"Snakes Alive" Icefishing a Mid-Bay Tidal Creek- 2/17

[Floater]

Met up with our friend Virgil a little after sun-up, loaded his sled next to mine in the truck and he directed us to a mid-Bay tidal creek for some pickerel fishing. A lot of the sailboaters had their bubblers running which did a great job of eating ice, but made for a lot of zigzag navigating across the ice in the beginning.

We found our way to some decent ice and set up a base camp, and started augering holes and setting tip-ups baited exclusively with Shiners.

Virgil had the first one up, and boy what a fat girl she was, mearsured out at a long 24".

He played her perfectly and popped her thru the hole after a few rocket runs.

Jr did well jigging up Yellows in between flags.

He tried closing in on Virgil with this 22"er, but never got the 25" he wanted. My best might have been a 19". I believe we landed around 13 Pickerel, might have been as many as 15, with about another half dozen hook-ups that managed to get off. Perfect conditions out on the ice today, sunny for a while, then some filling cloud cover moved in to spare us another sunburning. We smoked thru the Shiners and had to switch to Mummichogs, which worked pretty well too. I catch slimey stuff all year, but it sure felt good to have something sliding thru my hands with teeth again. The flags and action were steady all day, with a few lulls, it finally tapered off about 3pm after the flood tide had peaked. The laughs and ribbings were non-stop.

Hope that you got out and had good luck.
Bob

[TommyRobinson]

Very nice!!! That Mr. Poe sure knows them pickerel .

[pikemaster789]

great picks, looks like a good spot

[Fat Boy]

Very nice pics and report Bob!  Looks like you guys had a blast!

[Floater]

Tommy,

Yeah that Mr. Poe sure knows his Pickerel, and his Bass, Rockfish and Sharks too. Quite the Master Angler. Are you managing to get out any?

pikemaster789,

Glad you liked it, thanks for weighing in.

Thanks Kevin, it was a fun, active day, with lots of ribbin'. Hope that you made it on the ice.

Bob

[TommyRobinson]

Tommy,

Yeah that Mr. Poe sure knows his Pickerel, and his Bass, Rockfish and Sharks too. Quite the Master Angler. Are you managing to get out any?

pikemaster789,

Glad you liked it, thanks for weighing in.

Thanks Kevin, it was a fun, active day, with lots of ribbin'. Hope that you made it on the ice.

Bob

Not as much as I'd like to - gonna skip out to Belle Grove or may try a couple of other ponds in the Valley tomorrow after work. Shame I am not a gov'ment employee or I would be there bright and early LOL.

[icefishnfool]

looking good .....good report .......nice yellow

[virgilpoe]

Hey Floater  . As I recall it, Chickenwing had the hot holes this trip  . I think I did get lucky there and dropped that first minnow right down on her head. Thanks for the call guys. Ya got me out of the house on a great day for fishin, and I'm lookin forward to our next adventure.
Virgil

[Floater]

Thanks for the input Polar Bear, I appreciate it.

Virg,

It's good to see you checking in over here. We had a ball last weekend, next adventure might floating on an ice raft we these dang warmer temps. I've got a hankering for some Walleye, you game?

Bob