12-29 Fox Lake Gills

I had a client Steve that wanted to learn more about pan-fishing with plastics through the ice, so we headed out to Fox Lake for the day. Fox Lake has a reputation of giving up some quality panfish, but the bite can be really hit or miss.
Weather conditions were low 20’s, clear skies, and a brisk wind. Not exactly ideal for an all day bite. But hey, a full day of fishing is a great day…right! To add to our weather challenge, was the huge crowds that gather here. Fox Lake is a popular destination, with very mixed results for anglers.

My focus with Steve was to have him not only learn a new technique with plastics, but to observe what other anglers were NOT doing. To prepare for being amongst a large crowd in such shallow water, I planned on a very early start in the day. First objective was to make swiss cheese of the area, so that plenty of holes were available. Second, was to get a pattern going of what the fish wanted. Fox Lake is notorious for daily changes in color preferences. Third, was to catch a lot of fish.

It didn’t take long to have Steve icing gill after gill. Armed with a Micro Ultra-light, Quantum reel, and an assortment of Custom Jigs & Spins Finesse Plastics – The slam fest was on! The bite was extremely light, but we quickly found a pattern that kept us in action all day long. Within the first half hour of the morning, I took notice to what we were catching at each hole. A hole that was not worked for a period of time, was immediately good for 1 or 2 fish, then dead. By observing the many other people around us, I saw the same results. A guy would park himself on a hole, catch 1 or 2 fish, then would sit there for the longest time catching nothing.

Though there were a number of guys hole-hopping, there was a key factor that made a difference for us. Identify holes that were being skipped over. I was comparing it to Vegas, and watching the slot machines. Keep an eye of which machines were played and didn’t pay off. Then after awhile, quietly drop your token in the slot and cash in. Hour after hour, we watched guys hopping around the same 4 or 5 holes. Yes they caught a few fish, but by very frequently hopping to many different holes and watching for the ones that were vacant for longer periods of time, really paid off.
There were two primary reasons why we did well under these conditions. First, the fish were not aggressive moving throughout the weedbed. Rather, they appeared to be lethargically moving around. Second, our presentation of CJ&S Finesse Plastics was a perfect match for taking the most active fish. With next to no effort, the tiny tails on these baits had the subtle action we needed while holding the bait still. After sorting through a ratio of about 1 keeper to every 10 fish, Steve had himself an awesome batch of gills for his first experience fishing plastics.