Heaven....I'm In Heaven.....First Ice Baby!!!

[Mr.Bluegill]

Not much ice out there as I drilled a couple of holes only to have a gush of water come right back at me. Ice was quite thinner that I expected. However I did manage to find a couple of places with 2 - 2.5 inches. It will be gone though come next week. Rain and 50's are forecasted for the middle of the week...Oh well first ice usally comes once a year, this year we may get it twice!!!

Mr.Bluegill

[Matt Johnson]

Nice job Troy! Looks like you got on some gills! Any pigs? See any monster largies?

[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...

[Tyler D]

got out today for the first time near brainerd, and there was much more ice than I expected. The lake I was fishing had 5 inches, however the two other lakes I could see from that lake were still both wide open. nothing spectacular, caught five crappies, two that went 13" and released three that went about 9". only going to get better as the bigger lakes freeze.

[Jim Hudson]

Cool, glad you guys got out!! Hopefully in the morning, I will be able to actually get out a fish a little longer then the other day... And I hope the RAIN stays away...

Nice pictures Matt!!

[Mr.Bluegill]

Matt,

I am usually the first guy to drill a hole in our area as well as the first guy and the last guy to get wet.

The spots I wanted to fish did not have enough ice...(where the big girls are) so I tried some new water close by. I dont think I had anything under 8" and the biggest was 9.5". I couldnt find anything bigger than that. Oh well it was nice to get out and they wil taste quite fine tonight for dinner. The new LX-5 was unbelievable!!! I shot some video of it and will try to get it up later today. It's hard to show exactly waht it looks like on camera but you should be able to get a pretty good idea of how it looks. Saturday was even better yet with all fish over 8.5" and one fish at the 10" mark barely. It was awesome. Now we have rain coming down in sheets and our ice is almost gone. Like I said earlier, we will get first ice twice this year!! Another cool thing about not having ice is I wont be upset when I have to come over to the ice show this weekend! See you guys there...Look me up at the Nils and Marcum Booths. I will be taking care of the Nils booth all by my lonesome so come visit for awhile and talk fishing with me!

Mr.Bluegill

[Eric Wettschreck]

Matt, that little lake just north of the Metro, would that per chance be Island Lake?

[Matt Johnson]

Sounds good Troy, I'll stop by and chat a while with you this weekend at the Ice Show.

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...

[outdoor ran]

nice pics Matt, sure gets me excited for ice fishing

[riverrat56]

Im jealous man, I've got the fever to get back on the ice, looking good for temps after monday, hopefully this time next week im telling everyone about my first weekend on the ice.....

[Captain B.R.K]

Matt- just rub it in a little more Nice pictures and thanks for giving us we FMer's are holding onto with seeing ice on area lakes in the near future!!

Sure hope there are some options next weekend and FOR sure by the 2nd weekend of December.

[czl99]

Got out on the ice for the first time of the season. Fished a couple of small farm ponds in the Cannon Falls area. I was marking them on the vexilar but I couldnt get them to bite. There was 2-2 1/2 inches of ice on both of the ponds. Me and my friend both had ice picks and life jackets on just in case anything were to happen. Hopefully will be able to get out later in the week when the temps cool down a bit more and start making ice again. Is there anybody that fishes around the Cannon Falls area?

[Bob Horn]

It looks like I will go to the St. Paul show one day and fish a couple more. Nice picks guys. How about a little more red on the Marcum.