Well, I guess it is back to the real world and another monday after a great weekend. Kelli, Ryder and I headed down to McCook to spend some time with some great friends and do some catching up. It was also a weekend of jig tying and ice fishing for Jeremy and I.
We got down to Swanson Reservoir, near Trenton, about 6:45 in the morning and it was cold, about 0 degrees. So we started on the 1.2 mile track out to the fishing grounds in the dark with our flashlights since sunrise was still about a hour away. 20 minutes and 4 tired legs later we finally reached the spot and being the first fishermen out on the ice, we had our choice of spots.
We picked a spot about 40 yards off the dam, in about 22 feet off water, right along a ledge that runs out into the lake. We started marking fish right away but had a time trying to get them to bite. We could pull them off the bottom with our Kastmaster’s tipped with a half minnow, only to have them turn away after a 5′-10′ follow. We switched up baits and what a difference that made. A white swedish pimple tipped with that same half minnow was what they wanted to see and a few ‘eyes’, a couple of white bass and a nice wiper later we were off to a new spot.
We loaded up the stuff and headed to the north end of the dam. We got on top of a tree row in 20′ of water and switched out our half minnows for wax worms and headed in for battle. We started marking fish right away and in no time have a really nice 13" crappie on the ice. We stayed at that spot for about 30 minutes until we needed to head back to the house for lunch and ended up landing a few perch and that nice crappie.
There have been some really nice fish caught down there, including several master angler wipers and ‘eyes’. The ice is in great condition and the fish, in general, are in a good feeding mood. If you are looking for some good fishing, head down to Swanson or one of the other great reservoirs in southwest Nebraska, and enjoy some times with friends, family and the outdoors.
Nicely done Zach! We sure appreciate the reports!
Thanks for the report Zach.
I wish I had time to make it out that way. If this ice sticks around I may have to make a trip out that way in a few weeks.
Sounds great Ben.
It has been to long since we have made it out fishing 
Nice report Zach we need to get on the ice soon!!!
been thinking about going down there for a couple weeks, just dont know whats going to happen with all the snow, it hasnt been good to the lakes around kearney. how thik was it? i may have to make some calls to some people that live down that way and find out how the snow and ice are now since saturday night.. congrats on all the fish and thanks for the report…
The ice was 8-10″ and in really good shape. They got about another 5″ of snow last weekend but it was a really dry snow, not like the snows we have been recieving. The lake was in really good shape and I am sure it will stay that way if the weather stays like it is
