report ahead of cold front

[Early Riser]

I have been out spearing the last two mornings. Today I had what I wanted to finish off another batch of pickles by 8:50 AM, plus a few fillets for eating tonight. I watched several low to mid 30s fish in the hole yesterday, which are still swimming. Lots of fish moving around ahead of this system. In the last two days I have also seen 3 carp, several bullhead, 4 or 5 big bass, and many sunfish, which have been seen scattering ahead of the pike coming in.

About half of the pike have headed for the wood decoy (red/white)and half for a live sucker. No crushing hits on either but they are interested, and seem to be running a bit better the last 2 weeks than they were 3 weeks ago.

Another reason I love spearing is seeing a big fish come in high that lights up the hole. One of the big ones I saw yesterday was a vibrant light green, had big pure white markings, and a very fat body that bulged out right behind the pectoral fins making her head seem relatively small; an absolutely beautiful fish. Another big one came head on turned out at the last minute and then came in slow accross the hole from east to west within a minute or so of leaving the first time. You gotta love how they are able to move in the water.

I would like to be able to post some picture as soon as I can get my hands on a digital camera, although visial images in the mind's eye are usually more vivid. Has anyone else been out and seen some interesting things lately? I am sure many of us enjoy hearing about what you guys are experiencing out there.

[cherokee]

Well I snuck out this morning ahead of the front. Didn't see anything. Boy around 11:00 the front came thru like a hurricane.

[shamalex72]

I went out for a while too, only saw one smaller one.

It was actually pretty nice right away this morning, then this happened:

The canvas usually sags a little on my house, not today. Oh, and by the way, if you didn't notice, the ice is starting to get a little thick

[Dabignorski]

yeah today i went out and wasn't seeing too much startin out in the morning then right around 945 10 oclock the pike were coming one almost every 5 minutes or so i counted about 16 or so northerns that came in counting one that was probably pusing 12 pounds or more and just a couple seconds after that one left about an 8 pounder came in right behind neither were pulled up but today was def. my best day out spearing so far

[Early Riser]

I love that picture of your house with the snow and big block of ice sitting outside.

When I left the lake this morning at a little after 9AM it was snowing and the wind had just started to come in from the NW. It was very light from the SW when I was cutting my hole at 6:45AM. Once the wind started the temperature dropped from 26f to 12f within a short time. I love being out during any weather, but changes of this magnitude are really awesome to experience if you are prepared for it. One benefit of the thick ice is being able to park the pickup right along side the house for easy loading!

[Early Riser]

Dabignorski that sounds like a very good day you had! I have seen a lot of fish the last two days = but 16 in one day is a lot of action. You must be in a great spot.

[Dabignorski]

yea we have had some pretty good luck on the area of the lake we've been on some days we'll see 13 come in but it seems some days they are movin and somedays they sit pretty tight

[merkman]

I had a real spaz northern in the hole today. It was only about 15~20 inches long hitting a 10~12 inch live decoy. He came up real slow then paused and hit the decoy hard. He stood on his head with the live decoy in his mouth shaking back and forth going round and round the line, spit it out and made a short loop and hit it again, shook it 3 or 4 times then spit it out again. Then he took off and came back from under the decoy and just hammered it again. This poor guy was trying his hardest with this live decoy. He spit it out for the 3rd time and the live decoy just swam away on the line like nothing happened. lol

[bassNspear]

nice bud,

looks like you had a great time out there. I was at the boat show all weekend, so i was gone working, and not on the ice. Did anyone else take the chance and get out

[Fish&Fowl]

I was planning on getting out, but since we hit a record -40 at 7:00 this morning I decided to hang around the house where it didn't hurt to breathe!

[bassNspear]

ya, i dont think there was alot of people that got out. I was at the boat show, so i didnt go out at all.