Another weekend on ice

I enjoyed a relaxing day alone on the ice today. The weather was perfect for sitting out in the sun and doing some hole hopping.  Ice conditions on this Waukesha County lake were 14+ inches everywhere. The cordless power drill adapter for my hand auger was a great tool to have along.  It made finding fish much less taxing.

Right off the bat, my first hole produced a few small perch. As I worked out to deeper water I found more suspended schools of perch and crappie. The bite was slow today. A few negative biters swam right up with the bait, then kept swimming up making for difficult hook-sets and bite detection, even with electronics.

All in all it was a beautiful and peaceful day. For that, I am very thankful. You know even a bad day fishing is better than any good day at work. Everything caught is still swimming. I didn't find any fish that qualified for my own preference of "keeper" size. I guess you could make a perch sammich out of 6"ers. On the other hand, they might be keepers next year.

With that said, I'll leave you with a photo I took to sum up my day. PBR, homemade beef jerky and a lake all to myself. Seriously, does life get any better?