IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Illinois => Ice Fishing Illinois => Topic started by: Crappie Day11 on Dec 27, 2017, 02:14 PM
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Went out checked a lake in fulton Co had 3 inches on it. Friday its game on... :tipup:
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I have 4-5 inches on my 3 acre pond as of 3:00PM 12/27
just east of Bloomington
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Can't f***ing wait to hit the family plot! Should be safe ice all over McLean county and Central IL
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3.5 to 4 in ice champaign vermilion county line hope to get on tomorrow before cold front. Cloudy and snow should be putting on the feed bag! Be safe out there
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Had 4 to 5" at Lake Story yesterday
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Had 3.5" of ice on the pond north of Springfield Friday morning. With the wind and the negative temps tonight, I am thinking it will be pushing 5" by tomorrow morning.
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Fished a small body of water in Knox cty yesterday had 5" of ice
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4-6 inches around banner marsh including Johnson Lake
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Remember the east point access at banner marsh is closed until feb 1st. I had a game warden SCREAM at me for making that mistake once. really chewed my butt. I don't understand why that lake is designated for waterfowl when there is no open water. But i got no fine. 😀 could have been worse.
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We fish Johnson from a boat all the time this time of year if there is no ice. The whole lake is open after waterfowl season which ended 12/26/17 (does not include any of the late goose hunting). So I don't think that game warden had a right to be yelling at you.
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The east access or wheel lake is a goose refuge until Feb 1st. You can see the map on dnr. Johnson is not part of the refuge.
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Yah east point access is off limits til end of goose season. Saw some people fishing the small lake to the left when you first pull into east point access and I was thinking about trying it but wasn’t sure if this was included as east point access or if just wheel is off limits.
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The lake immediately to the left when you pull in is off limits. When there is ice the whole lake is covered. Not sure what use it is to the waterfowl.
But it is what it is. I know I won't make that mistake again.😀
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7+ inches south of banner...marked lots of fish today but only caught one 9" crappie in 5 hours
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Went out in pekin. 6" of ice. Caught two crappies and a few gills. barring another deep freeze looks like one of the last trips out. 49 on Wednesday.
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7 inches where i fished in knox county friday
only caught 2, very few marks, everything tight to bottom
but ... arctic high pressure system finally gone, barometer falling like a rock
next few days should be great fishing in nice weather
looks like low temps back in single digits next weekend to firm things back up
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Went out in pekin. 6" of ice. Caught two crappies and a few gills. barring another deep freeze looks like one of the last trips out. 49 on Wednesday.
I am thinking the ice season is far from over. Supposed to freeze up again tonight (01/08) and then after 48 hours of warmer temps, get back to colder/normal temps.
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Anyone do any checking today? I'm curious how much ice got eaten away the past 2 1/2 days. looks like it should put close to 2 inches back on by Sunday afternoon so as long as it didn't get under 2' before that we should be good.
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Anyone do any checking today? I'm curious how much ice got eaten away the past 2 1/2 days. looks like it should put close to 2 inches back on by Sunday afternoon so as long as it didn't get under 2' before that we should be good.
Still good Im going tomorrow :clap: :clap: :icefish: :icefish:
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I'm hoping for Sunday but haven't re checked ice thickness since "the big thaw"
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Made it out yesterday still had 9inch of ice half inch was soft on one lake the other pond had 5 inch of water from snow melt on it and was solid as it was a week ago both were good.
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Went out Wednesday had 6" of ice on a pond in Knox county. Caught one Crappie 13" and a few small gills.
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checked a pond today in northern fulton
8" good ice but only 3 gills in 3 hours :(
didnt go yesterday but awesome action on nice gills and craps monday, tuesday, wednesday
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Heading out to a small eastern McLean County lake on Sunday. Fished it Tuesday and had on good largie in about 3 hours. Hoping for a little more action next time.
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We had 10 inches of ice this afternoon on large Fulton co.lake. The water on top of the ice must have flash froze. It looked wavy. Wear cleats because the wind will blow you across the lake with this bare ice. Caught some nice crappie,and channel cat. Also seen a river otter running across the ice. He went in a hole by a tree in the water.
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The otter went in for a channel catfish supper ,that's where he was going.!!¡!
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Fished two ponds near Chandlerville yesterday. Both had 8" of ice. Smooth as glass too.
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My small pond in Fulton county had 5" of solid clear ice yesterday. This seems on the low end from other reports but this pond always forms ice more slowly. This week should be perfect w/ 3 cold days and then nice weather Thursday through Sunday.
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Little Swan Lake has over 9" today.
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5-7 inches yesterday on a peoria county lake that had 5ft of open water around the edges after the warm spell. had to watch the pole real close as the bite was really light
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Eastern McLean county had about 6" of clear ice yesterday. Took the wife out for her first time but had a hard time finding fish. One 7" gill that bit in about 10' of water and one 10" crappie that I picked up in about 5'. Watched the crappie move in over the weeds and take the spoon. Wish the action would have been a little faster but thankful to catch my first ever ice crappie.
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Congratulations on your 1st crappie DaWakoKid and for getting your wife out on the ice.
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Pekin had 5" of ice. Saw lots of fish but only a couple of takers. Light bite.
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Guys, whats the deal with these fish this year? The lightest biting fish i have ever seen. Is it all these high pressure fronts we have been in?
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No idea. I threw all kinds of stuff at them. Should have went with a small hook.
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Has anyone been out recently does anyone have any reports on ice condition?
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Was on 3-7 inches this afternoon in McLean County. 6 keepers. About a dozen good bites in 3.5 hours. Marked a few more that wouldn't commit. All caught on spoons tipped with waxies between 6 and 10 FOW.
