Ice Fishing
 

Been ice fishing for a couple weeks now. Been a slow bite so far but things should pick up soon as more ice sets up. I have some spots where I could use my wheeler but still waiting for parts for my injured truck (hit a deer) and the rental doesn't have a hitch to tow a trailer. Getting some decent yellow perch and had one 2 days ago that weighed 1.25 pounds. Luckily we don't have much snow on the ice so pulling a sled isn't bad but it would certainly be easier on my ATV.

Had a better day after a long walk out to a spot I saved from last year on my Fish Smart app by Humminbird. The bite started slow and I picked a few smallish yellow perch. I switched lures (we call them bibbits here) and made the drop in 12 FOW. The bibbit hit bottom and I lifted it up about 6 inches and felt a strong bite and then pulled up a 12 inch perch that weighed 3/4 of a pound. The school was under me and I pulled up a nice perch on every drop. The bibbits are basically a painted piece of lead embedded with a hook. There is no bait used and the hook doesn't have a barb so when you pull up the perch and dunk it in a bucket or on the ice it usually comes off the hook which eliminates handing the fish. You can cycle through pretty rapidly and pull up several fish in a minute. The school was large fish and after a couple hours I had filled all 3 of my pails and decided it was time to quit. I had several fish that were over a pound and ended up with somewhere around 120 pounds of nice yellow perch. My fish broker will be happy.

I picked some new Tip Downs for my crappie/ walleye trips. Made by Sullivan. I do like the lighted clear tube.
And im researching Bluetipz. A bluetooth device that tells you fish on.

JW

Sounds high tech Dave....
21 below wind chill today so I stayed home but plan to hit it again tomorrow.

lol

Ha i never do anything simple anymore.
15 below this morning but is in the high teens now.
Ill write a review on those Bluetipz

My Blue TipZ where just delivered. I can't wait to hit the ice now.
It is a Bluetooth transmitter that attaches to you tip up flag just like a night light.
When a flag goes up or a rod tip goes down because of a fish bite it sends a signal to your phone alerting you of a bite! Each tip up will be numbered. Each device has its own ringtone played on your phone.And it also has a flashing light when activated!
Now to test them out.
The phone App was free on Playstore

JW

When my fish bites I feel it, set the hook and reel it up. No bells and whistles...lol

Do you fish multiple lines?
Beer in one hand rod in the other but i gotta cover the 2 sets i have out.
or the cribbage game is fast and furious while hunkered down in the central hut!

JW

No hut even though I do own a clam pop up. I like the freedom of being outside. I fish 1 line with 1 lure and move until I find fish. I target pan fish commercially and fish most days. Today wasn't going to happen with winds at 23 MPH and temps in the 10 to 15 range. Right now I am going for yellow perch but often especially later in the season the gills sunnies and crappie are my targets. I use a custom 30 inch CP2 big eyed rod rod with a Pflueger 30 series presidential reel and 6 pound Trilene sensation in solar for the perch. My flat fish rods are 30 inch HT blue ultra lite with a direct wind reel loaded with 4 pound Trilene sensation in solar. Perch lures are always those bibbits I talked about and I use rockers, demons and a few other small jigs tipped with maggots for the flat fish. I have a 6" fin bore auger powered by a Dewalt cordless hammer drill. I use 7 gallon buckets with a seat to sit on and carry fish all towed in an big otter sled. A decent day for me is 100 pounds on both perch and flat fish. I get around on a 750 Suzuki King Quad with power steering with chains on the rear wheels. My ice suit is a floating outfit made by Striker and my boots are muck Arctic pros with Kahtoola micro spikes for traction. Our season here usually starts the week before Christmas and lasts until ice out which usually happens around the first of April. Some of the best fishing is later in the season. I don't target larger fish but do catch a fair amount of bass and northern pike when fishing for flat fish in the weedy back bays. The perch are often in the broad lake and an occasional lake trout or lake white fish will show up as unintended catch. My house is on the broad lake side and so far it has not frozen but as soon as it sets up I'll be walking out there for some good large perch bites.

I've been out a couple of times this year. Nothing too exciting yet. It will pick up when I get my truck fixed.

I'm in a Stryker too. Request of my kids.

Jw

Getting my truck back tomorrow...finally. Now I can tow my wheeler and access the further hot spots.

