Gator Tails

[GatorBait]

So I'm starting up a little journal where I can give you guys and gals my personal fishing reports and share photos of my adventures on the hardwater.

To start things off, here is a little about myself. My name is Rob, I'm 32 and live in Redgranite, WI. I've been with HSO for over 6 years now and enjoy the people and friends I've made here. I am gifted with an abundant amount of small lakes in and around my county, including the big girl Lake Winnebago and the chain lakes. I work as a correctional officer for the State of Wis and am a dedicated Vol.Firefighter and Emergency Medical Responder. I am recently divorced and have 3 beautiful children (2,6,14). I'm a fanatic ice fisherman but enjoy the boat, all hunting opportunities and other outdoor activities. Follow along as I share my recreational life with you.

My lil guy

[GatorBait]

12-28-11

Well I managed to awaken from the warmth of my covers and venture outside to a welcoming 10 degrees. Ice making weather, suttle cold front moving through, promising fishing conditions ahead of me. Today I am heading to little lake named Lake Lucerne in my rural county. This lake has always been a decent producers of nice gills and crappies.

As I arrive on the lake I punch a series of holes in about 25-30ft of water. Start up the Marcum and get to fishing. I started with a bubblegum colored jig, still not sure what make it was, horizontal presentation with a flat back and teardrop rounded front. I don't know, anyways, I started with spikes and waxies, netted myself a few keepers. About 9am rolls around and I changed from live to plastic. These fish were simply sucking the baits in with live so I was trying for a more aggressive bite. Plastic did the job, they were just smacking that thing. Below is a pic of my Marcum after I switched to plastic. On the left side is the zoom, 6 o'clock being bottom, fishing ranging all the way to 11 o'clock, about 4-5ft of water column.

The temps stayed cool, we had overcast and the fish were pounding. Most of the gills were ranging from 8-11 inches, pigs in my opinion. Definately fun fighting them in 30fow. For the first time on about 4inches of ice, it was definately exciting to bust out the poles and get some numbers under the belt.

A funny side note, a younger guy was fishing with a buddy and he had a camera down the hole. All of sudden I hear this screach, he starts yelling for his buddy to come help him because a big pike just grabbed his camera for lunch and started running with it. Oh definately gave us a chuckle.

I'll leave you all with a pic of two pigs next to my Marcum that I snapped during my morning outing today. Enjoy and be safe out there, the area I was fishing today was open water last week. AA was in full affect today.

[GatorBait]

01-08-12

Finally back at it this morning. Ice has been spotty the past week with these unforsaken temperatures. Who took Ol'Man Winter hostage?? I hit central wisconsin's Cleanest and Clearest lake, Pearl Lake. We call it Mother Pearl as she can be a beautiful thing one minute, and turn things right around the next.

Target species today were strictly bluegills. I headed off on the 4 inches of ice across the 60 fow hole to the opposite shore. My target area that has always produced was lying empty and unfished. This area is a gradual drop off, complemented with a about 2-3ft of standing foilage. Seeing as the Lake Assoc kills alot of weeds to help with water clarity, I definately wasn't expecting weed coverage like last year. With Marcum camera set up, good weeds were scattered in about 10fow. From 10-16fow the weeds are dead but laying down still offering cover yet.

So, I started out with a blk size 16 marmooska tipped with a red plastic from Pin Point Plastics. After about 2 mins of working the top 3feet above the weedline the St.Croix super finnesse bobber pointed south and the fight was on. A decent gill. These fish were not by any means schooled, mostly just roaming here and there. As the sun creeped over the trees, the bite began to take off as is usual with this lake. These fish were just pounding this jig and definately put up a great fight. A couple 12in crappies to boot was a nice surprise. They enjoyed the long wedged plastic tail and I enjoyed getting horsed around by them. All in all, it was a decent bite today but definately not as good as I was hoping for. The gill size was above par which I expected. I'll be back tomorrow to work a bit more of the existing weedline and see if I can find some concentrated schools of fish.

To update the Winnebago system...There is about 7-8in of ice on L.Poygan, wheelers at best. I'm still hesitant about going there for the walleye bite that is going on. Pressure cracks with open water, people making homemade ramps to cross them, ehh, not my idea of fun. Weather outlook after thursday looks a bit more pleasing with cooler temps. Gonna hold off another week..L.Winnebago is a no go. Yes there are people going off the bays with 2-3in of ice...Why?....Rest of the lake is wide open...Not to sure we'll be spearing this year..Stay safe and Be Smart.

