Fished my homelake yesterday in hopes of catching some 'eyes and perch. Launched at about 1030 a.m. Didn't really know about ice conditions, but knew there was going to be snow/slush. Much to my surprise the ice was a solid 8".
Set up in 15' and tried gather the interest of nearby fish with an aggressive bait that vibrates and has been a known producer for trout. About 5 minutes in I had a fish come in on the Vex and just hang out with the bait. It wouldn't really commit to chasing. After some unappreciated seductive moves of the bait, more came in. I immediately grabbed my lil' tung jig and loaded it with a couple of maggots. Got fish to chase it all over, up to about 3' off bottom, lil were just sucking the tail of the bait, so I missed 3 bites.
My buddy must of attracted the school to him with minnows. He caught 3 lil' fellas about 6". I decided to move closer to the channel and set up in 18'. Started using the attractor lure again. Had a fish come in and thump it. Thought from the way it hit that was a trout and possibly an eye. Not much weight there so I thought I missed. Turned out to be a 10" perch. Crazy thing is my bait is almost 3" and he had the front treble all the way in his mouth.
Pretty much had fish on the vex all day. Just not many bites. I think I had 10 bites today and landed 5 fish. 1 on a minnow and the rest were on the bait pictured below. I stayed late and setup on a point that has been good to me in the early spring open water. Had one nice fish come in and check out my bait for 30 seconds but wouldn't commit.
I think it's just a matter of timing the bite. Definitely didn't have favorable conditions since it was post front on a lake that is very well known for eating up many of really good anglers and spitting them out. It was my 30th day on the ice this year and was glad I didn't get my first skunk of 2012.
