On the ice yesterday

[Tim Moore]

I was on my way north yesterday morning when I decided to stop and check the ice thickness at one of my favorite panfish spots in central NH. I just wanted to see about how long it would be before it was fishable. Well, it had 5" of ice so I never made it anywhere else.

It took a while to get to the spot I like to fish since I was checking the ice thickness pretty regularly. Once there I drilled three holes, but only fished the first one. There were fish on the Vexilar and they stayed there for three hours. The new FLX-28 is a work of art. I love it! It is well worth the investment IMO. Having five colors, but being able to select as many as five or as little as two is awesome. I was able to select out the small fish so I could see where the bigger ones were and target them. It was so cool.

I also got the chance to try my new auger conversion kit from Clam. That thing is sweet! How can you beat a 14 pound auger that is as good as the drill you put on it? No more being stuck with what the manufacturer decides to use for power and no gas and exhaust. I have a Dewalt 20v standard cordless on it now, but the way I drill holes I can see that I will burn that drill out in short order. I drill a lot of holes and I drill them in a hurry.

I was fishing in 16 feet of water. The crappie were suspended and the gills were all near bottom, but they had no problem rising 8 feet to chase my jig. They were aggressive. I didn't count how many fish I caught but it was consistent the whole time. Most of the fish came on a red/white Epoxy Drop from Clam Pro Tackle tipped with a white Maki Plastic "Jamei".

I haven't eaten any fish lately so I kept enough bluegills for my wife and I for supper and released the rest.

I saw something I don't get to see all that often. Steam rising from the heat created by decomposing vegetation. I mentioned this in my recent ice safety seminar and got some strange looks. -3 degrees made it easy to see the heat created. If you know where this is then you might think it was due to the outlet near there, but it was occurring in two other spots as well. I videoed that as well as much of the fishing action. I will post the fishing video once it is uploaded.

The steam rising video

[CaptSpike]

Tim how were the conditions? Sloppy? Tough walking/pulling? Planning on getting out Saturday but not if the conditions are bad.

Spike

[Tim Moore]

Tim how were the conditions? Sloppy? Tough walking/pulling? Planning on getting out Saturday but not if the conditions are bad.

Spike

It was a little sloppy when I left. I'm sure it's worse with this extra snow and will only get worse with the rain we have coming.

[CaptSpike]

Suppose to be snow up north so maybe no worse. Was it worth taking a sled onto or was it total slush. I don't want to drag a sled up and deal with slush city.

Spike

[Tim Moore]

Suppose to be snow up north so maybe no worse. Was it worth taking a sled onto or was it total slush. I don't want to drag a sled up and deal with slush city.

Spike

As in snowmobile? Either way, the slush wasn't unbearable.

[Dylan8351]

Nice Tim. Glad you had some luck!