What's workin' now ICE...

[Corey Bechtold]

Man, when it was said "Time Fly's" they weren't kidding. The Fall fishing season has been tossed aside and now we are looking at Early Ice !

Until the Ice sets up and is safe enough to walk on, I am going to start getting ready. Here's my checklist...

Charge Locator

Re-spool reels

Set up rods

Organize tackle and rods

Check fish house

Make sure I have a current shelter liscence

Make sure the auger is ready

Get out all the warm weather gear

try to calm down Cole (that's easier said than done )

I'm sure I'm forgetting something so help me out if you could...

How is everyone else getting ready?

Corey Bechtold

[ivegottabite]

Corey- you are right, time flies when you are excited for ice! I still hav many things to do as well. Most of my items that I have to do are on your list as well. I also have to put some new hyfax on the sled, by a few items as well.

Just hope my LX-5 comes soon, hate to have fishable ice and not be able to test out my new toy

[Matt Johnson]

Ahhh, home sweet home... "What's workin' now ICE"... I like the sound of that

[DEADhead]

I second that Matt!

[CrappieJohn]

And while you guys are waiting for the pot to boil, I am going to go to the river and jig walleyes tomorrow. Then next Tuesday I am going to hit the other hot spot for some nice relaxed crappie fishing....in the boat. And then again next weekend I will do the waldos. Ahhhhhhh.... what's not to love about PRE-ICE?

[Corey Bechtold]

True, very true Tom! Go get em'

Later,

Corey Bechtold

[CrappieJohn]

Coey....Alma was not the hot spot.lol The S'conie hunters were dragging the deer off the islands this morning ,but the fishing had turned a bit tough today. We did find the fish though and that will shorten the search next weekend and the Zumbro, dude, is wide open yet and just howling for my boat noise!

[ivegottabite]

Tom, if this open water keeps up; will it be tough for you to talk about Ice Fishing at the ice show in a couple weeks?

[CrappieJohn]

Tuesday might be the last hurrah at the crappie lake for a while according to the weather . The water is open there yet and mild temps early in the week will keep it that way, but after Thursday, the daytime highs are not going to fall within the comfort zone for fishing anywhere in the boat.

Daytime highs of twenty is what I thought I saw with lows at night near zero. Areas with thin ice now will benefit and those areas that shale up at night but thaw during the day should get enough chill to stay frozen.

The river will offer open water opportunities when the temps are warm enough, but since the best fishing is early and closer to the nighttime lows, shale can be a problem and simple comforts , like staying warm, get to be challenging. There really is nothing more demanding than open water boat fishing in the winter.

[Corey Bechtold]

It looks like some colder weather is going to be here soon. Just wondering who will bring the power auger out on just 2-4 inches of Ice? I have still been on the fence about a hand auger so it's power augin' for me .

Go get em',

Corey Bechtold

[DEADhead]

I'll be bringing my 8 inch strikermaster lazer. Then I don't have to worry about the leaky fuel smell while I'm fishing

seriously, I like my hand auger for early ice, or when I'm fishing metro area lakes. It's nice to shave some pounds on the sled when you can.

Plus it's nice on stream trout lakes when the fish are spooky, or on a non-motorized lake, a guy can stil ice fish (i.e. BWCAW).

[Skitterpop]

I use my strikemaster hand auger all through December, typically until the ice hits around 7-8 inches. For one thing, it saves on space in the sled. Additionally, I just find the hand style to be so much lighter to haul around and it doesn't take much time to cut through the ice (as long as the blades are sharp). Plus, you don't have to suck in fumes and bring extra gas with you. Once it is drive on the ice time then the power auger comes out. A hand auger is pretty cheap when you look at the overall ice fishing list of items. It does not hurt to kick out the $40-$60 and have one. I have also found it to be a good thing to have when the power auger is giving me fits and I don't want to go home without fishing. I have also found that if you take a kid along, they usually want to auger through the ice too so I throw them the hand auger while I run around with the Jiffy. So, what does everyone start with for bait at first ice? Is it better to start shallow (3-7') or search for the deep weed edge (12-17')?

[ivegottabite]

skitterpop, as far as starting depth goes, i believe that the weather can show you where to start. the warm weather in the fall can usually mean finding fish shallow, where as if it is a cooler fall start looking at the deeper weed edges. this is just what i have come across, others may have a different opinion. around where we are(you and i), i will be looking shallow first. hopefully next week sometime

[Corey Bechtold]

Which bait... why not try plastics? They can be a great tool to take with you on the Ice. I will usually bring along some Larvae just in case but plastics can be a great substitute.

