Finally

[fish333]

Finally got out to do some ice fishing. Just caught 2 fish for supper tonite. Felt good to get out.  Was out for about 3 hours and seen a lot of fish on the Marcum but they would just look and not bite. You could move bait up the column and the fish would follow just to look at  it. Frustrating.
Be safe out there.

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

That's been my experience about half the times I've been out this year.  That's fishing for ya.  Glad you got out there!

[zcm_82]

It's been like that quite a few days this year for me as well. See fish but not interested in hitting anything. The bite has been like a light switch, even on good days. They'll be hot, then just stop... still there, just negative.

[Rebelss]

It's been like that quite a few days this year for me as well. See fish but not interested in hitting anything. The bite has been like a light switch, even on good days. They'll be hot, then just stop... still there, just negative.

Must be that danged barometer! 

[wsj_outdoorsman]

Are you using live or plastic bait?  Sometimes it makes a difference.

[aarogod]

Finally got out to do some ice fishing. Just caught 2 fish for supper tonite. Felt good to get out.  Was out for about 3 hours and seen a lot of fish on the Marcum but they would just look and not bite. You could move bait up the column and the fish would follow just to look at  it. Frustrating.
Be safe out there.

I've been out 6 times this year and every single time ive had the exact same experience.  They will come up and take a look at what you got to offer but maybe 1 out of every 15 fish that looks actually bites and it's usually light

I'm about to switch to more plastics and smaller hooks/jigs as i have lost count of how many fish i have been unable to hook when my spring bobber goes

[Old Goat]

  hang in there people been slow to worse here since first ice flurry. Today it got up to 40 or near and the fish were on fire so much at one point I tried jig alone but no bite back to waxies and smoked them

[zcm_82]

I've been out 17 outings in 2022 now, and as a general rule, the early morning bite has been far better than afternoon/evening for me so far this season. 

7am-10am or so I've done fairly well, but the bite has been slow to dead from 10am-2pm-ish, and pretty slow in the later afternoon/evenings that I've fished. All of my better outings have been early.

[IlliniIce]

last few times i have had to downsize to small plastics to really get them to go.
could catch a few on small spoons/jigs w/waxies but wedgees, jamies/makies and ratso type tails worked much better for numbers and keepers
looks like a few days off, we have about 8 inches so far and big drifts so its going to be tough to get into places for a while

[zcm_82]

We're up to about 5.5" here and the wind has gotten pretty brisk.

[ratsotail]

Finally got to pop some holes in south-central Illinois last week and early this week. Perfect conditions...4-6" of solid ice, clear water, and aggressive fish. We caught Catfish, Bluegill, Redear, Crappie, Largemouth, and Trout. But, after last night's heavy rain and warm temps it looks like our season will end almost as soon as it started, unfortunately! Tight Lines until next season  !! Fished Beaver Dam and Ramsey State Parks.

Jeff

[zcm_82]

Up to 7" here now, and starting to drift quite a bit.

[IlliniIce]

ratso, columbia? south of st. louis? bet there aint too many years you get to ice fish at all

zcm, ya  never know on when they bite. your slow time is when i go, lol, 11 am to around 3 for me and i've only had a couple off days out of about 10 trips so far. go figure

[zcm_82]

How did everyone else fare with the snow? Ended up with 9.5" at my place, but I saw some totals of 10-15" to the west and south of me.

Haven't checked the ice yet, but I'm guessing it's slushy slop on top now. That snow was heavy stuff, and the ice had a lot of pressure cracks on all the ponds I've been fishing.

[ratsotail]

ratso, columbia? south of st. louis? bet there aint too many years you get to ice fish at all

Yes indeed, we usually have to drive north an hour or more, but it's worth it :-)!

Jeff

[IlliniIce]

checked fishin holes yesterday, access plowed to two best lakes, couple rural ponds blocked by drifts and plowed snow at gateways
not much snow on the ice with the high winds along with around 8 inches of snow
other obligations until tuesday then its go-time with highs forecast in the 30s and pushing into 40s a few times over the next two weeks 

[zcm_82]

I'm just packing it up for the day. Started around 7:30... fishing was fairly slow, 9 gills, about half of which were dinks. Had to really jig aggressively to get them to take a whack at anything.

Not much snow on top here either, but around 2" frozen slush over 4-7" of clear ice here. Anywhere snow is piled up along the bank, the edges are mushy. I imagine it'll be a mess and the edges will rot fast whenever we get a warmup.

[fish333]

Are you using live or plastic bait?  Sometimes it makes a difference.

(sorry)
I tryed plastic and wax's. Even plan hook with just plastic and plan wax's. Tryed other trick also. All and all it was good.