The Old Man and the Ice

My friend and fellow DuPage Angler Dan "Pondboy" Byrne was born in January.  Every January on or near the anniversary of his birth he takes the day off work and goes ice fishing all day long.  I've had the pleasure of taking off work along with Dan and joining him for his day-long ice fishing extravaganza the last two years and this year I made it three.

I was joined in my ice fishing birthday well-wishing by two other DuPage Anglers; Ted "Soonerbass" Yates and Chunsum "JC1Crappies" Choi.  We met Dan at 6:30 in the morning to start out on our day with the Old Man and the Ice!

By now you've probably guessed who the Old Man is and this Old Man recorded a not at all candid but very cool video of me drilling or more technically "shaving" a hole in 6-8" ice.  I'm partial to the slow motion water that comes up with the auger once the hole is cut.  Isn't cell-phone video cool!

Back to fishing now. I made some holes and the four of us ran around dropping lures and electronics down into the holes to try to find fish and where they were holding.

Chunsum caught first and got a nice gill topside for a picture.  His electronics didn't show any other fish in the area and he soon moved from this hole.

Ted and I got a double.  His largemouth bass and my bluegill bit at the same time and came up for photos.  No evidence of schooling bluegills or fish of any kind evident in either of our holes meant we both moved on like Chunsum had.

Ted's new hole yielded a crappie....and nothing else.  The fish are very spread out and we were working to find a pattern to the bites.  I took this picture of Ted and his crappie then picked up my flasher and rod and headed to one of the first holes I'd drilled.

Ooooo...a mark came in from the bottom to check out the jig and wax worm I'd just dropped down the hole.  This mark was different from the bluegill I'd caught earlier.  It was bigger.  It took my jig and I felt mushy-weight on my rod.  I set the hook.

My rod bent down quickly like it was iron and the hole was a magnet. Big head-shakes, decent runs. I monitored my drag and held on to the rod. Dan asked me if I needed any help.  I asked him to get my flasher's transducer out of the hole.  He did one better. He got down on the ice and watched and waited for a glimpse of the fish and the chance to help land it. 

The big mark was a nice largemouth bass! I love catching all species but I always enjoy catching bass through the ice.  Usually I'm not targeting them so they are a fun diversion from smaller panfish. On top of that they're a hoot to catch on very light tackle!

After releasing this bass the bite stopped.  We made more holes and caught no more fish.  The decision was made to pack up and have lunch. While we ate lunch at a local burger joint it was decided to make the short trip to a pond Dan grew up fishing.  Someplace we could get on schooling fish and find a more consistent bite. 

Ted had to leave us here so Dan, Chunsum, and I went to the pond.  Dan and I figured out where we wanted to set my shelter up and got settled in to start catching fish.  The crappie, bluegill, and bass we'd catch here were smaller than the private pond but more consistent of a bite.  We ended up catching another 20-30 fish before we decided to pack it in and head home. 

We all had a great day fishing.  Tomorrow we would all return to the 9-5 existence but tonight Dan would get to enjoy the rest of his day with his family.  Fish were caught, anniversaries celebrated, and friendships strengthened.  

Happy Birthday Dan!  I look forward to the end of January 2016 when I'll take a day off work and join you and probably other avid ice anglers in the celebration of your birth the only fitting way we can; by drilling holes in the ice and jigging up fish.

New Pond, Familiar Lake

There are stories passed down between fishermen when they meet as acquaintances.  Most involve tales of how big the fish were or the quantity caught the last time the angler was fishing. Once there is trust established by this conversation the "sharing of the spots" sometimes occurs. I was fishing the ice on a lake I fished a lot last year.  I had things figured out so I could find the crappies I so love to catch last year so when we didn't have early winter and didn't have the extreme cold, and snow the fish weren't in the same places as they were last year.  

