My youngest son Nate and I decided to go after some panfish on Willow Creek Reservior in SW Rochester and the fish were there to greet us. Even a largemouth bass decided to say hi to Nate.
It sure has felt great being back on the ice this past week with my son. It brings back alot of great memories of the days we use to ice fish together when he was younger. Your kids grow up and have families all of their own and it gets harder to find time together. Well that old commitment of fishing together again has been renewed. Makes me feel like a kid again…ok….maybe just younger. lol.
The crappies were hard to find but some were caught. But most of the fish that came up to visit us through the holes were gills. Ratso jigs tipped with a waxie gave us most of our fish. Alittle experimenting with different jigs did provide some too. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Diamond jigs and Gill Pill jigs work great too. We were fishing in deep enough water to make good use of the Vexilar flashers we both had. Theres nothing better than a flasher to help you catch fish through the ice. Ok…maybe a great Strikemaster auger to drill the holes to get to the water where the fish are helps too. Using the flasher you can watch your jig on the screen as you drop it downward through the water column. When doing this watch for any fish that might show up. Once we got to the bottom we would raise the jig up alittle and then start jigging to try attract fish. I have had my best luck this year using what is called the ”Genz pounding” method to atttract fish. Basicly what you are doing is making a constant pounding/shaking of the jig to attract fish. And it does bring the fish in to your jig too. Now this is where most people lose the interest of the fish because when the fish come to the jig they will stop the jigging method that they were doing which caused the fish to come in and the fish loses interest. If you find this happening to you then try to keep doing the jigging motion that you were doing that caught the fishes attention in the first place. After all it was the jigging technique you were using which brought them to your jig so why change it? You may, at times, want to slightly slow it down but keep it moving so it looks alive and mouth watering to the fish.
The ice was pretty thick. I didn’t take an exact messurement but am guessing around 10 inches. Its a great time to get out on the ice and have some fun catching fish. Bring your spouse, mom, dad, brother, sister, girl/boyfriend, kids and friends and have a get together on the ice. Theres alot of fish to be caught so don’t wait till spring when you can catch em now. The last pic is of Nates portable ice house for the purpose of showing how people can fish in seperate houses yet very easily still communicate without using your cell phones minutes. The pic isn’t real clear because it was taken from inside my Fishtrap through the window to show you how close our ice shelters were to each other. We werte able to talk back and forth and hear each other very nicely yet still be in our own Fishtraps. Works very well. Have fun this winter, get out and enjoy it, catch some fish and let us know how you do. Hope to see you on the water, hard or soft.
Thanks, Bill
Glad you guys got out today Bill. Looks like fun!
Dang it Bill! I want to fish Saturday…so many places to fish…so little time!
Good report Bill, when your out on the ice with your family you sure can relive some pretty good memories and probably make some new ones. We have a great fishery in southern minnesota.
Good for you Bill
Thanks for the post. Glad you and the boy got out.
Happy New Year!
Chris
Great job Bill, Fishin with family & friends is the BEST.
See ya on the ice.
This pic will show you why I love my Strikemaster augers. This was drilled with my 5” Lazer hand auger.
Thanks, Bill
why are you guys taking pictures of small fish and putting them on here?
Hi Mychal,
That’s an interesting first post you made. As you will see, not all pictures need to be of big fish. The report is pointing out how much fun it is to fish with friends and family.
Now that you can post, how about a report from you too?
Good Fishing,
Mike
Nice report Bill. Somedays it`s about getting out with family and freinds. Not allways the biggest fish.
Nice job Bill,looked like fun.
The snow is pretty much melted off of Willow Creek Reservior but the ice is still plenty thick. There was about an inch of slush on top but we still have a good ten inches of ice where I was fishing Monday night. The bite was real slow which was a big change from the weekend. They bit VERY light when you were able to get them to commit. I had no problem raising the fish up off the bottom, no problem raising the suspended fish up alittle bit but they preferred to just look and not bite. Even in a tough bite its still alot of fun when using a flasher. You can see your jig, the bottom, and what depth the fish were at all on your flasher. I personally use a Vexilar FL8SE and know alot of people who use the Marcun brand flashers. They both are VERY good units. They do what they are suppose to do and they catch you fish. Now if I just could of seen where I was fishing at it would of been even better. By that I mean it was so foggy out that I walked right past Nate and didn’t even see him. That fog was thick. But even slow nights are alot of fun fishing with friends on the ice. Be sure and get your buddies out together fishing and enjoy the season of ice fishing.
Thanks, Bill