IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Illinois => Ice Fishing Illinois => Topic started by: zcm_82 on Dec 29, 2020, 12:08 PM
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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.
(https://i.postimg.cc/47fmZTMt/IMG-20201229-111506.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/47fmZTMt)
(https://i.postimg.cc/fJGyydpM/IMG-20201229-095659.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/fJGyydpM)
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Nice hoping to get out soon myself
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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.
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Where in Illinois are you?
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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.
(https://i.postimg.cc/ZBx7LMBH/IMG-20210101-070438.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/ZBx7LMBH)
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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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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.
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Gonna try again tomorrow. Best of luck if you get out!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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 😂
(https://i.postimg.cc/QKBm13rH/IMG-20210105-141119.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/QKBm13rH)
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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
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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.
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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...
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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
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I skipped today. Way too warm and melty for my big butt to be playing around on 3-4" of ice.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Whd1xY7j/IMG-20210110-093937.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Whd1xY7j)
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Next time that bass shows up, keep one of those drinks and put him on a good-sized hook...
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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.
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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.
(https://i.postimg.cc/tsRpLQv0/PXL-20210110-200132229.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/tsRpLQv0)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I went out for about an hour yesterday afternoon. Landed a few dinks, got my legs wet 😂 I knew the edges were crap, rolled the dice and went through up to my knees. Ice was 4" and solid once you got out 15 feet from the bank, but the edges are about 2" and mushy.
Bite was real light. Not used to fishing with gloves on so I missed a bunch, but the ice was way too sketchy to try dragging the house out.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4nTX65j4/IMG-20210112-164302.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4nTX65j4)
(https://i.postimg.cc/PLkS3CHD/IMG-20210112-163358.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/PLkS3CHD)
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tough bite for me last couple times out, including yesterday. missed a lot of light bites even with spring bobber and noodle rods. sent my half dozen keepers back down the hole
pond i was on yesterday was a bit over 4 inches, when i left top 1/2 inch was soft and edges getting shaky
i am done until next week when it should firm back up
gonna take advantage of this nice day to try and fill my archery turkey permit
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I'm definitely done for a few days. The edges are already shot on everything around here, and it's supposed to be about 40° today. Might go check ice again Sunday, if that forecast cold front moves in Friday.
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Time to restring the spools, sharpen the hooks, and come up with a game plan for late January. This weather sucks.
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There are a couple spots where I was sitting on 3-4" of ice a week ago that were open water yesterday afternoon.
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There are a couple spots where I was sitting on 3-4" of ice a week ago that were open water yesterday afternoon.
That makes me sad!
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It was 52° and windy Wednesday afternoon here. The edges were already shot, so that just annihilated our ice.
That cold shot seems to be here, though, so got my fingers crossed it locks back up soon. It was 35° and raining when I woke up at 3am. It's 32 and dumping snow now, the ground is already covered a bit.
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Just a bit of reference on how much ice we lost. I was fishing this pond on over 4" Monday.
(https://i.postimg.cc/TyrvM6D5/IMG-20210115-135649.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/TyrvM6D5)
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Fished the home pond today. Pretty sketchy. We were more than socially distanced, like, "Here, catch my auger!"
Caught 25-30 and my buddy added 20 in 3 hours. The bite was hot right when we got there @ 130, but it tapered off quickly.
2.75" of ice.
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Still nothing fishable here. We got about 2" of wet snow yesterday morning that melted off in the afternoon, so that didn't help at all.
It got down to 26 last night though, and it's supposed to stay below freezing until Thursday afternoon, so hopefully some of the local stuff will be walkable again in a couple days. I have the chisel in the car to check ice after work tomorrow to see how it is coming along. As long as these forecast highs aren't undershot, it should definitely be fishable by the weekend.
(https://i.postimg.cc/JHLc1j8N/IMG-20210117-080318.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/JHLc1j8N)
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Fished Storey tonight with the boys.
Slow bite. Caught about a dozen.
5.5" of ice.
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Still got a ways to go here. Just checked a couple ponds. One was fully skinned again, the other had a couple small open water spots. Edges were anywhere between a skin and half an inch. Main sheets look ok, but no way to check.
