Up Nort', Vilas County, First Ice report of Jan 2-5 2014

Thinking it would be best to kick 2014 off properly and against the better judgement of my peers, I made the trek up to Vilas County for a New Years fishing trip. With a new moon on Jan 1st and a warm up day Saturday, I ignored the sub zero temperatures and the approach of "hercules", packed up the rig and headed North.

Ice was 20+ inches everywhere I went, making for safe and confident vehicle travel. Daytime temps were in the single digits, climbing into the high teens on Saturday. Nighttime lows were well below zero. 

 My home on the ice. From sun up till sun down

 We got first tracks

 Beware of dogs, fish at own risk

 Big buck

Fishing was not fast and furious, but I did manage a good haul for my first outing of the New Year. Not to mention, the solitude found up there can't be beat and was a welcomed  change of pace following the holiday season.

No fish came on tip ups. For me, that is a rare occurrence up there. The cold weather didn't help. I was less than ambitious about re-setting and re-locating non productive sets. I did manage some crappie, and found a very productive bluegill spot home to some very sizable specimens.

Hard Water continued....

The fishing trip was a success. It was a great way to kick off the season and get me excited for a lot more ice fishing to come. With 6-8" of ice and temperatures well below freezing, there was plenty of safe fishing.
The pan fish made us work for them, but through patience and persistence, drilling lots of holes and probing the entire water column with my jigs, I was able to find a depth and bait combination that worked. I don't fish with electronics yet. Every time I go out,  I convince myself I am going to buy a flasher. I still haven't pulled the trigger on that investment. If I can find vegetation, take the time to fish the entire water column, it usually produces. Along with starting small, and eventually working my way up to the biggest bait fish willingly take.

We put  nice Bluegills, Crappie and Perch on the ice. Enough for a solid meal or two with the family.

Some of the Crappie were pushing 14 inches. Unfortunately the largest caught was lost at the hole, but it didn't matter. We got what we came for, and had a great time.

Hard Water

Well, I can't think of any better way to end the year and cap the holiday season off than an ice fishing trip with my Dad.

Tomorrow we will be headed North to Vilas County to do some much needed relaxing. Recent reports have us excited for Pike and Walleye on a strong bite as well as gills and crappie still feeding strong.

I have the tip ups ready to go, fresh line on my jigging rods, and plenty of new colors sizes and styles of jigs to try out. 

 A soldiers row of Beaver Dam tip ups ready for action.

My little box of new stuff. I assembled this one tonight.

The weather is looking pretty good for a long weekend on the ice. Reports to follow, and maybe some recipes too....