Author Topic: Central IL Fishing update (Read 2229 times)

lobhater · « **on:** Jan 28, 2014, 08:44 AM »

So, I have been out 3 times in the past week and once again just don't have much to show for it. Hit Evergreen last Tuesday night and got 3 nice crappie right by the handicap dock but that was after 3 hours of fishing so not much good to report there. I went to Dawson 2 other trips since then and found a bunch of smaller crappie and gills with only 4 or 5 crappie over 10 inches, all out in the deep basin, 18 ft of water. Lots of ice and cold weather still in the forecast so still time for me to turn this year around....maybe?! Good luck out there guys!

DaWakoKid · « **Reply #1 on:** Jan 28, 2014, 09:45 AM »

So I'll start this off by saying I am in no way an ice fishing pro, accomplished, or even an novice. I am a rookie in every sense of the word. Sunday was my 2nd time out...ever. First time was last season and between the 4 of us fishing, we managed 2 bites. One landed. I'm happy to say I was the one that landed the fish and that the day didn't end terribly. We fished some open water and found the gills stocked up there, salvaging our day.

Anyway, I fish the waters around Blo/No a lot. Evergreen, Dawson, Bloomington on occation, White Oak when I don't want to drive any where, but the body of water I fish most is an 8.5 acre lake on some family owned private land about 30 miles east of Blo/No. I know the property like the back of my hand, so I had high hopes Sunday when my buddy and I went out. We started off fishing about 12-15 fow around a fallen tree. No bites. Moved out to the deepest part of the lake, 35 fow. No bites. Moved to a submerged Christmas tree bed in 6-8 fow. No bites. The same part of the lake as last season was open, so we pulled out the open water rods and fished that for about 45 minutes. No bites. We moved the baits up and down the water column at every spot we fished. We drilled hole after hole after hole. We would drill holes, fish old holes for 10-15 minutes, then go back to the new ones to fish them. Nothing worked.

We finally decided to move to a smaller lake on the property that I fish occasionally. The lake is harder to fish in the summer as it has significant lily pad coverage, but holds some decent bluegills, crappie and bass. We drilled 4 holes in about 8 fow. Ended up fishing those 4 holes for a little less than 2 hours and managed 5 fish, 4 gills and 1 bass. Gills had nice size and the bass was about 1 lb. Not a giant, but a nice surprise. Had a couple more fish that hit and we either missed the hook set, or they got off before we landed them. Had one real big gill at top of the hole when the hook popped out, so what's my dumb ass do? Shove my hand down the hole to try and grab it before it goes back down. Missed. Hand is soaked. Both gloves I had on are soaked. Not fun.

My buddy had something big on, not sure what it was as he didn't get a good view, but it bulldogged him and ended up breaking the line about 30 seconds into the fight. He set the hook, got a couple cranks in, fish turned on him and started pulling drag. Not sure if the line got cut on the ice or closer to the fish, but during the first run he made, the line snapped.

Anyway, we left calling the day a success. 5 fish in the cooler (made a good dinner last night) and a bunch more knowledge about ice fishing out there than we had before. Can't wait to get back out.

On a side note, how the hell do I post pictures here?

blufloyd · « **Reply #2 on:** Jan 28, 2014, 11:00 AM »

Friday am gathering at Lake B Starkey Park Hickory creek? Around 9 am?

COlipripper · « **Reply #3 on:** Jan 31, 2014, 11:42 AM »

If you enjoy ice fishing and plan on doing it in the future with any regularity, a sonar of any kind would help out immensely and be worth the cost. It literally changes ice fishing.

It will take you from fishing blind to seeing if there are fish where you've drilled. It will tell you almost immediately if you're in the 10% portion of the water that holds fish. Once you find the fish, a sonar will show you how the fish are reacting to your lure, bait, jigging action, dead stick no action, and where they are in the water column. Crappie and bluegill tend to suspend and if you always lower the lure all the way to the bottom, you may be missing the most active fish. You can even get away with an open water sonar if you rig it up correctly.

DaWakoKid · « **Reply #4 on:** Jan 31, 2014, 03:38 PM »

Thanks for the advice, CO.

CharlieBrn · « **Reply #5 on:** Feb 01, 2014, 11:19 AM »

Although it's been many years since fishing down there, when I lived in Decatur, I use to do pretty well on gills and crappies this time of year on the south west bays at Clinton. Not sure how far of a drive that would be but, may be a nice road trip for a day outing.

fatfenders · « **Reply #6 on:** Feb 06, 2014, 02:56 PM »

Fished River Bend a couple times in the past week or so. Spent a morning on Sunset Lake with howling winds blowing sand and dirt onto the ice from the quarry. I fished there a couple weeks ago after fresh snow and forgot about the tendency to get sand on the ice. Dulled my auger blades. Doh! I drilled until my arms fell off and finished with the spud after that. This time I walked clear to the northeast end of the lake to try to get away from the dirt. Over a foot of ice tired me out pretty quick with the 8" auger and my crappy blade sharpening job. There wasn't much protection from the wind and I didn't mark any fish so I headed to the south side where there was a drop off and wind protection. A lot of dirt present so I decided to use the spud. I tell you what, it takes a long time to chip through a foot of ice with a spud! I have a new respect for good old Dad back in the day when that's all we had. He told me about a time he chipped through two feet of ice. Would have been one of those winters in the late 70's/early 80's. Any way, a half hour later and I strike water. Drop the ducer down only to find I miscalculated and I'm in three feet of water instead of the deeper shelf. Blargh! No fish so I hoof it to the west end of the lake to find some uncontaminated ice so I can use my auger again. One more hole in a deep basin with no fish marked after 15 minutes or so of jigging. Wind was picking up so I called it a day.