The story that got me to even try this new body of water was due to the expert words shared by a fisherman that his buddy's friend said if I walk x-number of paces off this landmark on the shore of this new pond nearby I'd find a 17-foot hole full of crappies. Hmmmmm....the buddy's friend says, huh.....well what the heck.  I took the week off to ice fish and relax.  So fish on this stranger's-buddy's, friend's, recommendation I shall!

This week has been pretty warm; in the 40s during the day and around or just below freezing at night.  I was happy to see I had "that many" inches of ice.  (1" increments were etched in my old hole-scoop; it broke)  I'd guess that's at least 6-7" which is plenty safe even in the warmer temperatures.  Now to drill holes based on the coordinates provided by...well, you've been reading.  You may be guessing how this will go.

I drilled more than 40 holes in this new pond.  I drilled near the landmark, set number of paces off the landmark, deep into two lobes where the pond juts off in directions; basically all over the pond.  I didn't catch my target species but I did get to increment my species caught and species caught through the ice by one.  Please welcome the Yellow Bass to the number of species I have caught freshwater fishing in my lifetime.

While pretty, the Yellows were also kind of tiny.  They did fight well for their size but after two hours, 40+ holes, and only two Yellows to show for my morning I decided to cut my losses and fish the nearby familiar lake where I'd learned about this little gem of a pond.  (can you feel the sarcasm?)

I traveled light to this lake.  It was warm and from what I learned the other day fishing I would need to be mobile and it was too warm for me to be stuck in my shelter.  My ultra-light custom ice rod, my fishing bucket that held my flasher, auger battery, jigs, larvae, and plastics, and my ION auger all were placed in my small Otter sled.

I found I could kick my holes open from the other day.  That will save me time.  I found my holes over five feet of water and dropped in a jig tipped with a waxie.

Bam!  I got a quick hit on my first drop.  A nice perch came up for a photo.  I wonder if...

Well, fish do school and look at that.  More than one nice perch from the same hole.  I wonder if I can do it again.  Nope.

I jigged up a crappie!  One of my favorites!  I wonder if there's anything else down this hole. There wasn't.  I had to go fish another hole; several actually.  What did I find in those holes?

A few hours of catching and I had my fix for the day.  I caught fish on both live maggots and artificial plastics.  I switched from live bait after I started catching more small bluegills than anything else.  The plastic I fished was the Trigger-X Moustache Worm.  It's like fishing a stick-worm wacky-style in concept; in practice it probably resembles some kind of bug.  The fact that the two, wispy tails cause the bait to sit horizontally makes it a large target. Most fish will think twice about the size of their mouths before attempting to tackle this bait and that was the idea.

Now while I don't recommend following every recommendation a stranger's-buddy's, friend makes regarding life choices fishing is another thing entirely.  All it took was the suggestion that this new pond held fish to push me over the edge to fish it.  I had been "Google Maps scouting" the pond for a while now.  I would have fished the new pond eventually but it took a recommendation from a strangers-buddy's, friend and now that I've fished it I doubt I'll fish it again.

As for the Familiar Lake, I'll be back always looking for for more fun catching. More fun fishing, and more species diversity.  All fish got to swim away with nothing more than a cool lip-piercing and photo to show for their topside visit.  

I never did find that "crappie hole" as described by a guy I didn't know.  I didn't suspect I would.  I had to fish the New Pond for the same reason people climb mountains; because they are there, because they pose a challenge, a puzzle to unlock. I had to return to the Familiar Lake for the same reason.....and because there are fish in that lake.  Catching fish is ALWAYS more fun then searching for fish!

2015 First Time On Ice

ICE!!!  We finally have ice!!!

Living in northern Illinois I often watch ice reports from North Dakota and Minnesota.  Those are the first states I see ice reports from.  I start to get excited when Wisconsin and Iowa have ice thick enough to fish.  I wait semi-patiently while weather gets cold, skim-ice starts to appear on ponds and lakes, my fellow ice anglers and I turn into weathermen as we watch extended forecasts waiting for the water to get thick enough for us to feel comfortable walking out on the water.  This year we had a few weeks of cold, then warm, then cold, then warm, then frigid, then finally frozen!

