I’ve been lucky enough to spend 4 of the last 5 days on the ice at Sherman Reservoir. The bite seems to be slowing down a little, but with some hard work you can still find some nice fish. We were able to catch a nice mixed bag of fish and get a few for the frying pan also. Ice conditions continue to improve with the cold temps and ATV travel is now possible anywhere on the lake as there is now a good 12 inches of ice on the main lake with close to 20 in the bays.
My friend Todd and I headed up on Friday afternoon. We wanted to get there in time for the evening walleye bite that had been so hot the weekend before. We didn’t know what to exspect with the cold fronts that were passing through. We hit our favorite bay just in time to get settled in before sundown. Right away we started to mark some fish in 17 feet of water. They seemed to be interested in my perch Go Devil as they would follow for several feet before retreating back to the bottom. It finally took a full minnow and a steady hand to get them to commit. We ended the night with around a dozen eyes and only a couple of keepers.
Saturday my cousin Pete joined Todd and I for what turned out to be a great day with a mixed bag of species. We started out hoping to find some more walleye at sun up, but a few other toothy critters must have run our walleye off. The first pic above is one of 2 decent pike Todd caught early Saturday morning. Our next persuit was for some slab crappies. We headed to our crappie spot that had produced a few weeks before and soon were on fish. A few nice crappie were coming through when we had a large school of white bass come in. For 45 minutes it was non stop action. The bottom 6 feet on our Vexilars were completely full of fish. We landed between 30-40 fish in that 45 minutes and had a blast. Soon after the school of whites moved out I started to get an itch for some eyes. We set out to check a few areas with my H2O and Navionics chip. We checked some main lake points with some nice breaks but came up empty handed. We headed back to our crappie spot for the evening and caught a few more crappies and some short walleyes.
Sunday I wanted to really focus on catching some walleye in some unfished areas. I set out on the main lake hitting some areas that I thought might be productive. Without my Navionics map chip it would not have been possible to check as many areas as I did. After checking 5 areas and only coming up with a nice 3lb channel catfish, I moved even further down the lake. I was able to find an area that broke from 15 to 35 feet in 50 yard stretch. There was a near by flat that I also check out. It didn’t take long to catch a few walleyes. They seemed to be coming out of the sahllow water. My rattle reel caught most of my fish on this spot and every fish that took it headed to deeper water. I had it setting in 16 FOW. Todd soon joined me on this spot and we finished of the day there. I ended up getting 2 19 inch keepers and released several others. We had a great weekend with a variety of species.
I made another trip up on Tuesday with my friend Randy. We got there around 6:30 AM and headed to the area I left off on Sunday. It was the same type of action all day catching a couple fish every hour. We lost a couple nice fish and Randy was able to get a couple of 19 inch eaters to take home. I checked a couple of other areas in the coves and only came up with a couple of short pike, so I headed back to finish out the day with Randy.
It sounds like a couple of more trips up there are in order for me in the weeks to come. I hope to see some more IDA guys up there over the next few weeks. It was nice getting to run into Flatwater (Mr. Jorgensen) on Tuesday. Let me know when you are heading that way again.
Nice report Ben!
Here’s a picture of Pete in the middle of our white bass action.
Way to go Ben
Thanks for the shout out Ben. It was great meeting you and being able to put a face with the name. We really didn’t have much luck on Tuesday but last year on late ice Sherman showed her true colors. If you locate a school you can really have some nice crappie fishing. Having fished the lake since it was built in the early ’60s is a real help. But as I have learned she can be a “fickle lady” also. This last spring was the first spring that I can remember that the walleyes moved completely to the far end of the lake after spawning.
Tuesday we set on baitfish and couldn’t buy a bite other than toothy critters who make quick work of 2# test. The next day it could just be gang busters.
Good fishin’
dj
I don’t think I’ve ever seen/heard of a whitey caught through the ice. If they have half the fight as in the summer, what a blast!!! You get them often through the ice??
Great Report Ben!!! Awesome fish!!
Sweeet Report, Ben! I’d love to get into those great whites like that. looked like some really nice ones too. Way to go w/ the eyes too.
We do get some whites once in a while through the ice. I think they roam as much in the winter as they do in the summer so if you find a school it usually doesn’t last very long. I’m still waiting for that school of wipers to come through some time.
Ben – don’t think that you will catch those wipers at Sherman. You might try west of the causway at Glen Elder. Got a report of a lot of good whites and wipers to double digits coming from there in the past couple of weeks. Got some friends going down this weekend. Sold them a bunch of jigging spoons; hope they need more when they come back.
Good fishin’
dj
No wipers in Sherman but I fish Branched Oak a lot and there are plenty in there. I think I’m heading out there Sunday. Maybe I’ll run into a few then.
Sounds like a great trip. Congrats. I would like to chat with you sometime about your ice fishing equip. I am looking at investing in some dedicated gear, a few pointers on must haves and stuff to stay away from.
Chris
Good stuff, Ben!
It’s nice to see that Brian is still alive. For a while there I was thinking that he was enjoying his work to well or maybe he had got behind the bars. Those books getting heavy boy?
Retirement is great!!!!! 
Great report Ben! You’ve been having an outstanding winter!
Nice report Ben. That size white bass have to be a blast to catch through the ice