What's workin' now : ICE

[fishingmike0770]

Nice pic Pete! The sunset in the backround makes it all the better!

[Corey Bechtold]

Yea this weekend was great! I had a chance to take some kids out and put them on some fish. We caught both Crappies and Sunfish using several different presentations. Here are a few pictures of some happy customers...

Brooke and a nice Gill

Hope with her first iced Sunfish

Brianna a nice White Crappie

Bailey with her friend Brianna and a Sunfish, note Cole working a hole in the background

Bailey with an evening Sunfish

Bailey with a Black Crappie

It was a fun weekend to hit the Ice and search for some fish. I really enjoy being able to take kids out and introduce them to fishing and all that the outdoors have to offer.

Good Luck to all,

Corey Bechtold

[ivegottabite]

Corey-

I hope I'm as lucky as you when I finally have kids! You can't beat the smiles on their faces when they're having a blast catching fish

[delmuts]

coery. great pictures ! got to love those smiles !

[Sportland_Bait]

Sight fishing with plastics for Crappies has been producing good results the last week up here. 10-20 feet in smaller bays. The fish seem to be staging on the drop getting ready to move shallow.

Jason Erlandson

[Matt Johnson]

I hit the ice today with Rick and Paul Waldowski. We fished in Southern Minnesota and targeted gills and crappies. The bite was shallow and all of our fish came in less than 9 feet of water and 6-7 feet seemed to be key. We worked a gradual transition area from muck to weeds and found the pannies cruising that line. It was tough to pinpoint the bite and hold down a pattern, so we ended up hole hopping quite a bit. The bite got consistent later in the day and around 4pm we found a flurry of gill action. The crappies we picked up would cruise through about 3 feet off the bottom and they were very aggressive. The gills on the other hand were hugging the bottom and were very finicky. We had to use spring bobbers and noodle rods to detect the bites. We used size 10 Shrimpos tipped with a single maggot or else a plain size 12 jig tipped with a maggot. A lot of lookers today and that cold spell sure took the activity level out of the shallow dwelling fish. We did pick up a few nice gills in the 8-9.5 inch range and a couple crappies in the 9-11 inch range. The bite should pick up the next couple days as the wind dies down and the temps increase again. Think shallow and look for green weeds, the gills are holding true to those areas.

Here's a couple shots from today...

Gill taken on a Thorne Bros Sweet Thing/spring bobber combo tipped with a Shrimpo

Gill taken on a Thorne Bros Power Noodle tipped with a Shrimpo

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Matt Johnson]

Yesterday was another day in search of gills. I took Rick and my dad out to a spot where I got into some gills a few days back. We were mainly hunting for bigger fish but we tied into a bunch of little ones as well and could only muster a few piggies.

The spot we were fishing was a shallow shoreline adjacent to a shallow bay with a mud/muck bottom. Not a whole lot of thick weeds in the immediate area but there were some nearby. We fished anywhere from 5-13 feet and the larger gills came in about 6-7 feet.

As we moved out into the 11-13 foot range we started seeing quite a few suspended crappies. The crappies were very aggressive and would sit anywhere from 2 feet below the ice to about 6 feet below the ice. The gills on the other hand, where mostly relating to the bottom.

The gills were once again very finicky. A spring bobber was definitely the way to go for detecting the light bites. A lot of lookers yesterday as well. A frustrating bite to say the least but we found a few flurries of active fish. Marmishkas and size 10 Shrimpos were working well. I ended up taking off the plastic on the Shrimpo and just tipping that tiny head with a single euro larva. We also had to always keep the bait moving. If you stopped the bait, the fish would drop back to the bottom. I would just barely quiver the bait constantly while the fish was investigating it. Once I saw the spring bobber stop bouncing I knew the fish had the bait in its mouth. I used a chartruese jig. A lot of hole hopping too.

That warm weather we had with an abrupt cold front following sure put the fish in a negative mood. Now we're seeing a little bit of precipitation and strong winds, makes it tough on the shallow water gills. Those big fish don't like a lot of noise and the change in pressure will definitely down grade the fishing. This cold stretch is supposed to last for a few days.