I was fishing these a week ago 😒
(https://i.postimg.cc/RNSYqc7L/IMG-20210118-135615.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/RNSYqc7L)
(https://i.postimg.cc/34hBVT9F/IMG-20210118-135917.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/34hBVT9F)
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Checked ice @ Little Swan today. Lots of open water, but found 5" of ice. Ended up fishing Argyle Lake. Lots of open water there, too.
The 6-yr-old outfished his older brother and myself...again!
4" of ice.
(https://i.postimg.cc/phH6sC8H/20210118-163226.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/phH6sC8H)
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Checked ice @ Little Swan today. Lots of open water, but found 5" of ice. Ended up fishing Argyle Lake. Lots of open water there, too.
The 6-yr-old outfished his older brother and myself...again!
4" of ice.
(https://i.postimg.cc/phH6sC8H/20210118-163226.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/phH6sC8H)
Bet the kids loved that 😁 Our ice has been marginal all season, so I've only had mine out one time so far when I trusted it enough to have him messing around/possibly falling on it. He has been wanting his own ice rod for a while, so I finally picked him up a little combo over the weekend, and he's dying to use it now.
It's 17° here, and forecast about the same tonight/tomorrow morning, so I'm hoping it might be ready for a walkaround to check the sheet tomorrow. It should definitely will be ready by the weekend, but I'd love to be able to squeak in a little weekday outing if it gets solid enough.
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Same pond as yesterday... picked up about half an inch from yesterday. You can see where I popped the ice yesterday, too. So half an inch in the same spot.
(https://i.postimg.cc/ykSsvwHQ/IMG-20210119-140218.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/ykSsvwHQ)
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We have some cooler lows in the forecast, so hopefully you can get out this weekend! I'm going to be too busy at work the next few days, so I may be looking at the weekend, as well.
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If the forecast holds true, I miiiight be able to sneak out onto one of them tomorrow after work, and it will definitely be ready by the weekend. The others are still just a bit better than skim, but all the open water yesterday was frozen up today.
*added 1/21*
We've actually dipped well below the forecast. It was 21° when I got up at 3am. It is currently 14 and still dropping here. I'm surprised it has kept falling so close to sunup.
(https://i.postimg.cc/sQQqM3Lg/IMG-20210120-071710.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/sQQqM3Lg)
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Got out for a bit on a local pond. Edges were still very thin, had to probe around a lot to find a spot to walk out. Sheet was 3-4" of mediocre ice once I got 10' from the bank.
Only had one bite in about 45 minutes fishing. That wind was nasty, too. Looking good for the weekend, though.That cold front Friday should have the edges firmed up by Saturday morning enough to drag the house out.
(https://i.postimg.cc/WFx54xr0/IMG-20210120-140201.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/WFx54xr0)
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Heard they might open the back at the slough this weekend
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Heard they might open the back at the slough this weekend
I highly doubt it. I had a look out there a couple weeks ago and it was still better than half open water. It has to be fully capped to be open for fishing until the end of goose season, which is in February. I didn't even bother looking last weekend because of the warm weather and rain. I only live like 15 minutes from WS.
I was just barely able to get back on that 2 acre pond today, so I would put money on JC being a long way from capped.
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Definitely calling a giant negatory on the Slough being anywhere near safe after this spike today.
(https://i.postimg.cc/sBDb5fVc/IMG-20210121-125356.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/sBDb5fVc)
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Bad ice everywhere! Bring on the frigid temps!
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Guess I’ll check brc Saturday
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Found a pond that was just fishable this morning, so I gave it a sit from about 8-10am. Ice was about 3.5" but soft (could feel it springing up and down as I walked) and the edges were pretty thin... had to really hurry on and off the first 6 feet or so. The bite was decent from 8-930, then it went dead. The fish all moved deeper, but the ice on that end of the pond isn't safe to walk yet. Ended up with 11 gills, mostly dinks, and one little largemouth.
Ice should be a lot better tomorrow, with it so chilly today. That wind is flat out brutal.
(https://i.postimg.cc/s1VqbYqX/IMG-20210122-090737.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/s1VqbYqX)
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Fished Lake Storey tonight from 5-830. Tough bite. Managed 25 between my buddy, my son, and myself.
6.5" of ice.