This past Saturday was my first opportunity to get out and ice fish.  My friend Alan was just as excited as I was and we met shortly before sun-up to take our first steps into the 2015 ice season.

I started drilling holes; the first to test ice thickness which was 7-10", the rest to find weed edges, and the depth transitions I knew should hold fish.  Alan followed with my Vexilar flashing depths and checking for fish activity.   As often happens to the person following the hole-driller Alan hooked up with his first fish of 2015!

Ok, a little underwhelming but the skunk was off Alan.  I kept drilling holes with my ION until I heard Alan say, "Hey, a big mark is chasing my jig."  Yeah it was!!  Alan set the hook when he felt a mushy sensation and was rewarded by his straight line reel handle spinning backwards and whapping his palm several times before he could use his hand as drag. With pressure on the line the fish knew it was hooked and began to massively bend Alan's panfish rod toward the hole.  After five minutes of back and forth Alan turned the fish and got its head up the hole.

Alan seriously upgraded on his second fish for 2015!  A very nice largemouth bass with a tiny, perch-pattern Fiskas jig tightly embedded in its upper lip.

We decided to set up my shelter over this hole for the obvious reason being held by Alan above. We were sitting on top of 7-8' of water right off a transition down from 5'.  It didn't take long before I was able to jig up my first fish of 2015 using a small Salmo Chubby Darter lure.

While it isn't a huge crappie I'm glad my first fish of 2015 was a nice chunk of a speck.  I enjoy catching the wily crappie and I released this pretty example back to the cold water to swim, eat, and spawn.  

It turned out this would be the only fish I caught my first outing of 2015. Alan started moving around a bit bouncing from hole to hole outside the shelter when he hollered for me to come check out what he caught.

Alan hooked into a very nice perch!  There is probably a good reason the perch-pattern jig caught the nice largemouth bass earlier today.  This perch was also released to eat, spawn, and grow.  I feel it's the right thing to do in small, un-managed lakes and ponds and so does Alan.

The sun was high in the sky, the ice surface was getting sloppy, and frankly I was tired.  We called it a day around one o'clock.  It was a great day getting out on the hard water!  Alan had a fantastic day of catching and while I only caught one crappie it was enough to get my skunk off as well as give me a taste of ice fishing again.  It had been too long since I last walked on water to do one of the things I enjoy most.  I'll be sure to get out again soon.

Snowy Saturday Crappies

I was up late Friday night so I didn't want to be up at the crack of dawn to go fishing on Saturday. The weather was supposed to be cold until early afternoon when we could expect warmer temperatures in the 20s and a forecasted 1-4 inches of snow. I packed up slowly and took my time getting to the lake I was planning on fishing today.  Maybe I took a little too much time.

I hadn't been parked long before my windshield was completely covered by big, fluffy snowflakes. I knew the slog from my car to the area I knew to be productive would be hindered by the snow. The deeper it gets the harder it is to drag a sled along behind you.  I'm 6'2".  I mention that to show what I was walking through for the first 50 yards pulling my Frabill Trekker Max shelter.

Those are my knees.  I have a strap tied to the rope for pulling the shelter.  I take this strap and loop it around my waist.  Then I walk until I need to stop to take a breather.  I finally got to an area I figured was in the basin I've identified as good multi-species area. I drilled holes and walked around flashing, looking for fish and a drop off. I drilled a bunch of holes and my depth stayed around seven feet.  I carried a new rod with me; a Frabill Straight-Line combo.  I found one hole with bottom activity.  I dropped the dark Bentley jig down to the level of the commotion on my flasher.  The commotion came up and ate my jig.  What would the commotion be?

