Ice Report

Left work a little early today with my good friend to get a head start on the weekend fishing crowds.

We fished a Fond Du Lac county lake. Ice depth was 12".

Flurries blew in and out while we fished making for a beautiful afternoon. We had the ice all to ourselves. It was quiet, peaceful and relaxing. I love these kinds of outings.

We had about six flags in 3 hours time. This little guy got his photo taken before being released. Look at all that line! The little ones always run so much.

Some Crappies taken today. (The cutting board measures 11 inches). 

I will be out again tomorrow morning, not sure where yet. Reports to follow.

January heat wave

With the wind blowing, and water on the ice, we ventured out on a local Waukesha County lake today.  Temperatures have been in the high 30's up to the mid 40's for a few days now, yet the ice is stable, 8 inches or more everywhere we went. Finding deeper water was the challenge today. Everywhere we looked the weeds were thick and gown tall up to the ice. 

 We managed to punch a few holes around this massive flat and jig up small pan fish. Most were sent back to tell their friends of the perils they had just survived.

We also had a good handful of flags, with a few low 20 to mid 20 inch northern.

This northern was the biggest of the day. Unfortunately it wasn't quite 26" which is the slot for Waukesha County lakes. He would have been a great candidate for the pickle jar, but we respect the regs and released all of our undersized northern today.

Fishing was slow, but that never matters to us. When you are on the ice with friends, the beers are flowing, the grill is rolling and food is hot, you'd better be having a good time.

Cold temps and high winds are in the forecast. We should be making ice rapidly this upcoming week. 

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....

Resurrection

Things have been pretty dead here.  I've been working a lot and trying to get an m.Arch at the same time so needless to say fishing hasn't been possible.  I did get a new toy that finally arrived in late August after waiting for a few months (this was my pre-marriage final splurge).  Being limited on time and water availability due to this great drought, I hit up the Des Plaines to give it hell.  I quickly realized the Watermaster was the best fishing related purchase I've made next to a good jacket and pair of waders.  I did a solo float which meant I had to hike to get to the drop in so I would have my car where the pullout is.  Thankfully this boat fits in a large backpack and weights about 45lbs so I walked about 3 miles up river and put in.  The fishing sucked and the bass was all that I found but that has been par for the course this fall.

And I leave this post with some seagull dinner and a summation of the fall run.

Cheers

Low and Clear now available on DVD

I have been waiting for this for a long time. I ordered mine, you should too. More...

LOW & CLEAR Official

I almost missed this...

More news on the Estabrook Dam removal/repair issue....

http://milwaukeeriverkeeper.org/content/judge-rejects-countys-plan-repair-estabrook-dam

Clever Bird Goes Fishing...

This Green Heron uses a piece of bread to catch a meal, remarkable.

Got 25 minutes?

Searching for West from Helio Collective on Vimeo.

With both the Steelheading and Bow Hunting season fast approaching, I too find my priorities shifting. This short film was not quite what I thought it would be, but a great clip none the less.
I think no matter whether your target is Steelhead, Whitetails, massive Elk or all of the above, Outdoorsman, Hunters and Fisherman alike can all relate.

Hot Cheetos and Takis...

SNACK! SNACK! SNACK! MUNCH!

Tuna fisherman encounter something unexpected... and awesome! Check out the video to find out what!

The Blue from Mark Peters on Vimeo.

North of Milwaukee

These are some shots from this past weekend.  Karsten and I got out on some water north of Milwaukee looking for smallmouth.  The hot weather really seemed to really throw things off and had the water flowing VERY warm.  Karsten got into a small bass and we both missed quite a few working the far bank with poppers.  I tied up a crayfish pattern about 4" long and got hammered throwing to some downed branches.  I figured it was a pike but then the fight just kept on going and going and going.  When we finally got the fish to surface we saw a ok sized carp which was awesome because of how hard it hit.

Big fly little mouth.

Until next time...

Great read - "Thoughts about the rod"

I found this article on the Clan Rods website and really enjoyed the thoughts that it shared.  It gives a very traditional take on the incredibly popular use of "short" spey/switch rods as well as short lines that have taken over the 2-handed market.  It's interesting to read the perspective of a master rod builder who speaks only of rods above 15' all the way to 22' in length.

Being as that I'm really on a "traditional" trip and really enjoying casting longer rods (13-15') with lines of 55-100' in length, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

Follow the link for the reading:

http://www.clanofsweden.com/documents/Thoughts%20about%20the%20rod.pdf

Cheers,

Adam

It's Friday, grab a Schlitz

Yuengling, a beer I grew up with on the East Coast.. rad idea.