Ice fishing Adventures

From Farm ponds in Iowa to the back waters of the Mississippi River i have been able to fish a lot of ice over the past few weeks.

My first outing i want to share with you is the trip to DeWitt Ia and meeting up with Charlie Rarick a member her on IDO. I was greeted by Charlie at his house to a monster plate of home made biscuits and gravy…MMMMM MMMMM Good !!!Over breakfast we talked about the pond or ponds we would fish this day…I have never really fished a farm pond so I had no idea what to expect.

Well with the past winds they had and the snow cover,we needed a little help from the land owner to make it back to the pond.So we packed up the Otter Medium Cabin and headed out to this 4-5 acre pond…It was about 4 degrees if I remember correctly and the shelter was the perfect fit to keep the cold off of us. Once we got set up, we began to mark fish immediately on the Marcum LX5..

I had the Marcum VS820 down to take a look at what was coming thru, and there were a lot of fish down there. They seemed to be on the move working the perimeter of the pond looking for something to snack on i guess !!!Lots of bass and some real dandy gills…Some of the gills were hybrid and some were regular gills. The best bait for us this day was the Mini Mert in the Pahoo pattern…Purple and gold glitter with a glow nose…this has always been one of my favorites !!

Thanks Charlie for a great day on the ice with you. I look forward to getting back down there for some late ice action !!

My next outing brings me back closer to home, fishing with Steve Manning [I]Northern Man[/I]here on IDO. We were fishing some of his favorite ice spots and the crappies were on the menu. The bite was on for a very short window from just before sun up till about 9am. And if you were not on them or had what they wanted,,,,you were out of luck..A Lil Cecil was the ticket here. I had several fish come in and look at my offering and just swim away. I could call them in, but most would not take it…I have been getting a real good idea of whats going on under the ice now that I have been using the Marcum VS820…I can really see the reaction of the fish to how my bait is presented.

I have been learning how to work the Marcum VS820 and it has been a blast…Water clarity is been my main obstacle..Dialing in the brightness and clarity to get the best picture on the screen is key to being able to really see what the fish’s body language is. If it’s sunny out you have to tone it down a little…if it’s cloudy out, it’s just the opposite…And getting to bring home camera footage of the underwater world is a blast !! There are things that happen down there that you don’t even catch until you view it on the television.

Thanks to Charlie Rarick and Steve for having me out on the ice with them. And thanks to Otter Outdoors and Marcum Technologies for making some great products to enhance my outdoor experience….And One more person i would like to make note to…and that’s Bob Gillispie and Custom Jigs and Spins…The baits you have for ice fishing are second to none…Bob really knows his business and listens to the fishermen, which allows him to come up with some fantastic baits !!