Made it out to Shadow Lake late yesterday afternoon. This is the sister lake to Sunset not easily accessible by watercraft so it has little fishing pressure. I got on the ice about 4pm and fished until a little after dark. I'm not sure exactly how deep Shadow lake is but I think it's about 50 feet seeing as it's an old pit. I've marked depths past 30 feet closer to shore. My last visit I started in 20 FOW and didn't get any bites so I moved to another location I thought was similar depth. It ended up being 8 FOW. I was bummed but threw a line down there anyway and darned if I didn't pull out a nice crappie and a bunch of dink bluegill. Surprised me. I thought the fish would be deeper. Fished that same spot last night and found more dink bluegill with an occasional nice crappie. Got a 12" crappie on a small yellow horizontal jig tipped with waxies. Then at dark, got a nice 13" crappie on a green and yellow buckshot rattle spoon with waxies. Fish were hugging the bottom but coming up a foot or more to see what I had to offer. I could tell when the waxies were stolen because the fish would come up but then show no interest. I'm amazed how much bigger the 13"-er looks being only an inch bigger. I was a happy camper.

A couple from last week's outing with Dad

Might head to the Arthur Outdoor Expo with my boys Saturday if the weather cooperates. Might also be able to squeeze in a little fishing Sunday afternoon if my younger son is interested in going.

I've had a 6" auger on order from Farm and Fleet since last week. My 8" auger is killing me with this thick ice. It was in the Decatur store so they had to ship it. I found one in my Urbana store's inventory online the next day. Stopped in and they said it was for a raincheck so I couldn't buy it. Checked my order status that night and it showed my auger had traveled from Decatur to Champaign. Might have been my raincheck! So, thought I might get it the next day or two since I live 10 miles from Champaign. Checked again and it showed enroute to Independence, KY which is 300 miles away.

So, marvelling at the efficiency of Fed Ex, I wait for their Smartpost delivery though I'm thinking it's not very "smart" at the moment. Checked Monday and my status showed Mahomet, IL "In transit to local Post Office". Cool, just another day or two. Checked again yesterday and now it's location is Des Moines, IA. Might be here by spring so I can dig some post holes.

Kevin

CharlieBrn · « **Reply #7 on:** Feb 06, 2014, 05:50 PM »

Nicely done Kevin. I see you got white crappies and black ones mixed in there. I so miss my pan fish living up here.

blufloyd · « **Reply #8 on:** Feb 06, 2014, 06:10 PM »

Might head out tomorrow somewhere close to a boat launch if sun out. Maybe Dawson or Bloomington. Balancing chemo and cold is a real trick.

Oneicehole · « **Reply #9 on:** Feb 06, 2014, 08:14 PM »

Kevin I have a 5 inch like new you can borrow hit me up! Blu send me a note if you go out. I maybe off tomorrow!! Jeremy

blufloyd · « **Reply #10 on:** Feb 06, 2014, 09:59 PM »

Watch the inbox around noon. freezing now in house so - nada outside won't be doable I am sure.

ratsotail · « **Reply #11 on:** Feb 06, 2014, 10:22 PM »

Way to go Kevin!

I've been traveling too much lately, but ready to get back into the game. Thinking about Ramsey State Park next week...north of Vandalia. Heck I could probably fish around St. Louis now!

tight lines,

Jeff

Oneicehole · « **Reply #12 on:** Feb 06, 2014, 11:39 PM »

Jeff keep me in mind for ramsey. Jeremy

blufloyd · « **Reply #13 on:** Feb 07, 2014, 10:24 AM »

Buddy hammered redear down at Ramsey last time it had ice.

ratsotail · « **Reply #14 on:** Feb 07, 2014, 12:56 PM »

Jeremy,

What does your schedule look like for the week/weekend? I'm dying to get out, but this work thing just keeps getting in the way

!

Oneicehole · « **Reply #15 on:** Feb 07, 2014, 02:46 PM »

Free this Sunday for sure!

spcsports · « **Reply #16 on:** Feb 07, 2014, 03:01 PM »

Anybody doing any good at Jim Edger SP on Gridley Lake, Prairie Lake or Drake Lake? I fished Gridley in December and early January and south end of Prairie Lake once but just caught little gills.
Also wanting to get over to try Siloam Springs SP sometime too. Thanks

Oneicehole · « **Reply #17 on:** Feb 07, 2014, 03:27 PM »

Sp I would be interested in the Siloam springs trip any idea on when? May hit ramsey Sunday you interested? Jeremy

spcsports · « **Reply #18 on:** Feb 07, 2014, 04:10 PM »

I hope to hit a pond by Jacksonville this weekend with a fiend that we did well a couple weeks ago. My friend has the permission to fish there I don't. If that falls through I might be looking for another place to go. Probably afternoon to let it warm up some too.

calicoslabslides · « **Reply #19 on:** Feb 07, 2014, 10:16 PM »

Hey guys been awhile since I have posted, kevin, good to see your catching some nice crappies! Anybody going to fish dawson this weekend? I hope to get out sunday and try. They have to turn on someday

spcsports · « **Reply #20 on:** Feb 08, 2014, 08:26 PM »

Well my neighbor, my oldest daughter, and I hit a pond by Jacksonville this afternoon again. Didn't catch as many largemouth but caught 15 nice redear and 8 slab crappie. Worst part was cleaning them, COLD hands!

We caught all of them suspended but in different depths from 15-8 foot of water. Used different jigs and wax worms. Seamed the verticle jigs have been working better though. Mostly white, pink/white, blue/white jigs were best.

Hope you guys did as well! I would post pictures if it weren't so difficult.

Shawn

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Author Topic: Central IL Fishing update (Read 2229 times)