Author Topic: Central Il Ice Conditions  (Read 9064 times)

Offline DaWakoKid

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #30 on: Jan 15, 2018, 09:36 PM »
Eastern McLean county had about 6" of clear ice yesterday. Took the wife out for her first time but had a hard time finding fish. One 7" gill that bit in about 10' of water and one 10" crappie that I picked up in about 5'. Watched the crappie move in over the weeds and take the spoon. Wish the action would have been a little faster but thankful to catch my first ever ice crappie.

Offline PoleJerker

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #31 on: Jan 16, 2018, 10:10 AM »
Congratulations on your 1st crappie DaWakoKid and for getting your wife out on the ice. 

Offline gillinator1

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #32 on: Jan 17, 2018, 08:19 PM »
Pekin had 5" of ice. Saw lots of fish but only a couple of takers. Light bite.

Offline calicoslabslides

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #33 on: Jan 18, 2018, 02:17 PM »
Guys, whats the deal with these fish this year? The lightest biting fish i have ever seen. Is it all these high pressure fronts we have been in?
If they don't find you handsome, They should at least find you handy.-Red Green

Offline gillinator1

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #34 on: Jan 18, 2018, 03:34 PM »
No idea. I threw all kinds of stuff at them. Should have went with a small hook.

Offline iceman1992

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #35 on: Jan 19, 2018, 05:13 PM »
Has anyone been out recently does anyone have any reports on ice condition?

Offline DaWakoKid

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #36 on: Jan 19, 2018, 05:26 PM »
Was on 3-7 inches this afternoon in McLean County. 6 keepers. About a dozen good bites in 3.5 hours. Marked a few more that wouldn't commit. All caught on spoons tipped with waxies between 6 and 10 FOW.

Offline gillinator1

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #37 on: Jan 19, 2018, 05:48 PM »
Fished a pond in north Peoria. 8" - 9" of ice. Walked all over the lake and drilled 50/60 holes before we found them. Caught one really big gill just a hair under 10" and a dozen nice ones. Got 3 bass too. Not much size though. Used red and chartreuse tungsten jigs and a red ratfinkie. (that's what seemed to work best)

Offline gillinator1

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #38 on: Jan 19, 2018, 05:50 PM »



Really strange things frozen vertical in the ice. Must be from bubbles. All over the lake. Looked like they went down about 6-8" .

Offline Crappie Day11

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #39 on: Jan 19, 2018, 07:38 PM »
Been out the last two days ice was 9 inch on a few ponds and the bite has been very good.

Offline iceman1992

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #40 on: Jan 19, 2018, 08:56 PM »
42 degrees today. Drove by small farm ponds and water standing from the melting snow. One pond was open on the north end due to the overflow. Went and checked the club that I belong to  10 miles south and all the big lakes still had snow on top. No water standing. Drilled several holes had 8 Inches.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #41 on: Jan 21, 2018, 08:15 PM »
Fished our pond in western Fulton County this afternoon.  Had 8 inches.  Top 2 inches was starting to deteriorate, but not yet to the point of honeycomb.  Everything this week will depend on tomorrow's rainfall.  Things could get sketchy pretty fast with a decent amount of rain...stay safe!
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Offline ufflmaster

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #42 on: Jan 22, 2018, 01:28 PM »
I had 6" on my lake in Fulton County Sunday. The top 1" was starting to get soft. My lake had about 2" less ice on it at the peak time than most lakes in my area did. I would guess if you started with 10" (instead of my 8") that you may be able to get out today still. Looking at the forecast we may well be done for the season. I predict we wont have ice cap by weekend of feb 3rd unfortunately. Obviously it can get super cold in February but hard to build back up if we have open water.

Offline PoleJerker

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #43 on: Jan 23, 2018, 12:15 PM »
Fished Lake Storey last weekend and felt safe but won't be out again until we get another cold snap.  If ice fishing is done it's time to think of an early spring.

Offline PoleJerker

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #44 on: Jan 24, 2018, 10:34 AM »
Had 8" of ice but edges were getting thin.  This was last Sunday.  Just don't think I would trust it at this point in time but that's just me.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #45 on: Jan 24, 2018, 06:37 PM »
Fished our pond tonight.  Used the dock plus a plank to get onto 4 inches of honeycombed ice.  Fish were less than cooperative.  Caught a yellow perch, a golden shiner, and a black crappie In 9-22 FOW.  I was not really adventurous and only fished about 10 holes.  I was too chicken to try anything shallow!

