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So today is the coldest I've ever ice fished. -18 as I got out of the pickup and onto the lake this morning at 7:30 at FL. Set up the tent and it wasn't bad. Was over 54' of water, marking lots of fish. Just fish, not hungry fish, mind you. After 3 hours, I'd scratched out only 5 splake. At least a couple were bigger than the ones I got last week. I moved in to 20' around 10:30. Got a couple decent rainbows and a few perch. CO checks me and says, "Man you shoulda been here yesterday! Everybody was getting a bunch!" Story of my life.
I pick up at 12:30 and as I'm pulling out of the parking area, I roll the window down to get a better view of any appraoching traffic and, Bang! (Enter sounds of misc parts clattering inside the driver's door) Yup, you guessed it, window won't roll up. Five minutes of grunting, pulling and swearing, I get the window 3/4 of the way up. Good thing it had warmed up to zero, or that could have been a really chilly 50 mile ride home!
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Geez, that's a cold ride home. Hope it's an easy fix. Sounds like you caught some fish though.
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Yeah, I did. Most of the biters in the deep water were suspended 20-30 feet. Could not get any of the deep cruisers to commit to anything more than a halfhearted bump.
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Yup, tough day, I had to work hard for the 7 trout i managed to scrape up yesterday morning, even the perch seemed to be sluggish. I wonder if the recent storm had anything to do with the tough fishing. I had a hard time explaining to my wife how sitting on a slab of ice in -20 degree weather was worth my time, especially when the fishing was poor.
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I was there yesterday (Saturday) as well. We started out from Mackinaw in 40' of water. Moved a several times but nothing. Did not see many come up in the area so we made the hike across the lake - must be a couple miles. The fishing on the other side was much better. We did not count, but each managed a limit of trout (mine were splake and Brents were bows). We turned back 20 or so each. Also caught 6 or 7 perch, 4 of which were invited home for bait on another trip. It was fairly cold but with little wind, it was not a bad day. We fished until 2 and then made the trek back across the ice. Back, just before reaching the Jeep, we ran into some guys that each had a couple from the holes (or very near the holes) we had drilled at first, so it must have picked up on the west side.
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Fifita, the weather was not bad, just way cold. Not much wind to speak of, thanks goodness. Once the sun came out the tent warmed right up. I left just before 1 pm and it looked like it was about to start snowing a little.
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My wife just accepts that I'm a little off that way. And I agree, even the perch were a bit slow too. I think the passing front did have something to do with it. The weather is supposed to straighten up this week and get a little warmer. After this past few weeks, if it gets to 30 with no wind, we'll be out there in our t-shirts!
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Thanks for the updates guys, we rented a cabin for this weekend! Been a dozen years since I have been there. I have forgotten,How far from shore is the drop off in front of the cabin area?
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About 100-125'. You need to get out to water 16-18' deep. If your jig is getting fouled in the weeds, move out a bit further. You can usually eyeball down the shore and get an idea by where others are set up.
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Thanks,first ice trip of the year. should be fun!
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