Late Ice Bonanza!!

[Matt Johnson]

I hit the ice today with my dad and couple younger anglers. I took them out to the Chisago Area in search of sunfish. We must have punched 75 holes and covered a lot of ground but don't let that fool you, the fish were in several areas and were aggressive. (I just have this problem that I have to constantly be on the move because I have this nagging thought in the back of my mind that there are always bigger fish somewher else ) We fished mostly in 4-9 feet of water, keying in on the 7-8 foot mark. We hit the weeds hard and managed to ice a lot of gills. This was by far one of the best numbers days I've ever had ice fishing in my entire life. Not every fish was big, but a good portion were in the 7-9 inch range with a few that might have reached 9.5 inches. It was just a good day to be the ice.

We used size 10 Shrimpos pretty much as a mainstay. No livebait was needed, but we would tip them with maggots every now and again. The fish were mostly relating to the bottom, but would rise a couple feet up on occasion. Sometimes however, we would see 15 minutes of no-stop suspended crappies moving through on and off. It was hard to really pinpoint the crappies and the majority of them were only 7-9 inchers.

Joe managed to land a couple nice largemouth and we had several break-offs on pike but never landed any. A lot of water on the ice out there when we were done but the ice is still thick and I didn't see many spots, if any, where there was hazardous run-off. It was mostly just the snow on the ice melting that caused the water.

If you're going to hit the ice tomorrow I would fish the weeds and weedlines. We're supposed to see a cold front move in tonite and into the morning. It's going to be almost 30 degrees colder tomorrow than today and we're going to see a little precipitation in some areas. It might push the fish into the weeds or out in the basin. I would look for bottom hugging fish tomorrow midday. The activity level shouldn't dwindle that much, but I would expect a change from today. Just stay mobile hole hop in a 30-40 yard area over a pod of fish. This week is still going to produce some excellent fishing and things will warm up again soon enough.

Here's a couple pics from today...

Joe with a bass

Mike with a nice gill

Joe with another nice bass

My dad with a gill

Joe with a nice gill

Mike with another gill

...Mike

...and Mike again...Mike was on fire today!!

My dad with another gill

There was a unique occurence today. We stumbled across a HUGE pod of giant golden shiners. We must have caught 20-30 of them and they were all over the water column. They would hit the bait just like a panfish and fight just as hard. I've never experienced that before. Every once in a while I'll catch a shiner but nothing of consistency like I saw today. Pretty cool. Here's a pic of one...

I had a lot of fun on the ice today and it was nice to see a lot of people made it out today. Most of the lakes I drove by had a lot of people out there. The season is winding down and before you know it we'll be pitching plastics and floats for open water pannies

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[fishingmike0770]

That was a great day of fishing! Non-stop action throughout the entire day. Just want to say thanks again and hopefully we can do that again sometime.

[Matt Johnson]

I'm glad you had a fun time Mike. You sure put a whoppin' on those gills! You and Joe are quite the fishermen! We're going to have to chase some carp at Peltier dam this summer Maybe even catch a big dogfish?

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[fishingmike0770]

Haha, u better believe it! I'll teach ya the ropes!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Dude- I cant believe you were on my home waters and didn't give me a jingle!

Nice job guys!.. looks like you had a blast!

FYI Matt-That area you are fishing(I recognise) that area will produce till the ice off and thats one of the first areas I hit after ice off!

[rosspj59]

I was fishing east rush yesterday and noticed the fish were right on bottom most of the day too. You had to jig a couple inches off bottom to get the fish to bite. With the assistance of a camera we were able to verify the fish were there and buried thick in the weeds. In the late afternoon I started hole hopping and found some crappies just below the ice. Would have thought with the warm weather for two days in a row the fish would have been jumping out of the hole. Good report and pics Matt! Haven't found the 9-inch plus sunfish in the chisago area yet, I'll just have to keep looking. Thanks for providing the confidence that they are there.

[Matt Johnson]

Deitz,

I would have called you, but it was a guide trip

And plus, there is only so much I can handle, if you would have been there it would have been overload Just kiddin dude. Drop me an email...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Matt Johnson]

rosspj59,

East Rush is full of nice gills as well, but I hear ya on the bottom hugging fish, it can be frustrating. The Chisago Area is a sunfish mecca and has true big fish potential. All of those lakes are packed full of an assortment of sunfish and are a lot of fun to fish. You'll tie into a 9 incher out there, just give it time and keep moving. Think shallow right now too, and stay away from the crowds. Those big gills don't like noise...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[fishkid]

Thanks again matt for the great time on the ice. The fish were biting awesome and the weather was great. I even got a little sun burnt. The best fishing i have ever gotten into in the winter. Catching those shiners was pretty cool. Some of the shiners were bigger then some of the crappies and sunnies we cought. Saw the huge sunny you cought that is amazing.

[Dano2]

nice catch. After searching and more searching all winter on a favorite panfish lake, I never did get into those big gills, so moved onto a lake today, that I've only caught big large mouths from shore and have never ice fished it but heard there are some crappies and big sunnies in there.

well, i got abit lucky I think and managed to run into them after only moving twice. One large school moved through, then it died for awhile, then it was solid action until I finally decided I had enough fun and left. Some of these gills were 9". Man its fun catching them, some really tug on that line and sometimes I swore I had a large mouth and up comes another beauty of a sunny. I did keep a few for a family meal, and sent quite a few back. Was fishing in 11' but amost the entire column was lit up on my LX-3, theyed usually come up and smack it once your lure was down about 3 feet. Really made my day after a tough season. hope they bite like that again when I bring my little one out.

[ivegottabite]

dano2-

good to hear you got into some nice sunnies in the area. hope your kid can enjoy catching some too!

i'm hoping to take the wife out for her first time this weekend, hoping we can find some hot pannie action also.

[Dan Brelje]

Deitz,

Whats up. It makes me a little upset looking at all these nice fish. I was out morning today and managed to get one nice gill. A bunch of small ones, no size still. Tried shallow, but maybe not shallow enough 10-12. If you would be interested we should go out some time before ice out. I want to find some size man.

Hit me and e-mail. [email protected]

If anyone is in the Area feel free to let me know. Only in school till 9 am every day.