Anyone getting the itch yet?

[croplan91]

All this rain today has got me bored.
Started cruisen the web for ice fishing equipment deals.
Anyone else ready for December?

[bart]

Been ready...

[icefisher-45]

I'm ready, Have you found any good deals?

[hankthecrank]

If it froze tomorrow it wouldn't be soon enough.

[topher7694]

been spooling new tip ups and prepping them for a coat of poly....looking out for a vex and a power auger in garage sales/craigslist, etc.......soon enough it will be time once again..

[holehawg]

yepper...starting work on the shack roof....everything else is good to go....

[Mainehazmt]

Oh the itch hit   bought a shack today   and dont have to work to hard on it  to get it ready!               A snow pro!8x12  come on winter      had to run the furnace this am was 45      must have been what made me buy it!   lol

[holehawg]

all right hazzy..... i knew ya wud pull the trigger on it... when ya having us up for beers and fishing  

[shantyman1]

I've had the itch sence my last time out. pray for early ice

[Mainehazmt]

all right hazzy..... i knew ya wud pull the trigger on it... when ya having us up for beers and fishing  

any time between jan 1st till march 31st

[rvz]

any time between jan 1st till march 31st

Hazzy...NICE SHACK!!!  That was certainly one way to scratch that itch.  I'm sure by the time it's ready to put out, you will have it rigged just the way you want it.  Inquiring minds want to know...how much does that weigh?

[Madpuppy]

All this rain today has got me bored.
Started cruisen the web for ice fishing equipment deals.
Anyone else ready for December?

We're gettin' closer crop! I'm ready to go, I been working on cleaning and dusting off equipment and started the auger the other day ( started right up!) What body of water you gonna hit first this year? I might head up to Maskenthine with the boat and map it out a bit. I also have a buddy up in Niobrara that has some good ice fishin' holes and he promised to take me out this season. Also got a friend in Creighton and am hoping to get his direction too.

[croplan91]

Hey MadPuppy,

If I could get my boat motor fixed   Im thinking I wanna get Powder Creek scoped out. for depth.  I took pictures of it before they filled it with water and would like to plug in some GPS coordinates of some points.  The Pike have to be getting big in there but there are so many bluegill in there I dont think the Pike are very hungry for smelt,  LOL.  I havent fished Maskentine for 15 years, might have to hit it up.  Fished willow creek last year, not much luck.  Have to run into bojihawk sometime and chase them wipers.  Met a guy from up by Laurel last year and he gave me a spot to try that not many people know about.  Gonna try it out first before giving away too much info.      Buckskin is good for a few bluegill and crappy.  Hoping to make a quick trip out to the refuge lakes but have a new little one coming the end of October so im guessing my hardwater fishing will be limited for a while.  Im guessing you have Summit all figured out.  Ive never icefished there, would like to sometime.

Will we be ice fishing by thanksgiving?  Hope so
Later

[hardh2ofish]

Hey MadPuppy,

Will we be ice fishing by thanksgiving?  Hope so
Later

Me too.  Weve been on the ice by then for the last 4 years.  Our Sandhills lakes have plenty of h2o this year.  Hoping for a great year up here

[MookieB]

I've had the itch pretty bad for the last 3 weeks, I hope it gets cold quick and stays that way. Tight lines, Mooks

[Madpuppy]

Hey MadPuppy,

If I could get my boat motor fixed   Im thinking I wanna get Powder Creek scoped out. for depth.  I took pictures of it before they filled it with water and would like to plug in some GPS coordinates of some points.  The Pike have to be getting big in there but there are so many bluegill in there I dont think the Pike are very hungry for smelt,  LOL.  I havent fished Maskentine for 15 years, might have to hit it up.  Fished willow creek last year, not much luck.  Have to run into bojihawk sometime and chase them wipers.  Met a guy from up by Laurel last year and he gave me a spot to try that not many people know about.  Gonna try it out first before giving away too much info.      Buckskin is good for a few bluegill and crappy.  Hoping to make a quick trip out to the refuge lakes but have a new little one coming the end of October so im guessing my hardwater fishing will be limited for a while.  Im guessing you have Summit all figured out.  Ive never icefished there, would like to sometime.

Will we be ice fishing by thanksgiving?  Hope so
Later

Summit's good early in the season, I think that because it's so small and it gets fished fairly hard that hurts the #'s a little. DeSoto Bend is on the other end of the spectrum as it is so big it's hard to locate the fish. Once you do it can produce some good fish. The eyes should be gettin' close to keeper size in DeSoto now so that should be fun. I hear ya on gettin' Boji to put you on the wipers, I think when it comes to Willow knowledge he's the man. If you can get him to take you out one of you shoot me a PM and I'll run up that way If you come down to Summit or DeSoto shoot me a PM and we can chase em together. You don't need an Iowa liscense for DeSoto Bend, you're Nebraska is good there. I'm planning on making some trips up North, I just bought a 7'x12' enclosed trailer for ice fishing, my son and son-in-law are rigging it up to haul all the ice gear in and set up the inside for overnighters complete with a woodburner and lights. I hope your right about Thanksgiving ice Buddy!!!