I would look to the weeds or out towards the basins of the bays (10-15 feet) right now for the pannies. I would also check the deeper weedline of the shoreline weeds. Seems like the fish right up tight and shallow are still in a negative mood. However, I would expect a flurry once things warm up again...

Here's a couple shots from yesterday...

Rick with a nice gill taken on a St. Croix Legend/spring bobber tipped with a Marmiska

My dad with a nice crappie

A couple more gills...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Stratosman]

Nice fish, I am hoping to get out tomorrow as well, the bluegills have been vey finicky for me as of late as well, especially the big guys, smaller presentations and frequent hole-hopping has produced the best. Matt, is the what you are calling a Marmishka the same as a Marmooska? if so I can vouch for the productivity of these baits in a negative bite.

[Matt Johnson]

Nope, the Marmiska and Marmooska are two different jigs. The Marmiska (I'm not sure about the spelling) is a jig from Europe and are not as known here in the states. However, I would expect them to make a very strong run here in the near future. They are very, very tiny jigs and are phenomenal on pannies!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Stratosman]

I think the Marmooska is from Russia or originated there. Would it be possible to post a pic of the Marmiska?

[Matt Johnson]

I don't have a picture. I'll see if I can find one...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Stratosman]

Cool man

[The Grebe]

Boy, what a difference a day makes! Thursday we braved the big wind and got some Crappies for our effort. Went back to the same lake, set up on the same hole area, fully expecting the same results and we did'nt get squat!

A couple of little sunnies before dark and not a bump, from just prior to dark, until 8:00 p.m. The sniffers were back on the job! We threw everything we had at them and all they would do is come and look and drop back down?

Boy, this thing we call fishing can certainly try ones patience! I called my buddie who was set up on Clearwater with his dad and they were experiencing the same thing? I don't know, I might have to give it a rest, catch up on my reading or something?

[delmuts]

grebe ! i can't picture you sitting around reading !

[CrappieJohn]

One of the two biggies that affect the fish at this time of year happens to be fronts. Cold fronts to be specific. And recently we have seen these come along almost daily and the fish no more than settle down from one when another comes diving thru. This activity closes up the feeding window pretty tight....the fish eat, but time spent doing so at any one time will be only a very narrow slot. If you happen across fish that have the feed bag on, you can get a few. If you find fish but cannot buy a hit it is because they are simply negative in mood and aren't going to be suckered in easily.

In many, if not most, fish have begun to transition. Coming into the shallower water means that these fronts will have even more negative effects on the fish. Look for the deepest water in the immediate area ( a foot can make a big difference!) and down size along with a much slower action. Simply deadsticking everything has turned fish for us lately. Any action put on the bait just moves them off. Every fish of late has hit a bait just sitting there without any movement other than what the gentle current provides.

[The Grebe]

Del...Really, I read alot, books, magazines, newspapers, trade literature, how to's, all kinds of stuff...I guess I'm kind of inquisitive, nosy if you will!

[The Grebe]

Ct...Good advice, I'm sure, but I run into a problem with this senario, personally speaking.

My main fishing partners will not hunt! If there is hunting to be done, I'am the one to do it and I can tell you, I'am not always successfull!

Here is the standard deal...Set up on a past reliable spot and wait for the fish to come to you, as they have on many occassions in the past. Hunt out from the primary location, your base camp, within your time frame, only thing, some guys stay in camp!

The time thing comes into play, you hunt for the fish and there are many variables as to why they are not biting. Say you get onto afew and it looks promising...you set up on them and shortly the bite goes cold...how many times during an outing does one have time to relocate?

Maybe a big pike came in and shut them down? Maybe the bite will resume as it does sometimes with Crappies. Maybe it is off peak and they will fire up during the bewitching hour? (Crappies are the fish I'm refering to here) If one moves right away, one might be moving off the hot area, come prime time feeding?

It seems that on all but a few lakes that I have fished over the years, daytime Crappies are non-existant. The last hour before dark and the first hour after dark, seem to be the hot time and one can't be doing alot of moving and cutting during that time.