Anyway, this was likely my last time out until it gets cold again. :'(
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline DaWakoKid

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #46 on: Jan 25, 2018, 08:35 PM »
Think next Sunday will be ok around Central IL?

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #47 on: Jan 26, 2018, 07:35 AM »
Think next Sunday will be ok around Central IL?

Your bigger bodies of water will be most resistant to change.  They are the last to freeze and the last to thaw.  During a thaw cycle, I have seen big lakes hold ice when all ponds are open.  On the flip side, if the big lakes lose ice, some smaller, shallow ponnds may freeze back up with several nights in the low teens.

Lots of words to say, "Time will tell."
I may swing by Little Swan tonight to check things out.  If I make it up there, I will post an update.
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline Talltale

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #48 on: Jan 26, 2018, 09:25 AM »
No ice fishing today ,I think I will go to the fin & feather expo in Bloomington today should be a fun time!
Your money is not worth my sanity!

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #49 on: Jan 26, 2018, 07:41 PM »
Little Swan was neither safe nor fishable today.
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Offline Finaddict59

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #50 on: Jan 30, 2018, 04:12 PM »
No ice in eastern il, this time last week it was fantastic, now open water kankakee river,iroquois river. Willow slough,smaller ponds ice is gone ,48 temp for wednesday I was fishing 10 min from my house first time in 3 years cruel joke not a fan of mother nature!

Offline Schooley88

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #51 on: Jan 31, 2018, 10:05 AM »
We went out Saturday to check two strip mine lakes in Fulton Co. Two weeks ago both lakes had 10-12 inches. First lake we checked (bigger and deeper of the two) had lost all of its edges and was only 3 1/2" to 4" thick in the middle with very poor ice quality. Second lake that was much smaller had hard edges, was still holding almost 8" of ice and the bottom 4" were still hard, clear and black. I would have expected the exact opposite from these two lakes. Moral of the story, Every lake reacts different to warm ups. Approach each lake with the same amount of caution and respect. Carry a spud, wear a flotation device and be safe.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #52 on: Jan 31, 2018, 06:16 PM »
Drove by Lake Bracken today and saw a guy fishing.  This is not a statement of safety, but I kinda wished I could join him! ;D
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline ufflmaster

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #53 on: Feb 03, 2018, 12:55 PM »
Anyone been out in last couple days to check? I was thinking next weekend would be good for sure but saw guys on 2 different small lakes today in Fulton County. Obviously them being out there doesn't mean it was safe to be out there but the one car I recognized as an older guy who ice fishes a bunch. I may run down and drill a test hole and see what we have.

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #54 on: Feb 03, 2018, 10:39 PM »
Drove by Little Swan today.  There was about 30 feet of open water around the edges near the ramp area.  Ended up fishing a small pond 5 miles away that had 7 inches!
Fisher of Fishermen

Offline Arquero3d

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #55 on: Feb 08, 2018, 07:03 PM »
Tried the home pond (3 acres and deep) and had 3.25 inches, with the first 2 inches being junk ice.  Drove over to Little Swan Lake for the same.  Ended up fishing at the small pond (3/4 acre and 5' deep) with nearly 8 inches of ice. 

I wouldn't mind a few more nights in the single digits!

Fisher of Fishermen

Offline IlliniIce

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #56 on: Feb 09, 2018, 09:51 AM »
fished a small pond yesterday, 3 inches of not great ice near shore, spudded out a little further and found solid 4-5
not a lot of action, meaning high marks and crappies
what i caught had to pull off the bottom, kept 2 craps and a dozen gills
might go back today, my other ponds/lakes still too thin around the bank

Offline DaWakoKid

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #57 on: Feb 10, 2018, 05:59 PM »
Couple guys out on White Oak this evening. Geese keeping a small hole open on the northeast side of the lake. Hoping to get out next weekend.

Offline knol86

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #58 on: Feb 10, 2018, 11:56 PM »
Went to Dawson tonight. Had 4 good inches on the North end. There were people out in the bay as well.

Offline gillinator1

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Re: Central Il Ice Conditions
« Reply #59 on: Feb 11, 2018, 09:44 AM »
Lake Camelot ice fishing tournament was bad. Fish were tight to the bottom. I caught one 11" bass all day.

 



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