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I hit the same pond again from about 730-10 this morning. The ice had firmed up and gained about half an inch, but it is still spotty between 1.5-4" and the ice isn't great. I could feel it getting softer as the sun came up and started hitting it, and the edges were crackling and groaning when I was getting off it.
Ended up pulling 16 bluegills, but only 3 or 4 were decent sized, the rest were little dinkers. Had a catfish poke his head up into the hole and have a look around, too. That's the 2nd time I've had one do that on that pond this season.
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Anyone hit any ponds or lakes around Blo/No, Cham/Bana so far this weekend? Planning on getting out tomorrow morning for a few hours.
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Got to fish the home pond again. We absolutely hammered them! Best bite of the year so far with lots of aggressive fish. Caught over 100 from 3-5pm. Several jumbo perch, the 8-yr-old caught a 9" red-ear, and the 6-yr-old kept up his streak of 14" crappie!
2.75-3" of ice.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4nR6W2g8/Video-Capture-20210124-002657.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4nR6W2g8)
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Gave the same pond another sit from 645 to about 9. Caught 11 gills, but none of them were very big. I could feel the ice sponging up under me, and by the time I left it was pretty soft. I imagine it will be shot by tomorrow.
(https://i.postimg.cc/JtRHVgzt/IMG-20210124-071856.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/JtRHVgzt)
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got back out tuesday, 4 inches one pond 6 on the other
drilled several holes on pond 2 to get away from the bass. very light bite on crappies and gills but had some nice keepers.
next chance tomorrow afternoon, hope forecasted rain this weekend doesnt mess things up again
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I hit a pond from 630-1030 this morning. Ice was pretty variable from 1-4.5" Bite was slow, but the fish were almost all quality gills. Last fish was fish of the day... tank gill that swooped in and inhaled a 1/8oz jigging rap I was bouncing to try to entice a bass that had been cruising under the hole.
(https://i.postimg.cc/JGDc3bXk/IMG-20210128-103823.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/JGDc3bXk)
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Took the day off work today and hit 3 bodies of water. Slow bite this morning on a big lake, good bite in the afternoon at the neighbor's pond. The kids each caught bass approaching 2#. Took the 12-yr-old daughter out on another lake to fish from 9-11p.m. We each avoided the skunk, but barely--1 apiece.
(https://i.postimg.cc/62SnyWDN/20210129-221832.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/62SnyWDN)
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I went out a couple hours this morning, and brought my boy. The ice was in a lot worse shape than it had been there on Thursday, there were even a couple small open water spots. The bite was terrible... lots of lookers, but couldn't get much to hit. I ended up with 3 dinks gills, and my son got zip.
As a lovely bonus, someone totally slobbed it up out there yesterday. >:( I ended up picking up about 3 dozen Busch Light cans, a worm container half full of dirt, and assorted other crap. There was also alfalfa strewn all over the place... guessing they were sitting on bales.
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checked a pond today that had a good 4+ inches thursday, eased out from bank about 10 feet and first whack with spud shot through about 4 inches of soft ice
gonna be awhile before i fish again but looks like freezing weather on the way
friday was my best day yet this season, lots of big crappies and gills. they were aggressive early, smacking slenders and demons, bite slowed, got em going again on a maki plastic
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checked a pond today that had a good 4+ inches thursday, eased out from bank about 10 feet and first whack with spud shot through about 4 inches of soft ice
gonna be awhile before i fish again but looks like freezing weather on the way
friday was my best day yet this season, lots of big crappies and gills. they were aggressive early, smacking slenders and demons, bite slowed, got em going again on a maki plastic
We got 9" of snow here over the weekend, and it was 35° today, so it burned right through the ice. All the ponds around here I have been fishing are partly to mostly open water now. The spot I was sitting on 3.5" Saturday morning is wide open this afternoon.
The melt is really a better case scenario than several inches of snow sitting on the ice through the coming cold blast, though. They will lock back up a lot better going from open water or skim than they would have as mushy ice with snow on top.
If the forecast is right, I imagine they'll be fishable again by the end of the weekend, and in real good shape 7-10 days from now.
(https://i.postimg.cc/w39chR3z/IMG-20210131-141308.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/w39chR3z)