I'm beginning to believe that I'am missing some crucial factor with this fishing thing, at least for this winter? But it will give me incentive to try harder

[Corey Bechtold]

Well, I made it out today with Cole and my Dad to see if we could find a few fish. What we found were very negative fish that had to be really finesed into biting. Down sizing to the smallest jigs tipped with one or two larvae turned most of our fish. Although we didn't catch any hogs there were a few beefy Bluegills that we managed, and of course we released all of them! I hope for some warmer stable weather to get these fish to put the feed bags on. Here are a couple pictures from the day...

Dad and a nice Bluegill

Me with a Sunfish

One quick note for all those late Ice Panfish anglers: Please try and practice selective harvest on the bigger Sunfish and Crappies so that we can be assured good fishing in the future.

Thanks,

Corey Bechtold

[Stratosman]

Braved the wind and the snow on Friday on an Eastern Wisc. lake and were rewarded with some very nice blugills, very nice average size with alot in the 9.5" range. Very fussy still and sitting in 15' of water in lake with max depth of 20', no fish at all in the weeds except perch, the bluegills would take only a small offering and would barely move the rod tip. The smallest jigs in the box, color did not seem to matter. Had my best luck on the smallest Marmmoska they make tipped with one or two maggots. It was a challenge catching these large bluegills with this tiny hook, lots of fish lost due to the hook pulling out from the lack of penetration and from the result of them barely sucking in the jig, but extra care allowed for around 50 or 60 to be iced in about 3 hours of fishing. At times it was we could do to keep our one man's from blowing us off our holes. But worth the battle. This is the time to get on the ice.

[SlaPPy]

I have been haveing great luck with a small tear dropp tipped with a wax worm for crappies and for gills in 17-20 feet of water and they have been just smacking the dump out of it and no light biters

[mitch]

Where can you get shrimpos and ratsos? Can you buy them in stores or do you have to order them off the internet?

[Fish'n guy]

Most bait shops have them as well as Gander mountain although they may be hard to come by because they are putting out their open water gear now.

[Matt Breuer]

Shrimpos and Ratsos at Tackle City

[hanson]

I am not the greatest bluegill angler in the world but keep telling myself I need to fish them more. Every time I've been out this winter to strictly target gills, I've been hit with a very tough bite. The gills have been very finicky. My bluegill gear is pretty much my URL crappie gear so I'm a little overpowered for a very light biting situation. I plan to adjust my rods, line, and tackle for next season to be better prepared for these days where the fish just breath on your lure.

With that said, I got out today on a very small lake in the Monticello area after gills that are rumored to be of nice size. I was handicapped in a number of ways, most importantly was never fishing this lake before and not having a map. I augered a lot of holes and finally found some fish. They seamed to be relating to the weeds and weedlines (8-12') but that didn't mean you couldn't find them deeper either. My second drop I was greeted by Mr. Sloughshark. Once I got the mandatory snake northern out of the way I was ready. 2 largemouth bass later and I still hadn't seen a gill. I had about 10 holes in this area that were thick with fish but nothing would even take a peck at the lure.

I left the area to try some other spots out in the lake. After augering a number of holes around the lake, I concluded that this first spot was probably going to be my best bet as dark was approaching so I headed back over there.

Sure enough, after another 10 minutes of fishing, I finally iced a gill. It was a nice gill but much smaller than what I was looking for. I proceeded to get another 5 but they were on the small to decent end of the size scale. As the sun went down, I called it a day.

What can you say, I found the fish on a body of water I've never been on, BUT they had absolutely no interest in biting. It is tough when there are 7-9 different fish showing on your flasher and you can get the top one to take a peek and then scurry away. I know they were tasting but my reflexes weren't quick enough when I say the line twitch or the rod tip dip abit.

One of the homeowners said her neighbors were out last weekend and just pounded them in the same spot we were fishing. They happened to be catching the very nice sized gills also.

All I can conclude was our big snow storm that came through on Friday really put these fish in a negative mood. I'll get them next time if I make it out there again this winter.

[ivegottabite]

hanson-

you need to get your hands on one of those legend spring bobber rods. i used one for the first time yesterday and it was unreal how it detected bites. i went out today without one and regretted it, i know i missed many fish also by not have the "reflexes" either.

finesse fishing is a whole new game for me also. maybe one of the matt's could give you and me a few pointers