Pool 8 Back Waters Ice Fishing Report

By bret_clark 0

After a few days up North I didn’t think things would be in order to leave the house until Saturday, I was wrong By noon Friday November 28th the truck was rolling out of the driveway in search of some fresh ice. There were a few guys fishing at the first stop so the truck motored on, the second area pulled into……not a track on the ice
The destination from this point was submerged brush. While using a spud the walk was made without to much trouble.
There was a good 2 inches of ice but the sun did have some of the top soft keeping me from walking a straight line from point A to B. It’s funny how relaxing it can all of a sudden become when you arrive to point B….. and you are still dry

After the GPS put me spot on, with spud in hand 4 holes were pounded out in short order. The first bait to be dropped was a #14 Clown Diamond jig by Custom Jigs & Spins the bait pulled marks immediately. Other baits used in a variety of colors were Gill Pills Slender Spoons and Ratfinkee’s all catching fish but, a Purple Ritfinkee tipped with waxie or sliver of red worm produced the bigger fish.
The wood was located in 12fow jetting up to 5fow. Being tight too the wood produced some dinks but staying 4-6 feet away enticed keeper sized gills away from there cover. Making it possible to get close to the wood is the NBT button on the MarCum LX-5. By narrowing down the cone angle on your transducer, you can get tighter to structure in deeper water. First trip out produced 5 dandy gills and, 8 crappies for a fish fry and some fun with catch and release all within just a few hours of fishing time. Knowing Mike C was chomping at the bit to get his feet on the cold stuff, I left the ice and made plans with AmWatosn and Mike for Saturday morning. smile

First light Saturday 29th Mike C and I were on the spot, shortly to have AmWatson join us. The bite was good stuff early AM only to dwindle off around 9ish. After that….. they kind of got tight lipped. The Purple Ratfinkee still brought my nicer gills to the top of the hole for a picture, but as morning wore on it was necessary to change colors often too keep a bite going. B Fish N Tackle’s Lil’ Cecil in Silver Glitter tipped with a waxie was a good bait to get the crappies in the area to commit to a bite.
AmWatson and I had fun playing CPR while Mike C put his first of the years iced fish fry together. Good job on a great dinner Mike
One other bonus for the day was my first pike on a Beaver dam. Notice no picture….very short fish but a flag non the less

Sunday Morning AmWatson and I met up in another back water area that seems to get ignored and by the signs of foot traffic there had been maybe one other guy in the area. We fished the morning in a heavy wet snow which was coming down at a good pace. This bay had some good ice at 2 inches and some not so good ice. It was not possible to get set up were I wanted to be The set up was at the second favorite spot, the LX-5 showed plenty of fish but we could not buy a bite. We fished water from 5-30 feet without any luck, not sure why these fish were in a negative mood.
While walking off there were signs of the snow getting heavy on the ice. All are test spud holes from the walk out were turning into large areas of water top side. Sure hope we get us a good cold snap.
Even with a wet snowy Sunday morning and no bite, things were good. The morning was spent standing on water

Be safe, carry a spud and, good luck fishing people

0 Comments

  2. Nice first ice panfish Bret, Mike C & Am!
    You sure know how to slide right into the ice fishing season Bret.

    Its fun reading your ice fishing reports Bret but I sure hope we don’t have to put the boat away just yet. Not looking to good for open water fishing next weekend though.

  3. Bret

    It looks like your colder weather will arrive later in the week on wednesday and take us right into the weekend firming things up nicely.

    Thanks for the report. You certainly jumped into this ice season with both feet.

  4. Nice report Bret, if only I was an Ice guy.
    Great photos I really like the one with the bluegill in the soup stir . That looks really cool.

  5. As always a blast buddy. I figured that with this storm moving in the bite would have been hot this morning – don’t feel so bad now that I went to church instead of fishing.

    Have spud – will travel – on ice.

  6. It was great getting out with you guys again this year
    It was a fun morning on Saturday with some good fish coming to the holes for all of us
    Now this morning was a different story The fish didn’t bite, but I think the weather may have played a part in that. The walk out was a little spooky though
    Bret led the way spudding every few steps. A few times, the ice would make that all familiar cracking sound that makes a person stop in mid step and hold your breath . Once the ice settled, we would spud a hole to see what the ice was like. A few sidesteps and we were back on decent ice. The spot this morning didn’t produce this morning, but it is only a matter of time before the fish will be ready to play
    Thanks again guys for letting me join you for the weekend

    Oh yeah, with no flasher I had to fish “old school”. I wonder how I did it for the first few years. Hopefully, that will be fixed by the end of the week

  12. Nice Report Bret!! See what happens when I go to the In-Laws for the weekend.
    I was on vacation today (Monday) and have spent the day getting the Ice Gear ready. Let me know when the next rip is planned.

    JP Mason

  13. Quote:

    Bret

    It looks like your colder weather will arrive later in the week on Wednesday and take us right into the weekend firming things up nicely.

    Thanks for the report. You certainly jumped into this ice season with both feet.

    2 degrees in Sparta this morning Things should be shaping up nicely
    They are predicting 1-3 more inches of snow but, if the temps stay cold it should be light and fluffy

    Thanks for the responses guys

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