Is it March already? No, so what's with this 50 degree weather..... I was asking myself this while I was on a conference call at work around 11AM yesterday. I decided after the call was over I would leave work and hit a small lake. I had to stop home and get my suit....mainly to keep dry. I was a little concerned about the ice. The warm temps have done some damage to it. I arrived at the lake and got out of my car. I walked over to the edge of the lake in a shallow spot and walked out to test it. The edge was very thin and cracked and broke but it was sitting on the lake bottom. It didn't really move at all. Once I got out past the first foot or two of shore ice it got thick again. I decided it would be safe enough to give it a go. I went back to the car and got my gear out.
I made my way out on the ice slowly, watching for anything that didn't look safe. The ice was very clear and healthy looking. I drilled a couple holes by some big bubbles frozen in the ice. Many times this will indicate wood under the ice....not always. In this case it did. I could see a lot of brush on my Marcum and some fish around a few limbs. I dropped down to them and they came up instantly and struck. Nice...a 9 inch gill. That felt good. Most of the bites I've been on this season have been very tough. I managed to get 2 more gills to join the fun. Then the hole went cold and so did the bite. I moved and drilled some more holes. I noted a lot of holes out in the middle. High pressure area......good places to check but not spend a lot of time on. These spots are usually fished out on first ice to mid-season. I checked it and I found nothing but dinks and shy fish. I moved back away from this area and found some more air bubbles in the ice. I started to locate a lot of these bubbles and drilled several holes around them. I could almost visualize where the trees and brush were on the bottom from the location of the bubbles.
I spent the rest of my time hole hopping and catching the aggressive fish. It's a great strategy to use. I had to adjust my presentation a lot early on. I switched color, style and tails....the full gambit. I ended up using one of Mitchell Meyers jigs. He asked me if I would try fishing a few of them. It was the ticket today. It was like the lights came on when I dropped his jig down the hole. I used a Teal and Pink jig with a purple and pink tail. It was hot! I like how heavy it fished as well.....I didn't expect that. I've really been on a tungsten kick lately. It makes it hard to go back to light jigs but I'm glad I tried it.
So, it was a great day....I kept 15 nice gills for a big meal with the family. I was the only one on the lake all afternoon and it's the most comfortable I've ever been on the ice. Not a bad day.