Got my truck back so I can now take my wheeler. It has been very cold with wind chill in the minus 10 to 30 range so I havent fished in a few days. The lake in my backyard just froze so I might be able to get out in a day or two. Always get some slab yellow perch close to shore along my beach. Must be some fish there because I just saw 2 otters running over the new ice. Cool critters and it was fun watching them run and then slide on the smooth ice.

Say Frank
im sening a PM?

D

Got it Dave

I always figured water is for fishing and ice is for whisky!:biggrin::biggrin:

Well whiskey on ice as i sit and watch my big screen underwater camera and jigfish with the other hand is rather relaxing.
Until the crsppie bite hits. Then rhe warmer upper gets put down as manning a jig pole and 2 rattle wheels can be a chinese fire drill!

Then when the bite is over go warm up the UTV. Oh and turn on the GPS so i can find shore.
Then into the garage. Minnows in my tank. Fish filleted and packed away. And equipment dried out for tomorrows adventure.

JW

I had a pretty good day JW even though it was -11 this morning. I took my wheeler about 3 miles off shore and fished a channel between 2 large Islands here on Champlain. The perch were biting and I ended up filling 2 seven gallon buckets with some decent fish. We have over a foot of ice everywhere so I was free to try a couple of spots. I don't know if you have any lake maps but if you load fish smart by Humminbird on your smart phone and then buy the lake maps where you fish you will be amazed. You can save way points and the depth charts are accurate and very detailed. I could bring up the map and target a saved way point and drive right to it with my wheeler.

I am about to enter the new world of fishing as I'm upgrading to a Helix 9 ice bundle. A solex 12 on my boat and Minnkota spotlock this summer.

I've been using Garmin Map 378 for yrs. Ice fishing. Built in lake maps. I always mark my found hotspots.

Sounds like a great game plan JW. The spot lock trolling motor is a real game changer. I went that way last spring and it is amazing. No more stuck anchors and it allows you to fish on days the wind wouldn't allow holding a traditional anchor. The solix is a great finder.

We got a big dump of snow. That always kills the bite and makes getting around much more difficult.

I had a fun day and caught around 60 pounds of large yellow perch for my fish broker and caught a nice Lake Whitefish which was around 6 pounds. I invited her for supper...lol

Got another 60 pounds of perch and another Lake Whitefish. This one was about 5 pounds.

Another good day with 50 pounds of large yellow perch and 2 nice 5 to 6 pound Lake Whitefish.

Just curios C I , how much do you get for these fish ? I've read up a little bit on this and saw anywhere from 2- 5 dollars a pound to the fish broker and 10-15 dollars a pound at the fish market . I've read that the local restaurants serve them as the premier fish dish in the summer . I laugh thing of the gazilions of perch we used to catch as kids both ice fishing and in the summer that we always threw back because nobody wanted to clean them . Oh and sunfish and bluegills were considered junk fish . Now I see lots of guys targeting them because they are delicious !

This must be a local thing around the big lakes in VT and New York . I have never see any of them on the menu or in a market around here in southern New Hampshire

PM sent to you

Well we still have ice but the shore is shot. I'm calling it a season. I keep records and this end date is earlier than the average from the last 10 years that I have kept records. I could have planked on but was alone and decided it wasn't worth it.

Our lakes are just starting to freeze over

Rifle deer season is done for me and I filled my tag with a tasty 6 point. Season ends in a week then an off week before the 9 day muzzleloader season starts. Back bays should be frozen by then so it will be ice fishing until hopefully April.

Had some smoke on the water this morning. Air Temps way colder than the lake. I'll be ice fishing soon.

Got limited ice on the north end of the lake near Canada. Will check it out in a day or two.

I had my first day out on Northern Lake Champlain. The bite was slow and fish ran small. I was targeting yellow perch and was fishing on a small patch of ice that always freezes early. I was wearing my flotation Striker Climate ice suit and all my equipment worked well. The small amount of ice limited my ability to explore and look for a better bite. I ended up with a partial bucket of fish. Raining right now and a windy day ahead so I'll be not fishing again until the holidays are over.

Sounds like a good plan. Enjoy the family time.

You should have good ice after the holidays it's looking like. Hit it hard then.

Cold right now. Lost power for a day and a half. Was a cold night I can tell you that. I guess they are finding multiple dead frozen bodies over in Buffalo NY.
I now have a backup generator for the next time. Lol