Let me start by saying there's lots of unsafe ice in the shoals. Be careful if you go out. I went with 2 other guys, and we fished on 4 1/2 inches of ice with some slush on top. I watched two anglers walk side by side without a spud. We decided to move, and figured it would be safe to follow those tracks they made. However, I didn't trust it. So I used the spud bar as we went. We got about half way down, and the spud went through on one pop! Couldn't have been more than 1 to 1 1/2 inches there. It was the same all the way around that area, and no where to pass through. So we went back to our safe ice. I'm not sure what those guys were thinking, but I was hoping we wouldn't be doing a rescue today. They got lucky this time.
Now to the fishing. We caught rediculous amount between the 3 of us. I'm guessing 200 or more. The majority of them were short fish. Randy & I caught our limit, and Dewey caught 15 keepers. Randy had 18 crappie, and 7 gills, I had 4 crappie, 6 redear, and 15 gills. Biggest redear 9 1/2 inches, biggest gill 8 3/4 inches, and the crappies ranged from 9 to 11 inches. Mixed in were some pike, bullhead, and one small bass that were all released.
Fished early morning till just before noon. Caught fish on shinners, mud minnows, spikes, waxworms. Below are a few photos from the day.
