Who's fishing now?

[ESSGuy]

My last weekend on the ice. We have about 3inches of water on ice outside the house. Have caught 1 14" and a season best 25" walter at 840 pm.

[TProGuy]

Is there standing water all over on the ice, or just in certain areas?  I was planning to head up tomorrow morning to spend the day on the lake with one of my kids, so just wondering what we should expect.  Thanks!

[papermouth]

Speaking of chasing I fish pros, hit this hog in the shallow rocks chasing eyes. 40" on the nuts. Also have landed 12 eyes but biggest being 20.5

[ESSGuy]

The ice is fine. I have a lot of standing water because my house is dark color. Come up and enjoy this weather. Ice is 24-30".a little snow left out on ice.

Edited February 19, 2017 by ESSGuy

[wookiemofo]

Out on the north end. 8", 15" and a 24" over night. I've lost about 8 so far off rattles. Not sure if I'm not getting a good hookset or what. I've tried horsing them in and babying... headshakes are dislodging the hooks.

 

any advise? I'd have 12 on the board had I not missed any!

[Stick in Mud]

How big are the hooks you're using, wookie?   Make sure they're big enough, especially if you're using big minnows. 

 

I also use heavier line than most people (10 lb flouro) on our rattle reels so I can set the hook with a bit of gusto without worrying about breaking off.  I might get a few less bites than my friends using 4 lb or 6 lb test, but in the long run I bet we both get the same number of fish on the ice. 

[wookiemofo]

18 hours ago, Stick in Mud said:

How big are the hooks you're using, wookie?   Make sure they're big enough, especially if you're using big minnows. 

 

I also use heavier line than most people (10 lb flouro) on our rattle reels so I can set the hook with a bit of gusto without worrying about breaking off.  I might get a few less bites than my friends using 4 lb or 6 lb test, but in the long run I bet we both get the same number of fish on the ice. 

 

Good question, I'd have to go look. Probably could have sized up. Overall we netted out pretty good though. We ended up with a 15, 16, 22, 23, 23, 24 and a 25.5 over the course of two nights.

 

Pretty fun trip and one hell of a way to almost end the season.

[Fathom]

Meant to post our results from last weekend didn't keep a detailed report after the first night but we managed to catch a few fish each morning and each night, nothing after 10pm though. We started in 10' the first night and moved to 15-16" the rest of the weekend. On Saturday my buddies house caught a 29" and 27" before 8am also missed another decent one they were using shiners 

my wife and I stayed Sunday night and she missed a really nice one before she landed a 21" to cap off our weekend we only had fatheads and rainbows

 

Overall had a great time and even tried fishing for ducks which was a great event put on. The Bloody Mary with a pork chip saved my day!

[Rick]

Anyone out ice fishing the bays?

[Sculpin]

There are a few porty's starting to show up in the bays on the south side, although there is still a good deal of open water on the main lake. There were two houses out on Waukon bay yesterday, and an ATV and a small hard side spear shack in Cove bay, and one house in Isle Bay.  I would imagine by the weekend, there will be significant foot traffic in the bays. Bear in mind you can't fish walleyes until Dec. 1st, but you can be perchin or pike fishing and, and still be catching those pesky "incidental" fish.

Good luck, and use extreme caution