It’s no secret that the past few weeks of fishing across the ice-belt have been challenging to say the least. When James Holst and I headed north then to tackle a multitude of species, in various portions of the state, with tight schedules from locale to locale, I knew it would be an undertaking. Like all great adventures with even the best –laid plans, success often hinges on adaptation to said plans. This was the case when halfway through the trip we found a big gill bite of such quality and duration, that it held our attention for the rest of the trip.
With temps in the 40’s, and a mix of clouds and March-sun, this was late-ice panfishing at its best. That’s not to say they were easy to find. We ran nearly two tanks of gas through our 3hp Solos this trip trying to track these things down, and drilled for upwards of an hour with two augers just to mark a fish. Anyone who’s used these augers knows what an hour of drilling with two augers truly means! The good news is that once the fish were located, and more importantly, why they were located “there”, we were able to stay on them quite well.
The best fishing we had was on a large lake with several basins and rocky humps, but few locations to none actually held fish. Eventually, through the use of our flasher and camera, we found a great pocket in a basin that came from 40FOW up to 10 FOW with a small weedbed or two at the top. The structure was nice, but the weeds held the fish. Not just any weeds, and not dead and laid-down weeds, but patches of coontail with some green left in them. Without these, the gills would’ve been sitting ducks to the numerous pike and large bass we saw on camera…..of which we also caught plenty of. Seeing the fish on our Marcum flashers and camera in such a setting was truly a case study in predator/prey behavior under the ice. Early in the day, the gills would roam in loose schools, scattered throughout the water column. As the day wore on however, the bass especially started to show themselves more regularly in “waves” of thick red targets on the flashers. Not only would the gills scatter, but they’d bury themselves in whatever cover they could. It could take up to 15 minutes before these schools became comfortable and actively feeding again.
To capitalize on the bite while it was hot, we fished fast with Slender Spoons as much as we could. Especially for the larger panfish, 1/16oz. offerings in silver/blue and silver/chartreuse were the clear winners. As soon as these fish were less willing to chase, probably due to the high amount of predators in the area, you had to drop a Gill-Pill on their nose to get them to bite. I did well early on with the “zebra” white/black Gill-Pill in size 10, and James did better with the finicky fish with the more natural colored Frog pattern Gill-Pill, also in size 10. At least for myself, threading a spike on the hook was more productive than letting them dangle, at least when the fish were more close-mouthed throughout the day. Small adaptations to our presentation like this kept us on those fish all day, with literally a hundred or more fish in the 9-10” range iced.
Needless to say, this is quality fun for just about anybody, regardless of age or experience. No doubt, there are plenty of opportunities these next few weeks to chase fish long after the close of walleye season. Get out there!
Joel
Holy gillzilla
Great report Joel
Icefishing + sunscreen =
I don’t know that I’ve ever caught some many big panfish from such a small area. We had three key holes spread along a weed edge that was twice the length of a couch that produced 95% of our fish. Wander more than a couple feet from the weed edge and you could stare at your MarCum until your eyes glossed over waiting for a fish to come out of the weeds. Move back 2 – 3 feet to the weed edge and the fish showed up in threes and fours. This is definitely my favorite time of year to ice fish!
As for the sunscreen… I’m still dabbing aloe on my nose and cheeks to keep from peeling. I do this every spring… you’d think I’d learn but I never do.
Great report Joel.
That’s a nice bull
Nice report
Sweet Bull-gill. I think you found the jackpot with the green weeds… Nice persistant work, it payed huge dividends for you guys….
Awesome report and great fish & pics guys!
Nice job fella’s!
and yes Joel,that gill does make your hands look small 
Now I am really regretting working the weekend. I was thinking about you guys as I went around and around and around 400 acres of brush at 3 mph. What a nice day and great time of the year for fishing; I bet a lot more fun than shearing habitats. I should have called in sick and made the trip to fish with you guys as Nelson pulled off another hat trick!
Nice gill Nelson! Once again a marvelous change up utilizing mobility and technology that paid off big time. Good job.
Wow! You guys really got into them good..
It is amazing to find situations where these fish can be so concentrated in any given area sometimes. Nice job, and dandy gills!
Now that’s some great fishin! Nice read Joel! I love when all that hard work searching pays off.
No Doubt!
Way to go Joel! Thanks for the report
WTG guys
Those are some beautiful Bull Gills
Thas is amazing that you found them confind to such a small area, I love the pictures. Sunburns heal but the memories will last forever…
Thas is amazing that you found them confind to such a small area, I love the pictures. Sunburns heal but the memories will last forever…
Nice fish Joel!! Way to track them down.
I’ve never had that good of luck on Grows lake.
We left all of Grows’ honey holes alone on this trip! Started out looking for walleyes. Heard of a great crappie bite, went looking for crappies, and found sunfish. Was par for the course on that fishing trip. Nothing was where it was supposed to be!
Joel