Snow courtesy of Google Auto Awesome

It was a crappie!  I love catching crappies!  They are a fish with plenty of personality that hit minnows differently than they hit jigs, than they hit spoons, than they hit Darters and Zippers.  I decided to set up my shelter here.  At least there was one crappie here.  There is almost never only one crappie in an area as they are schooling fish.  I hadn't been in my shelter very long when I found another crappie.  

Then another...

The perch pattern Clam tungsten jig seemed to be the ticket for the crappies today.  The ticket to a 12"+ crappie for me!

I know, I need to get a bump-board to measure fish on before the Kayak Wars season starts up. For now I measure crappie against objects in my ice equipment. See the crappie overflowing the corner-to-corner hold.  The corner-to-corner measurement is 12".  The side to side measurement is 10.75".  That is important to remember after I change jigs.  That happens right about now.

That's an 11" crappie!  I changed to a big glow-in-the-dark Clam tungsten jig with red eyes and accents, tipped with a red maggie and red spikes for extra flavor.  It worked! Drop the jig to the bottom, whap it against the bottom a few times, then raise up a foot or two and watch the crappie zoom in and whack the jig.  I lost a few at the hole that I swear were larger than the 12" but they didn't stay stuck to the jig so I can't prove it.

I caught several more crappie, lost several more, finally what made me decide to stop fishing was I melted my 2# ice line with my heater and the jig dropped off behind it. 

The snow was still falling.  I had to shake it off my shelter as I packed it up.  I had readied my body for the long walk through deep snow back to my car and I still made several stops along the way to catch my breath. The shelter slides easily over ice but snow is a whole other matter.

The ice is good and thick and should stay that way for several more trips out on top of the lakes and ponds.  I hope the ice stays and the snow goes.  I don't mind fishing in the snow but it sure makes it hard to drag my creature comforts with me.  It's those comforts that make it nice to catch Snowy Saturday Crappies.

Ice Fishing the Polar Vortex

Today I took a personal day off work.  The intention was to go out ice fishing all day with Pondboy to celebrate his birthday. The weather made us both decide to call off our usual 5 AM start time in favor of not fishing in negative temperatures.

2 PM:  I finished the tasks I needed to accomplish.  What to do....oh, I know you guessed it already.  I got suited up to Ice Fish the Polar Vortex: 

• Good quality wool socks
• chemical warming pack one in each sock
• Long underwear
• Undershirt
• Fleece-lined jeans
• Long sleeved quilted Henley
• Columbia Winter Coat
• Clam Ice Armor ice suit
• Gore-Tex boots
• Kahtoola Micro Spikes

Here's a tip.  Open a chemical warming pack when you are unloading your car.  Put one warmer in each glove.  This way you can put the glove on so the warmer is on the back of your hand. This keeps your fingers as warm as they can be in the frigid temperatures.  It has the side benefit of surprising you with warm gloves when you put them back on after time spent fishing in your shelter.

I unloaded quickly since Pondboy had beaten me to the spot and had already called me once with a list of reasons we shouldn't fish, number one being the cold to come.  I don't have the years of experience on the ice that Pondboy does.  He has forgotten more about fishing than I may ever know, that's what makes him a great guide.  What he doesn't have is the little voice in my head that works out solutions to the problems presented by the weather.  

The strong winds blew all the snow off the ice?  Make snow with my 8" ION Auger to pack the shelters in and keep the elements out.  

The temperatures are supposed to drop!  I have a Buddy-Heater that works on small propane tanks.  I'm set up to fish comfortably in most any condition.

Fish may not bite, it's too cold.

They may not bite.........but I'm glad they did!

Happy Birthday Dan!  I'm glad I got you out to fish with me.  I'm sorry I didn't listen to you and leave when it was only -5 out.  I waited until dark and it was -9 when I hauled my gear to my car.  I got it all to the car but ran to the door and cranked the heat.  ANY exposed skin was unhappy about having been out in the cold!

