Author Topic: First outing of 2020/21 season  (Read 8905 times)

Offline zcm_82

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First outing of 2020/21 season
« on: Dec 29, 2020, 12:08 PM »
Hit a local pond for a couple hours after scouting some ice this morning. My expectations were pretty low, since it's generally not a very productive spot, but that's where the only real fishable ice was. I only ended up with a few dink gills, but it still beat a morning at work.




Offline toadhunter2

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #1 on: Jan 01, 2021, 09:06 PM »
Nice hoping to get out soon myself
early mornings,cold north winds,hard ice,good friends and cold high life..FLAG UP!.priceless

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #2 on: Jan 01, 2021, 09:16 PM »
I went out again for a bit this at first light this morning, but it started raining so hard there was water standing on the ice by like 730, and my fish house was a solid shell of ice and I was getting dripped on, so I got out of there around 8am.

Offline Robby

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #3 on: Jan 01, 2021, 09:43 PM »
Where in Illinois are you?

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #4 on: Jan 01, 2021, 09:48 PM »
Iroquois County.

Ice is probably shot now. It had a lot of water standing on it by 8am. You can see how wet it was here, and this was just after 7 this morning.


Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #5 on: Jan 02, 2021, 06:45 PM »
Got the first trip under my belt for the new year!  Managed 21 crappie and 2 perch in 2 hours.  3.5" of ice.
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Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #6 on: Jan 02, 2021, 06:50 PM »
Got the first trip under my belt for the new year!  Managed 21 crappie and 2 perch in 2 hours.  3.5" of ice.

Nice! Only managed a few small bluegills each outing here. Did lose one decent bass at the bottom of the hole yesterday. I wasn't expecting great fishing though. The more productive spots were under thin ice on my ponds. They're all frozen really unevenly right now around here.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #7 on: Jan 02, 2021, 08:11 PM »
Gonna try again tomorrow.  Best of luck if you get out!
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #8 on: Jan 03, 2021, 08:11 PM »
Took the boys (6 & 8) out today.  Caught 19 crappie, 2 perch, and a nice red-ear.  The 6-yr-old ruled the day with his only catch...a 14" crappie!  That's what I get for letting him have my hole and flasher for 2 minutes while I went back across the pond for the ice dipper!

3.5" of ice.
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #9 on: Jan 03, 2021, 08:51 PM »
Did better than me...  I got skunked. The ice was about 4" with soft edges this morning, but the melting snow and slush on top had it down to 3-3.5" by the time I went out around 230pm. I saw several gills through the hole, but just couldn't get them to hit anything I put down at all.

Offline hnd

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #10 on: Jan 04, 2021, 12:39 PM »
after all the holiday festivities and traveling everywhere i couldnt' ice fish, I finally made it out to a local conservation club.  found about 5-6" of ice.  about 4 of good stuff. 

Fished for about 45 minutes.  caught about 20-30 crappies and bluegills.  only a few that i'd consider keepers.  but it really felt good. 

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #11 on: Jan 04, 2021, 05:55 PM »
Hit a different spot today. Had about 4.5" of decent sheet but the edges were pretty crappy. Bite was really slow... 2 small gills, and a couple missed bites in a bit over 2 hours. Had my boy with me. He had one, but lost it on the edge of the hole, and ended up icing nothing.

Offline IlliniIce

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #12 on: Jan 05, 2021, 06:27 AM »
first trip yesterday, 4 inches on small pond in northern fulton co.
nice crappies and gills flying in and slamming a slender spoon w/waxies around noon for about an hour, then it tailed off
kept a dozen good ones, lots of smaller fish caught too on jigs
couple places i really want to fish still just over 3 inches, not quite enough for me

Offline DaWakoKid

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #13 on: Jan 05, 2021, 12:15 PM »
Think the wife and I are heading out this weekend. Not sure where yet, but probably my family's place. Were out there before NYE and there was a couple of inches of good ice. With the weather we've had, should be pretty good by this weekend.

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #14 on: Jan 05, 2021, 03:10 PM »
Made a little quick stop at one of the ponds I fished last week on my way home from work. Ice was around 3.5", edges were thinner, but not as bad as the one I fished yesterday. I only sat about 30 minutes. Landed a couple dink gills... always forget how much it sucks to ice fish with steel toes on, too 😂


Offline IlliniIce

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #15 on: Jan 06, 2021, 08:45 AM »
fished a pond in east central warren co. yesterday, 4 inches good ice
not a lot of marks but managed a decent mess of nice gills/craps

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #16 on: Jan 06, 2021, 10:02 AM »
I need a bit more ice around here to really get on any numbers. The best ice is on spots that usually aren't real productive. Hoping these nights in the 20s this week firms things up enough to get on some better fishing this weekend.

