Went out for the first time today and...

[muskiewrangler]

caught nothing!!!  but hey, I was out for a couple hours, but the problem was that the ice was only 3-1/2" or so and I was just too paranoid about it and just called it a day, but I have a couple scenic pics atleast.

My set up

Inside (my camera ran out of juice the second I started it up  )

Me 

Sorry if the images are too big, still new to PB.

[bigbucky1]

Doesnt look like nearly enough holes drilled to fine fish.  lol   I bet we drilled 50-75 holes yesterday trying to find them and kept coming up with dink bass.  hopefully this weekend we will have better luck

[Roncarr]

Good job getting out

[muskiewrangler]

Doesnt look like nearly enough holes drilled to fine fish.  lol   I bet we drilled 50-75 holes yesterday trying to find them and kept coming up with dink bass.  hopefully this weekend we will have better luck

To be honest I had more holes drilled, they just weren't in the picture 

[ratsotail]

MuskieWrangler,

You look to be prepared for anything with all the gear. I'm happy to see you got out... the pics look great!. Can you tell me what region you are fishing in? I'm trying to gauge ice thickness by latitude. I live just east of St. Louis and I'm trying to determine how far south the good ice has reached. 3 1/2" is definitely enough for me...might be a bit "skinny" for others though  !

tight lines,

ratsotail

[muskiewrangler]

MuskieWrangler,

You look to be prepared for anything with all the gear. I'm happy to see you got out... the pics look great!. Can you tell me what region you are fishing in? I'm trying to gauge ice thickness by latitude. I live just east of St. Louis and I'm trying to determine how far south the good ice has reached. 3 1/2" is definitely enough for me...might be a bit "skinny" for others though  !

tight lines,

ratsotail

I'm in Palos Hills of Cook County and just to tell you I was on a small pond right next to a bigger lake and I tried testing the lake first today and although I was able to walk out on there, I could see it cracking in some parts as I walked further along, which would probably have that amount of ice to be a little over 3-1/4". So if you are going out on 3-1/2" soon then I wish you the best of luck and safety... I just couldn't really handle the thought of falling through after seeing the ice cracking earlier and fishing at the same time.

[reddog11]

Nice pictures.