[GatorBait]

01-09-12

I'm a day late, was to busy with the fire dept after fishing to get to my computer. So yesterday morning I decided to go back to Mother Pearl to try some new locations and see what I can find.

I popped a series whole in a zig zag pattern along the breakline. I bust out the #16 marmooska and tip it with a custom plastic I had made. Get the marcum setup, zoom it in and watch my bait decend to the bottom slowly. I'm about a foot off the top of the weeds and this red blob appears just under my jig. It rises up to my bait and then "BAM" fish on, wasn't very sure what I was fighting as there was some good weight on the end. As I it comes up to whole, I about fell over. A pancake gill is at the edge of hole and there's no flippin this one onto the ice. This girl ended up being 11 inches long and 5 1/2 inches from back to belly. It's officially the 3rd biggest gill I've ever caught and about 15 or so years since I've caught them. Here's a pic of her.

So that was a great start, figured i'd be able to hit a few more of those big girls. But, no such luck. I ended up getting broke off shortly after this and did not have anymore of those marmooskas that were producing. So I switched to a similar jig with the same color but was a size to big. Kept pulling the fish off the hook, was beginning to catch up my patience. But then came the winds, could actually feel the 4in of ice shifting and moving me a little. Fish turned off and I hit the road. I ended up getting a meal of gills for the day and another trophy that will eat well.

I followed this outing by giving a friend of mine 2 limits of gills so she could have a few meals to cook up for herself and her kids. Knowing they love to eat fish I new this would make them happy, and being affected by this economy, what better way to eat for practically nothing. Made my day a bit brighter!

[GatorBait]

1-16-12

Well, the time has finally come down in these woods that I can take the big'ol Outlander 650 onto the ice. After a few scary days last week in the mid to upper 50's, we've encountered about 8in of ice on our smaller lakes. Today I set out for Lake Lucerne once again. A few friends had a great day yesterday, so I was in hope that would continue. I decided to bring out the Otter House and hole hop with that on the wheeler. Little different approach, cover more area alot quicker. Took my marcum out, put the tabs on the battery and see a wonderful sight, 20% charge rate! Kind of baffled as it sat on the charger through the night, gonna have to check the outlet I guess. First hiccup of the morning, but things improved as soon as we got to fishing. Hooked up my dewalt drill to the strikemaster auger and popped a few holes. Best investment ever. Who would have thought you'd be literally "drilling" holes, lol. It's awesome!!

I tried some meat today, few spikes tipped on a diamond jig and gill pill. Both began producing good gills for the first few minutes. These fish I found out, love to travel all around this huge weedbed. So they'd come through I'd pick a few up, then either wait them out or pop into a few different holes. All in all, my strategy was working thus far. As the morning went on, I tried some plastic and couldn't get any takers, so back to the meat. I ended up with about 20 good size gills which completes my possession limit till the next fish fry this upcoming weekend. It was a beautiful day out, very enjoyable to sit on my comfy shack without actually putting the shelter up. I enjoyed this time of peace n quiet all by my lonesome which I typically enjoy on most mornings. This weekend I will have my boys with me, in hopes to getting some good action in for them. I will definitely share pictures of that event.

Got some weather moving in tonight through tomorrow with high winds. Believe I'm going to take tomorrow off and so some studying for my Emergency Medical Responder course I have on Thursday. I will follow up after my next outing as I go in search for some big northern and musky in a back country lake on the north end of the county. We have some monster shiners at the bait shop in town that I need to put to work. Hope for some good action. Stay Safe and Tight Lines.

[GatorBait]

Well Folks, things here in central wisconsin have slowed up majorly in the ice fishing department. I have not tested the water in the past few weeks. With rain, mid 50's and no ice making weather, it's just to dangerous to venture out right now. Sturgeon Spearing starts up next weekend and I have decided not to participate this year. Seeing as I can only venture to Lake Winnebago, the ice there is anywhere from 0 to 12". Pressure cracks are spread like spider webs, I'd rather give the big girls another year to gain a few more pounds than to put my life or shack at risk.

There has been little activity through out the Waushara County area, mostly one good day here, five bad days to follow. Your typical February fishing around here. Due to a funeral of my best friends father next week, I won't report back or be back onto the ice until after next tuesday. If you venture out, please be safe and prepare for the worst. The ice just isn't safe no matter where you go right now, even if it looks like it.