Offline IlliniIce

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #17 on: Jan 06, 2021, 10:14 AM »
i am in same situation, fishing where its good ice but not my best spots at bigger ponds/lakes for overall size and numbers
maybe next week...

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #18 on: Jan 06, 2021, 07:13 PM »
Fished a buddy's pond today.  Caught about 25 gills, 2 bass, and 8 crappie.

3-3.75" of ice.  It's always a little unnerving when the auger breaks through on the 4th or 5th crank! :o
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #19 on: Jan 06, 2021, 07:35 PM »
I skipped today. Way too warm and melty for my big butt to be playing around on 3-4" of ice.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #20 on: Jan 09, 2021, 08:19 PM »
Took my 2 young boys and 2 adult buddies out to the home pond today.  Fished from 10:30-3:45.  Caught well over 125 fish!

The 6-yr-old had the hot hole again, releasing crappie of 13.5" and 14.5".  He also had a very nice smallmouth get off at the hole.

3.75" of ice.
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #21 on: Jan 09, 2021, 08:34 PM »
Our ice was totally shot here by Thursday afternoon. The edges were open water or total mush. It has been colder since Thursday night, so I'm gonna go have a look around right at dawn tomorrow to see if anything is solid enough to get out again.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #22 on: Jan 09, 2021, 09:16 PM »
That's too bad!  Our ice was good today.  Our pond is just under 3 acres and 22' deep.   I have not yet tried the bigger lakes nearby.

Best of luck next time you get out!
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #23 on: Jan 09, 2021, 09:20 PM »
The ones I had been fishing are between about half an acre, and 2 acres and max out around 10-12 feet.

*added* found some just barely fishable ice, but it paid off. Caught 19 gills from 8-11am. About half were dinks, half were what I'd consider "keeper" sized. A pretty good size bass kept cruising through and scattering the gills every 10-15 minutes, which was fun to watch, but didn't help my fish count.


Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #24 on: Jan 10, 2021, 01:49 PM »
Next time that bass shows up, keep one of those drinks and put him on a good-sized hook...
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #25 on: Jan 10, 2021, 01:54 PM »
I tried changing up baits, and even bonked it on the head with my jig at one point, but it wasn't interested. I'm not sure if it was feeding, or just chasing the gills off, because it was literally every 10-15 minutes all morning.

The gill bite slowed down around 10 and was dead by 1045, so I packed it in at 11.

Offline DaWakoKid

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #26 on: Jan 10, 2021, 02:51 PM »
Got out today in east McLean County. 8 acre lake, 35' deep at the deepest. Interesting, because the smaller bodies had crap ice and slush around the edges, but the biggest body had a decent edge on the south side. Main block of ice was 3-3.5".

3 of us went out from about 11-2, and didn't do great, but caught a handful of gills, all 7-8", and one 2 lb cat. Lost a couple largies as well.


Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #27 on: Jan 10, 2021, 06:03 PM »
Went for a short trip and fished from 3:30 to 5.  Tough bite.  Caught about a dozen, including one of those 14.5" crappie.

Those largest bodies of water are the most resistant to change.  Last to freeze, last to thaw.  Smaller bodies are the exact opposite, first to freeze, first to thaw.

Great job getting anything today!

3.75" of ice.
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline zcm_82

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #28 on: Jan 10, 2021, 06:27 PM »
Went for a short trip and fished from 3:30 to 5.  Tough bite.  Caught about a dozen, including one of those 14.5" crappie.

Those largest bodies of water are the most resistant to change.  Last to freeze, last to thaw.  Smaller bodies are the exact opposite, first to freeze, first to thaw.

Great job getting anything today!

3.75" of ice.
I'm gonna hit the same pond a bit tomorrow after work, if the edges recover tonight. They were just barely passable in a couple places, and I cracked them up pretty good going on and off today.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: First outing of 2020/21 season
« Reply #29 on: Jan 12, 2021, 10:41 PM »
Fished a larger lake in Knox county tonight from 6-930.  Caught 20, got smoked by my brother and nephew.  They got about 70 between them.

5" of ice.
Fisher of Fishermen

 



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