Ice Report 12-14-2013

Hit the ice solo yesterday. I fished a small lake in Fond Du Lac county. Ice was 8-10", temps were in the 20's with a light east wind and flurries all day. Fishing gills was great, they were feeding pretty hard. I must have caught 150 or more, however, less than 25 of them were what I consider keeper size. But I am not complaining. The action was good, I had fun and the active bite made the trip worthwhile. 

I checked my tip ups about an hour after setting up and jigging only to find my first set had been robbed. No bait was left on the hook. So I kept that tip up and depth in its place and re-baited. Well wouldn't you know it, before I could even sit down and warm up, the flag was flying and the spool was spinning. This pike was taking a lot of line out. I figured it to be a hammer handle until I got her to the hole. She turned, reluctant to go up the hole and took a good run on me. I brought her to the hole again and she took another nice run. Finally, I got her head in the right direction and hoisted her to the ice. Broad shouldered and a fat belly, she was a really healthy fish. Under 30 inches, but thick as can be. Unfortunately, it was a solo trip and I didn't want to subject the fish to the harsh conditions any longer than necessary. I slipped her back into the water after a few seconds of admiration.   

Waves of what looked to be giant shiners would come in every so often. I hooked into a bunch, this is one of the smaller ones... no kidding. 

Not quite a keeper, but his colors were just awesome

I had to keep at it to get into bigger fish. In the background you can see the fish suspended off the bottom on the flasher. The quicker I got back in the hole with my jig, the better my chances were at a larger, more aggressive fish.

I kept just enough for a meal. Vac bagged and in the freezer!