12-31-10 / It felt good!!

[AtticaFish]

It felt good to be out on top the water in 40+ degree weather... and catch fish to top it off!!! A local friend has permission to fish a small pond where he works so we headed out early morning to see if we could catch some fish - was only his 2nd time EVER on the ice & actually fishing.

Got to the pond around 8AM and after checking the ice (about 5ins of good clear ice and an inch of white junk ice on top and a skim of water) we cut some holes and got set up over 10-12 ft of water. Talk about slippery - next investment will be ice spikes for my boots. I caught a fish on the first drop of my jig/wax worm! It continued this way till around 9:30 then the bite slowed down. We gave it up around 11:00

It was a fun day for sure. We kept 25 gills between 7" & 8" - no monsters - but big enough to clean! Threw back a bunch of short fish and my friend also caught 2 catfish and a largemouth that went back. Was a good day! Me and my friend traded off using my new christmas present... a Humminbird Ice 35 Flasher!!!!! This thing is the $hit - love it.

This trip was on the 2nd day of a 3 day warm spell that kind of messed up the ice. Hopefully by the end of this week, i will be back out walking on water.

 

[toadfrog]

I wish somebody fished more for gills in my part of the country . their every where , in every pond. So many different kinds of perch some folks consider them trot line bait.

 

[StumpHunter]

Sounds like a fun day of fishing. Nice catch and congrats on getting the flasher.

 

[Ron Don]

Great way to end the year! Sounds like a lot of fun.... well except for the ICE part! A concept us southern boys just cant understand!

 

[AtticaFish]

TF - Each of the panfish have their qualities.... sunfish/gills are quickly becoming my favorite - meat is delicious/firm and they are brute fighters for their size. Crappie - have the size and those sweet milk white fillets, but not the strongest fighters IMO. Yellow perch - all about the meat and the numbers you can get into if you are lucky!

SH - Thanks, and i am VERY proud of my flasher... my wife got it for me but i don't think she realizes that this means that she will see less of me during the winter months!!

RD - Temps started in the 40's and worked their way up to 50 or so by the time we left. Not too cold, just have to get past the 'walking on water' idea, that passes quickly when there are hungry fish under foot! This was only the 2nd time my friend had ever been ice fishing and was a bit nervous getting on the ice..... later in the afternoon, he texted me wanting to know if i had time to go back out for a few hours before dark! haha, he is ready to go again as soon as the ice gets back to normal.