The Ultimate Panfish League!!!

[Matt Johnson]

First event is in about 2 months...

Saturday, December 31 at Linwood Lake

There are still spots available for anyone interested.

Early ice on Linwood can provide some excellent panfish action for both crappies and bluegills. A lot of perch in the lake, but you'll have to pick through them to get any of real size. I've seen some monster sunfish come out of Linwood, and anyone who fishes that area knows there are a lot of crappies in the lake too.

For more info check out www.UltimatePanfish.com

Or else ask any questions you have right here.

[Matt Johnson]

Still time to register for the league. Just filled a few more spots this week. Must be the new addition of ice on a few of the lakes ...

I'm looking at possibly extending the amount of teams per event because of the number of responses I've been getting, but we'll wait and see...

This is really shaping out to be an exciting league!

[RonZych]

Ron and Joe are in. Looks like a good time

Ron

[Matt Johnson]

Less than 3 weeks away!

So Ron, is the father and son combo going to bring a little of that I.C.E. Series magic to the UPL?

[RonZych]

Eelpout aren't allowed.

[CALVINIST]

Team "Clay Pots" (Calvinist & Cyberfish) will be on Linwood lake monday morn. dec. 26th...a little pre-fishing before the December 31st event. Anyone else plan on fishing Linwood that day?

[RonZych]

Joe and I will be out there either Sat. morn or Monday or both. Looks like snowmobiling in. The ice is probobly too thin for driving. Actually I'm going out tomorrow(Friday) by myself.

[Matt Johnson]

I'll be out there on Friday the 30th. Bob Horn from Illinois will be joining me for the day.

How's the bite out there? Anyone do any good? I would imagine you're catching crappies over the deeper holes. Anyone tie into the gills?

[RonZych]

marked fish during the day over the deep holes. Nothing would bite and I tried everything. I was fishing in the middle of the day though. Ice is only 4-5" just right of the launch area. There is a creek that way. Otherwise 7-8" everywhere I went. Off to the tackle store with my christmas certificates in hand! Did see a 8lb northern pulled up and many 1 Lb ers.

[Matt Johnson]

Those are them tight-lipped crappies that will sit there all winter long. Best way I've caught them was on a Genz Bug with the smallest crappie minnow I could find hooked upside-down and through the tail rigged below an Ice Buster Bobber. Sometimes you just got sit and wait for one to rise and suck it in. Some of those marks you're picking up are larger fish too, but they are very, very negative. I've seen a few 12-14 inch white crappies come out of that hole, they are indeed mixed in with those little ones, however, there's a stack of those 7-9 inch black crappies on that spot too...

[Blaze]

Matt - what time you heading out there? Team "Hatch Matchers" will be out in the morning for a couple hours. If you see a red Polaris XC700 with a Fishtrap Voyager, stop by.

[Matt Johnson]

I'll be out there around 9am or so tomorrow and I'll probably fish until about noon or 1pm... I'll look for you...

[Matt Johnson]

Interesting weather out there. At one point I couldn't see across the lake because of the snow. Didn't seem to hinder the fish activity though, they just kept on biting, but not much size to the pannies. A lot of fish out there, just need to sort through the little ones...

Ice conditions were pretty good, everything I punched through was about 7-8 inches or so. This snow sure makes for traveling on the ice on foot a little more difficult.

Forecast is calling for less wind and no snow tomorrow, highs in the low 30s, should be an excellent day on the ice...

See everyone in the morning!

[CALVINIST]

Matt,

Thanks for putting on the UPL...me and Cyberfish were shocked that we won first . The bite defititely wasn't hot like it was monday when we pre-fished. Funny thing, when we went back out and fished, I pulled in a respectable, eatable-sized perch-probably 10" ....not the pencils that were available at weigh-in!!! Anyway, you can bet we'll sign up for the Rush lake event in February.

[rosspj59]

Nice Job Calvinist! I wish I could have fished the tourney, but the activities coordinator had other plans.

[Matt Johnson]

Casey,

You and Mike are good sticks, its no surprise to me that the two of you took first place. Mike always seems to find the big panfish, its been like that as long as I've known him.

Brian and I couldn't buy a crappie over 9 inches, the big ones were avoiding us. The sunfish were all over and some alright size fish, but nothing like we landed on Friday. I think the biggest weighed in was probably only 8.5 inches. The weather system threw a little curveball at us and those fish took a hike.

I was going to head out there again this morning to see if a couple of those 13-inchers wanted to play, but I ended up having breakfast with my dad instead

See you on Rush!

[Matt Johnson]

The next UPL event is on Sunday, January 29 on Medicine Lake (only a little over 2 weeks away!). There are still openings for this event if anyone is interested... www.UltimatePanfish.com

[Matt Johnson]

This upcoming Sunday is the next UPL event! We'll be out on Medicine Lake. Still some spots open if anyone is interested. A great panfish lake, with some great potential for both quality and quantity! Some decent perch in the lake too!

[smmurphy]

If anyone needs a partner I can make myself available!

[smmurphy]

If anyone needs a partner I can make myself available!

Or is this a single's event?

[Matt Johnson]

You can fish it solo if you'd like, but they are designed as team events. It's up to you...

[smmurphy]

I'd rather fish with a partner, but both my son-in-laws are busy, so I was just checking to see if anyone else needed a partner.

The activities director has changed my mind for me though... I'm still trying to convince her, but I may be out of luck this w/e.

[metrojoe]

Where is the weigh in on Medicine?

[Matt Johnson]

The weigh-in will be out on the ice, someplace out from French Park. I'll announce where exactly it'll be at in the morning prior to the event. As of right now we're going to meet at French Park at 7:45am, and the start time is at 8am...

[metrojoe]

Thanks Matt, I'll see you at French Park.