still a successful day for me. Tomorrow brings another adventure to completely new water to me so hopefully we have a good report. The bite always seems to get really tough around the end of February for me. Not sure if the snow cover has a big impact, or just that the fish are really slowing down.
Great Report Mike!!
Did you use any glow colors? Or did “no glow” offer a better bite?
I believe Dodge had a glow jig on today. I tried a few glow jigs and caught fish. Almost all jigs caught fish today, but they seemed to get spooky with the same jig all the time
Hey Wats, where abouts you were guys fishing? I fish pool 5a quite a bit in the spring for eyes! We usually launch at the State park. I’ve ice fished the back waters there a few years ago but that was for pike! Did fairly good as I recall, but never tried the pan fish!
Thanks for the report and pics Bud. Fishing always seems to get tougher this time of year. I too have had alot better luck using two and sometimes even three waxies on my hook. It offers the fish a better meal without having to use alot of engery to get it.
You are certainly having alot of fun this year on the ice I can see. You do an excellent job on reporting too Mike. ”THANKS.” 
Thanks, Bill