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Fished a pond in north Peoria. 8" - 9" of ice. Walked all over the lake and drilled 50/60 holes before we found them. Caught one really big gill just a hair under 10" and a dozen nice ones. Got 3 bass too. Not much size though. Used red and chartreuse tungsten jigs and a red ratfinkie. (that's what seemed to work best)
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(https://s17.postimg.cc/5eqccz9iz/received_1799108956767975.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/image/5eqccz9iz/)
Really strange things frozen vertical in the ice. Must be from bubbles. All over the lake. Looked like they went down about 6-8" .
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Been out the last two days ice was 9 inch on a few ponds and the bite has been very good.
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42 degrees today. Drove by small farm ponds and water standing from the melting snow. One pond was open on the north end due to the overflow. Went and checked the club that I belong to 10 miles south and all the big lakes still had snow on top. No water standing. Drilled several holes had 8 Inches.
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Fished our pond in western Fulton County this afternoon. Had 8 inches. Top 2 inches was starting to deteriorate, but not yet to the point of honeycomb. Everything this week will depend on tomorrow's rainfall. Things could get sketchy pretty fast with a decent amount of rain...stay safe!
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I had 6" on my lake in Fulton County Sunday. The top 1" was starting to get soft. My lake had about 2" less ice on it at the peak time than most lakes in my area did. I would guess if you started with 10" (instead of my 8") that you may be able to get out today still. Looking at the forecast we may well be done for the season. I predict we wont have ice cap by weekend of feb 3rd unfortunately. Obviously it can get super cold in February but hard to build back up if we have open water.
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Fished Lake Storey last weekend and felt safe but won't be out again until we get another cold snap. If ice fishing is done it's time to think of an early spring.
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Had 8" of ice but edges were getting thin. This was last Sunday. Just don't think I would trust it at this point in time but that's just me.
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Fished our pond tonight. Used the dock plus a plank to get onto 4 inches of honeycombed ice. Fish were less than cooperative. Caught a yellow perch, a golden shiner, and a black crappie In 9-22 FOW. I was not really adventurous and only fished about 10 holes. I was too chicken to try anything shallow!
Anyway, this was likely my last time out until it gets cold again. :'(
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Think next Sunday will be ok around Central IL?
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Think next Sunday will be ok around Central IL?
Your bigger bodies of water will be most resistant to change. They are the last to freeze and the last to thaw. During a thaw cycle, I have seen big lakes hold ice when all ponds are open. On the flip side, if the big lakes lose ice, some smaller, shallow ponnds may freeze back up with several nights in the low teens.
Lots of words to say, "Time will tell."
I may swing by Little Swan tonight to check things out. If I make it up there, I will post an update.
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No ice fishing today ,I think I will go to the fin & feather expo in Bloomington today should be a fun time!
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Little Swan was neither safe nor fishable today.
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No ice in eastern il, this time last week it was fantastic, now open water kankakee river,iroquois river. Willow slough,smaller ponds ice is gone ,48 temp for wednesday I was fishing 10 min from my house first time in 3 years cruel joke not a fan of mother nature!
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We went out Saturday to check two strip mine lakes in Fulton Co. Two weeks ago both lakes had 10-12 inches. First lake we checked (bigger and deeper of the two) had lost all of its edges and was only 3 1/2" to 4" thick in the middle with very poor ice quality. Second lake that was much smaller had hard edges, was still holding almost 8" of ice and the bottom 4" were still hard, clear and black. I would have expected the exact opposite from these two lakes. Moral of the story, Every lake reacts different to warm ups. Approach each lake with the same amount of caution and respect. Carry a spud, wear a flotation device and be safe.
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Drove by Lake Bracken today and saw a guy fishing. This is not a statement of safety, but I kinda wished I could join him! ;D
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Anyone been out in last couple days to check? I was thinking next weekend would be good for sure but saw guys on 2 different small lakes today in Fulton County. Obviously them being out there doesn't mean it was safe to be out there but the one car I recognized as an older guy who ice fishes a bunch. I may run down and drill a test hole and see what we have.
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Drove by Little Swan today. There was about 30 feet of open water around the edges near the ramp area. Ended up fishing a small pond 5 miles away that had 7 inches!
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Tried the home pond (3 acres and deep) and had 3.25 inches, with the first 2 inches being junk ice. Drove over to Little Swan Lake for the same. Ended up fishing at the small pond (3/4 acre and 5' deep) with nearly 8 inches of ice.
I wouldn't mind a few more nights in the single digits!
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fished a small pond yesterday, 3 inches of not great ice near shore, spudded out a little further and found solid 4-5
not a lot of action, meaning high marks and crappies
what i caught had to pull off the bottom, kept 2 craps and a dozen gills
might go back today, my other ponds/lakes still too thin around the bank
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Couple guys out on White Oak this evening. Geese keeping a small hole open on the northeast side of the lake. Hoping to get out next weekend.
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Went to Dawson tonight. Had 4 good inches on the North end. There were people out in the bay as well.
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Lake Camelot ice fishing tournament was bad. Fish were tight to the bottom. I caught one 11" bass all day.
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Fished the home pond today. 4".
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3 1/2" of clear ice and an inch of frosty in peoria.
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It depends on the lake. I fished today on 8 inches of ice. Some ponds vary between 2.5 to 6. Emaquon only has about 1to 1.5 inches. The bite has been slow.
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5 inches on one peoria county pond, 3-4 inches on another. Some questionable spots here and there. Fish were biting though, probably last time out this year.