I got less frigid, packed up my gear, and headed home. My feet never got warm the whole way home.  I think my boots were still cold the next morning but I had fun.

I don't know about you, but I know I can say that I Ice Fished the Polar Vortex of 1/27/2014.

Desperately Seeking Bass

I was off work this MLK Day.  I received a tip about an ice fishable pond that was reported to have nice size bass.  I enjoy catching bass and any chance to target a different species is welcome. Not that I mind catching bluegills mind you but today I was seeking bass.

I arrived at the pond and it was exactly as it had been described. A non-descript retention pond like many others I've fished on hard water.  I normally haul my Frabill shelter around with me but I checked the weather before I left the house.  We were supposed to have at least 32 degrees and no wind to speak of.  That made it comfortable to fish light; run and gun style with a sled and no shelter.

Time for bass!  I dragged my sled behind me and walked down to the ice's surface.  My battery jacked in to my ION auger I drill three test holes and check bottom depth with my Vexilar. 9'5", 10', and 9'5".  I was looking for a depth transition and I didn't find one.  I looked for fish on my flasher but none were there.  Only one thing to do, drill more holes. I walked the length of the pond drilling a hole every ten to fifteen paces. Next I followed up with my flasher.  Depths stayed about 10' and all my holes were fishless.  All but one.  Jigging a Fiskas Tungsten jig tipped with two wax worms in this hole made the bottom get thick with fish, well-up, chase my jig and tap, TAP.

I like bluegill but I was hoping for bass.  Still bluegill are fun and this is a magic hole.  It has fish while all others like it didn't.  I put on a red Aurora Lure Company Maggie plastic waxworm and two white spikes above the Maggie for the meat smell.

You can barely see it in the above picture.  The red inside the bluegill's mouth is the Aurora Lure Company Maggie.  I use Maggies in two ways. Either as a complete maggot replacement or as a tool to extend the usefulness of my maggots.  Only the larger bluegill can get the whole jig in their mouth and the whole red and white package should tempt any bass of any size to take a look and perhaps a taste.

More fish fall to the Maggie!  No bass I'm noticing.  So continue my search and to prove the hole was magic I drilled holes all over the rest of the pond and moved my flasher from place to place.  I jigged up two bluegills in the rest of the pond and those two bluegills were the only marks I saw on my sonar at all.  I decided to call off my search.  I knew where my magic hole was and I went right back to sit in front of it.  

The sun shone down and kept me warm and the bluegill magically appeared, chased my jig, and went tap, TAP before the hook sets through the lip and another non-bass comes up for a look around on the dry side of the water.  Each bluegill was released to swim another day. 

Eventually my fingerless glove got wet from handling fish.  Wet gloves mean cold hands and sure enough I was ready to leave in little time.  I just turned off my flasher so I wouldn't be tempted to drop just one more jig and catch just one more fish.

I pulled at least 30 bluegill through that one hole.  Any day I can do that I'd call a good day!  I was wanting to catch bass but catching is catching and I had a good day out on the ice.

Shabbona - The Day of 50 Holes

Some may have noticed I started this blog after my first trip out ice fishing with Dan Byrne aka Pondboy from DuPage Angler.  

Some may have noticed my excitement about ice from my posts here as soon as the weather started to get cold.

I wanted to go somewhere to ice fish that would be challenging to me. I have a poor record when it comes to fishing Shabbona Lake in the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area.  I'll own my record.  The sidebar on the upper right side of this page tells my introductory tale as starting fishing again in my adult life on July 3, 2011.  On July 3 and 4th of 2011 my friend Dave and I decided to start fishing and picked Shabbona to be the first lake we'd fish.  On the first day I believe I caught my first largemouth bass ever, then nothing more in 4 more trips.

