The ice is ready! Brian and Dean met me over in the Wabasha/Kellogg area for some first ice fishing today. We decided to target some bluegills, but also hoped for crappie and perch. We would not be disappointed! The ice was a very solid 4 inches, so clear that you would sometimes see the hooked fish fighting below the ice.
The best location today was in a channel about 5 ft. deep. Most of the fish came within the bottom 12 inches of water. We found small ice jigs like tear drops tipped with waxworms to produce best. A ratso also produced several fish. I tried some larger lures like jigging spoons without much success.
Brian brought along some Reel Weeds and gave them a good test. I’ll let him submit a report on how they worked, but they certainly did not hurt anything. We all used shorter ice rods with spring bobbers and the use of a Vexilar or Marcum helped us see the fish to target very well.
As you can see in the pics, we had lots of fish and fun! Thanks Brian and Dean for a great day. We had perch pushing 13+ inches, gills pushing 9 1/2 inches, and crappies going 12+ inches. Lots of smaller ones as well. The wind was a bit brisk, but when the fish are biting great – it was easy to ignore the cold. Sure was great to be out on the ice again!
Looks like you guys were having too much fun. Nice report!
Not Fair!
But nice report anyway.
After a few years of being away from icefishing,it was great to watch the spring bobber move again!A big thanks to Mike at HOF for getting me set-up with the right line,jigs,and bait,and delivered personally,you cant beat that for service.The flasher really made a difference today in catching fish….anytime a fish came off bottom….fish on!Another must-have that Mike brought, was the traction safet-treads to keep this guy upright…..very reasonably priced and easy to use.I finally got to see one of Mikes famous “long” jigging rods in use for jumping holes,a very nice rod and a back saver as well!
It is amazing how quickly a guy can forget some of the tricks of the ice-fishing game…but I got back on track before the day ended despites Brians help. Note to self……dont leave fish on the ice in freezing temps….no fun to clean frozen fish!But man are they good to eat
.Thanks for getting me back out there again guys,much appreciated! 
I have fished a couple of times when you could see the fish fighting under the ice its awesome Nice fish and report
Thanks for the report and pics. Looks like you guys had alot of fun. Great to see Deans first day back on the ice a successfull one. Thanks for guiding them Mike.
Did Brian catch his fish on purple? OPPS theres goes that secret color that Brian swears to never mention. 
Thanks, Bill
Now thats more like it. Move that ice a little more South. Glad you had a great day.
Nice job guys.
Thanks for the report Mike.
Nice job guys!! Great report!!!
loooks like you had a good time and got some nice fish
I’ve heard about these.
Got a pic to post of them. HOF, tell us more!!!!
These are very much like our other custom ice rods except they are at least 42 inches long. With the longer rod, you don’t need to bend over and that saves a lot of back pain.
Good Fishing,
Mike
Good report Mike.Can’t belive you got Dean and Brain in it with out a mention of catfish or cookies, this has to be a first!
Good report. Your getting me pumped for my first trip.
big g
OH, my goodness………………I got that deadly winter disease!
I think it is called———–JIG-A-NITIS! 
Hope none of you fellow anglers out there end up with this cause it can destroy alot of things including but not limited to: your job, your marriage, and your rear-end(if you fall on it).
Be safe out there and drill lots of holes!
Awesome! What did Mike win for the first ice report fo the season?
Another trip with me and BK
?
That is what I like to see, the ice reports starting. Great report guys
Great report. Looks like it was a good time…..I can’t wait to get out and do some of that myself.
Here’s a question though…what are “reel weeds”? Not sure I’ve heard of them down here in NE.
I’m glad you asked Brian!
What Are REEL WEEDS?