Fishlake in the morning Otter Creek in the after noon

[gnorth]

Planed on going to hit fish lake for some macs this morning got an nice and early start and went to Twin creeks it was about 28 degrees and the Ice was alot thicker than what I was expecting and the edges were good. We fished in about 70-80 feet of water and had a few bites but did not hook up. We were also fishing a second pole at about 40 feet and were picking up some decent splake and a few rainbows. At about 11 the wind picked up and the fishing died so we decided to head to Otter creek to see if the ice was off yet. Meet a fellow BFT they were headed down a little further and hopefully they had some good luck.

We got to Otter creek and it was about 60 outside. The areas we wanted to fish were still covered in green thin ice. We went to an open area and threw some rapalas and cast masters with out luck. With as warm as it was and just asking to get wet we found an area where a sheet of ice had pushed up on shore and ventured out a little ways and drilled a hole. The ice was about 3-4 inches and SOFT I dropped my jig with out any bait to see how deep we were and it was about 5 feet of water. As I pulled my jig back out BAM a nice rainbow nails my jig but spit it out before I could get a hold of him. Having this excitement we ventured out a little further and drilled a couple of holes. I am not as petite a s my fishing buddy and had to switch between holes every few min to keep my feet dry. After about 20 min I was ready to call it and dropped back down one last time. Then I got a bite and pulled a nice 3 lb hook jaw rainbow out. That made the venture well worth the venture out. After about 10 more min we realized the ice was getting even softer and made our way back off. We did not get wet today.

I dont think the ice is safe at Otter creek but Ice off will be this week. Good day fishing Catching at Fishlake was good until 11 Good company as well.
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[chickscanfish2]

Just curious.....you said the areas you "wanted to fish" were still covered in ice, what about other areas? Was there enough open shore to cast or is it still a bit too early. I've heard from 1 source that the edges are open & there's plenty of open water to fish BUT i've also heard that there's still too much ice?!

Thanks in advance for any info. []
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[Smokerdog]

Lots of open water on the north end. You can launch a boat or or tube at Senior Citizens. Still a lot of ice on the south end, some open water east of the state park. Boat ramp still iced over.
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[whipper-snapper]

Hey gnorth, good to meet you at Fish Lake.

We went in front of Bowery to find some perch, kept 38 at the 7-8" range...but had to catch 150 to keep filter through the dinks.

Lots of bows and splakes coming in at 25', and what else? 2 suckers and a pup! When my wife hooked up on the first and second sucker, she was screaming because her line took off and the head shakes were massive. We gathered around the hole to be disappointed. Hopefully some Mac hunter found them on the ice this morning to cut up for bait.

The ice, at it's thinnest point, is 18" and clear and hard. The thickest we found was 22", with the top 2" of soft slushy muck.

I need to hit Otter Creek this spring. Any pointers on some good tackle/ areas?

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