Now that I see this picture again it's a larger largemouth than I remember it being.  Still after reading the ice reports on Shabbona Lake State Park's Facebook page I was taking a leap of faith that I'd have ice to fish on when I arrived.  The weather had been gradually getting warmer since last weekend's fun out on the ice and today was forecast a high of 47 degrees.  It looked like it would hit it too.

After buying a map and chatting with a man at the bait shop counter I learned there were several patches of open water but 4-6 inches on most of the rest of the lake.  I spent the next 5 hours drilling holes.

Last weekend a stop to check out a lake that I had never fished through the ice caused me to realize my 8"  Strikemaster Lazer Sharp ice auger was a great hole driller but my arms stopped being great human-auger power after 15 holes or so.  To remedy this problem I purchased an ION lithium ion electric auger.  The auger is rated to drill 40 holes through two foot thick ice on a single charge.  I doubt I'll ever see two foot thick ice so I should be able to punch a few more than that.

Today I did.  Today I'm calling the Day of 50 Holes.  I changed locations three times.  In the first location I punched 15 holes.  No signs of life at all on my flasher in any of them.  I stopped and worked a hole when I marked something mid-water column but nothing bit my jig.

Time to move again.  As I was moving spots I got a text from my friend Jason Coyne.  He was going to bring his son Mathew to see ice fishing and all that is involved.  I punched at least 10 holes here looking for a fish crib.  Judging by the number of jigs I lost that got hooked on something wooden I'd bet I found it.

Matthew liked the water puddled on the surface, the rocks people placed on the ice marking locations, the pita chips I had for a snack and a little bit of the ice fishing experience.  Unfortunately the fish just weren't biting.  Jason and Mathew left and I contemplated a third and final move to a spot closer to my car.

 

Now I know I'm calling this the Day of 50 Holes but I'm pretty sure I drilled at least 30 in this final bay.  It was just so easy with my ION power auger.  I was looking for a fish crib that was centered in the cove and flanked by brush piles on either side. 

It took almost all 30 holes in this last bay to locate my first fish.  I jigged a Fiskas tungsten jig tipped with two wax worms.  Dropping the jig down to near the bottom caused the bottom to move up to check out my jig.  I teased it up, then up some more, then I paused and wiggled slightly until I felt the tap and light pull on my custom ultralight ice rod.  I raised up a hook set and my rod bent with the weight of a nice bluegill.

Hooray for beating the skunk!  It took what seemed like forever but I can now say I've caught two fish at Shabbona.  

Burrrrrr....it's getting colder.  Time to flip over my shelter and get away from the wind.  I drilled a few more holes to fit within the width of my shelter.  I slipped my transducer into one hole and dropped in a Fiskas jig tipped with a Little Atom Micro Nuggie in Glow Pearl color.  

Dropping the jig into the brushpile I was over yielded a blip on my flasher screen.  It chased my jig's tail up, and up, and up and SET!  TWO fish!!  

I wanted to get a shot of the Micro Nuggie in its mouth but it really didn't want to cooperate for the picture.  This was a better sized gill than the first one.  I could actually lip this one.  (and I did just to see if I could)  Like the first gill I caught I let this one slip back into the chilly water of Shabbona Lake.

No more fish would come up for a picture today.  I was happy sitting in my shelter relaxing for a moment.  The orange glow of the sunset through the trees behind me bled through my plastic shelter window.  I thought about ice fishing and what I have learned between last year when I started and now.  I reflected on the pleasure of fishing and time spent with friends.  Not everyone can say they have walked on a lake and that's kind of neat.  

When I packed my gear in my shelter's storage areas and collapsed the tent I saw the vast field of  holes I had drilled.  I'm sure the last area had more than 30 holes but the Day of 63 holes doesn't have a cool a ring to it.  I'll stick with 50 holes, two bluegills, upping my catch total to 3 fish in 6 visits at Shabbona Lake, and a great day on the ice successfully locating and catching a few fish in what was a tough bite for everyone I talked to.

I think I'll soak in the sunset for a few more minutes before packing up the car.