As far as depths... Depends on what type of lake you are going to fish. I like to start looking shallow first before the weeds start to die off then slide off the breaks and see if the fish are there. Early Ice offers a great opportunity as the fish aren't seasoned and haven't had much pressure for the last few weeks/months. This is a great time to get some trophy Panfish!

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Matt Johnson]

BDR and I made it out today on a little lake just north of the Metro and landed a few pannies. Many lakes are still unsafe for walking, so be very, very cautious if venturing out on first ice right now.

Here's a few pics from today...

BDR with the first fish of the ice season

BDR pulling up a slab

Another first ice crappie

We didn't have any live-bait with us, everything was caught on plastics. Custom Jigs and Spins Size 8 Ratso's worked well. The fish were fairly aggressive, and they were definitely on the move! Schools would cruise through as fast as you could get your line down. We ended up landing several crappies and a few bluegills. BDR also hooked into something big, but broke off. We expected that a lot of pike were cruising through the area as well. Depths everywhere from 9-14 feet.

Gonna give it another try tomorrow...

[Matt Johnson]

BDR, Corey Bechtold and I made it out again this morning, but we could only muster about 2 hours of fishing before we had to get off the ice. Ice was getting rather heavy as the rain arrived and spots were beginning to open. We fished from about 8-10am. Landed a bunch of crappies and a few gills, nothing big though. I thought it was Christmas a few times ...

There were some thick schools of crappies that would cruise through, then as fast as you could pick up one or two they would leave again. Pike all over in this lake, and they are just following the pods of pannies. Again, no live-bait, only plastics. Custom Jigs and Spins Size 8 Ratso's worked for me again today.

This rain and warm spell should put a wrap on the ice fishing for a little while. Soon enough though, we'll be back on hard water.

Here's a shot of BDR and Corey Bechtold working over a pod of pannies...

We'll see some more cold weather here in the near future, looks like highs in the 20s is right around the corner...

[Corey Bechtold]

Yep, it was unfortunate that the Ice had to start thinning while we tried to fish. It was still fun to get out there and see what rods need to get setup differently and what gear needs to get loaded in the bag. Hopefully we get that colder weather to get us some more fishable Ice.

Later,

Corey Bechtold

[ivegottabite]

Matt, I knew it wouldn't be long before you would be out on the ice. Glad to see you got some good action in. I can't wait to find some ice around Detroit Lakes to fish soon.

[BDR]

It was good to get out. I had pretty decent fishing with a JR's moonglow with half of a white northland screwtail added.

P.S. if you do get out on early ice Be Safe and don't go alone. Conditions were changing very fast out there and as soon as I started feeling uneasy it was time to go.

[delmuts]

here in N.E. iowa we had enough rain to taek care of any ice we may of had, so i go tto open water fish ! onlu could catch some gils, but had a good time til teh rain moved back in.was using a #10 white and a #8 char. shrimpo body on a 1/80 jig.

[Corey Bechtold]

Hey everyone, I made it out today to chase some Panfish through the Ice... Success!!! Didn't take long to find the Crappies as they were suspended over 30-40 feet of water. Horizontal baits tipped with plastics worked best. Good thing because finding larvae in the bait shop were non-existent. Tried waxies to no avail. Seemed that the fish wanted small and slow. Just like the Crappies do, they were taking the weight off the bait and holding.

Man, what a start to the Ice fishing season!

Hope to have a report again soon along with some pictures.

Good fishin,

Corey Bechtold

[Matt Johnson]

Corey,

You have to put a post like that up while you know I'm sitting inside all weekend at the Ice Show

Cruel... just plain cruel...

[ivegottabite]

Is this common for crappies to be that deep during early ice? I would have thought shallow and maybe around some weeds would do the ticket. I am looking to get out tomorrow and don't know if I should start shallow or deep now

[fishin4life90]

hey Matt what lake were you on?have you ever fished silver lake in new brighton with the old salvation army camp on it?

[CrappieJohn]

Ive....

Oh yes, you can find the silver sides over that deep stuff now. When the lid closes up and their world quiets down, the schools of small baitfish will get tighter and hang over deep water where large pockets of micro plankton are beginning to show up heavily. This will draw the usually-nice-sized-crappies. While this generally is something that happens in lakes where weeds are minimal, it can also take place in lakes where light/cold sensitive weeds dies off very early and the beds no longer provide what the baitfish and food organisms required to hold the crappies. The die-hard sunfish might be found gripping to these spots if the weeds, although dead and brown, are still standing enough to offer protection from predator fish. Crappies will, however, move away from these areas seeking out water with better oxygen concentrations and holding the food stores.