[adammd]

Hey MadPuppy,

If I could get my boat motor fixed   Im thinking I wanna get Powder Creek scoped out. for depth.  I took pictures of it before they filled it with water and would like to plug in some GPS coordinates of some points.  The Pike have to be getting big in there but there are so many bluegill in there I dont think the Pike are very hungry for smelt,  LOL.  I havent fished Maskentine for 15 years, might have to hit it up.  Fished willow creek last year, not much luck.  Have to run into bojihawk sometime and chase them wipers.  Met a guy from up by Laurel last year and he gave me a spot to try that not many people know about.  Gonna try it out first before giving away too much info.      Buckskin is good for a few bluegill and crappy.  Hoping to make a quick trip out to the refuge lakes but have a new little one coming the end of October so im guessing my hardwater fishing will be limited for a while.  Im guessing you have Summit all figured out.  Ive never icefished there, would like to sometime.

Will we be ice fishing by thanksgiving?  Hope so
Later

How is powder creek through the ice.  My uncle has a pond a couple miles away I fish a couple times a year, and have been tempted to try powder if we get a slow day there, but that only happened once and it was too cold to move lakes (only got the 4 degrees that day) so I never tried.  The lake looks pretty easy to target fish judging from the topo, but I don't usually fish for pike and they are a not what I would consider an easy target like crappie, gills, etc.  HOw is the non-pike fishing there, could always target what I know and let the tipups fly for pike? 

[perchking4ever]

I got all the gear out from the garage and took inventory to see what i need. i dont know why but every year i end up buying 5 new tip ups (weird)

[Madpuppy]

How is powder creek through the ice.  My uncle has a pond a couple miles away I fish a couple times a year, and have been tempted to try powder if we get a slow day there, but that only happened once and it was too cold to move lakes (only got the 4 degrees that day) so I never tried.  The lake looks pretty easy to target fish judging from the topo, but I don't usually fish for pike and they are a not what I would consider an easy target like crappie, gills, etc.  HOw is the non-pike fishing there, could always target what I know and let the tipups fly for pike?  

I am def making a trip up to Powder Creek this year, I would love to target Pike. Don't have a Pike lake around here and I'm heading out to Valentine but that's a pretty good drive to make more than one trip a year. If the Pike bite is decent at Powder I will hit that a couple times, it's only a couple hours from here. I see by the map what you're talking about Adam, looks like one deep cut through the middle of the lake. Might be fun, I'm looking forward to the trip.

[pepsiman]

I can't seem to stop this itch I have Already set up the fish trap in the garage twice and charged up the Vex. It can't come soon enough!

[Kodiakman]

Yeah, started getting the itch a couple days ago when I realized it was November already.  I started out the door to get some lumber and such to build a portable shanty but fortunately, the wife caught me before I did and asked where I was going.  When I told her, she flew off the handle! Said something about seafood or blue clams or something and ruining my xmas.    She sure can scratch an itch!

[BojiHawk]

Sorry guys...thanks for the props.  As usual, you guys are too kind.

I'll let you guys in on anything I can when I get some something figured out over there.  A few things I can tell you is that early season fish are in very different spots than late season.  You need to accept that this is a lake you may drill 50 holes in before noon.  Yup...I'm that dude just lighting up the ice...I never drill less than 10-15 at a time as I work over my spots....which are more "areas" than spots.  I also don't sit more than 20 minutes without graphing a fish before moving onto something more fruitful.  Even if I slaughtered them earlier...once they are gone..they are gone until evening.  Almost a 12 hour shift for those things.  Deeper water seems to channel draw down water and is more o2 rich is my guess.  I normally catch them on or near the old creek channel that use to flow there before it was flooded decades ago.  I was lucky enough to get some pictures of that valley before they flooded it up.  Quite remarkable...there is an old acreage in that lake (not the structures, but old wells, road beds, trees, etc.)

[adammd]

Powder Creek

Looks like I am going to find 3-4 morning hours to fish it tomorrow morning.  Anyone have any pointers for someone shorebound, general areas to work, never been there, any ideas.  I am looking at this topo map http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/fishing/programs/lakemapping/pdfs/powdercreek.pdf

Looking at it, the roads don't lead to what I think are some of the better spots, and don't want to waste a ton of time walking around the thing since I am limited on time.  The dam is too d**n far away on that map, so looking more towards the other end.  Anyone know exactly what connects the two lakes, spillway or?.......  Looks like the only shot at getting near the channel is a pier off the road on the west side, or the small lake along the west side.  I thought that lake has tons of sunken timber, which may be a game changer once I show up there.  Small part looks OK from the map, but is it.  

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

[BojiHawk]

My understanding is they made sort of a silt trap on the intake...small stilling pond in the creek entrance, then the silt falls down, and there is a raised underwater culvert that lets the clearer water float out and lets the silt settle out of the water and fall into the basin of the "silt catcher".  That way, the only have to dredge out the silt basin.  Don't quote me, never been there.  But I would say that if a guy found that warmer water pouring in through that culvert, that would a be a great spot to start.  Don't quote me...just a thought.