You live in the middle of some of the best ice fishing on the planet though.......not big fan of the hardwater either?

nope, not at all...i have iced fished growing up here & there from setting pike tip ups to pannie fishin...but just could never get into it, I like my long sticks, visible targets and working baits...midget poles and a ice hole never tripped my trigger...

I'm right there with ya! Makes living in the North downright miserable in the winter.

2 hours ago, BigSkyBasser said:

 

 

It is absolute torture watching you guys smack smallies and white bass all day everyday!

But nice work!

Hahaha ! Hey we work 40 hrs....... most of the time.......

I'm self employed. The struggle to work vs. fish is constant.

First of 2020. My goal this year will be to fish more. It needs to warm up though.

Finally got some good (relatively), weather this week on my day off. It was above freezing (barely), all day, so my guides were never icing up and the wind wasn't howling so I wasn't limited where I could fish. There's been a decent number of big fish turning up lately, so I was hopeful. I got a few pretty early on that were solid, but not big. I tried to get a big bite on a Chad Shad, and I got it when a fish blasted my bait as it sat on the surface while I was trying to finesse my line over a small limb, but she completely missed the hooks. Looked to be a 5-7 pound class fish. I also broke off a heavy fish on a Ned rig that I never saw. By the last hour of the day I'd pretty much reserved myself to not catching any big ones. Then I hooked a fish on a jerkbait I thought was a snag at first until I realized it was moving. Had it for a second or two and then it was just gone. I think and hope that I'd snagged a carp but what happened shortly after has me second guessing. 5 minutes later I hooked another heavy fish, this time it stayed hooked and I netted a 5.69. Less than 10 minutes later I got a train wreck of a slack line bite on my jerkbait and boated another hard pulling fish, this one went 5.20. I was hoping to get one more to put me over the 20lb mark, but what a way to wrap up the day!

 

 

Heck of a day @Bluebasser86, solid fish! Ran outta likes so this is the best I’m able to do 

Took the boat out Sunday to do a little fishing. My first solo trip in the new boat (too cold for my buddy) LOL. I waited till it "warmed" up to 26 degrees before heading out. Got to the lake about 11 and when I made the turn into the parking lot I was surprised. This lake is usually busy most weekends throughout the year. Well, I had my choice of parking spots on this frigid day. The wind got up higher than advertised and it stayed cold the entire day. I threw every deep water thing I could think of without a single bite. I threw Deep cranks, A rig, Big swimbaits, Little swimbaits, vision 110, vision 110 +1, vision 110 +2, chatterbait, lipless, jig, and I'm probably forgetting something. After 4 hours of battling I decided I did not want to get skunked. Grabbed a T-Rig and headed toward the bank. On about my 5th cast I landed one on a Spicy Beaver. Doh! Ended up catching one more in the next 30 min and had to leave to go to a birthday dinner. Not much to show for, but it was better than sitting on the couch.

 

Nice to catch fish on the first solo trip. A sign of good things to come.

After years of winter fishing stained midwestern lakes, I think the deep water bite is the least consistent. 

A lot of my largest fish have come from cold water. 99 percent of them were in water less than 5 foot.

Nicely Done ~

Bet that felt really good.

And tell your bud we said he's weak and that when pitching in for warm weather trip gas, cost 3x as much.

Congrats 

A-Jay 

Thanks guys! Yea @A-Jay he will be ready on those warm Spring days in March when those big mommas will be about to explode. LOL

Got a sudden urge to fish a roostertail on my ultra light combo. The goal was to catch some bream . No bream , but got this one and 2 smaller relatives instead. Nice fight on the ultra light!!

Nice fish. Inline spinners don't seem to get as much press these days. They flat out catch bass and about everything else.

Hadn't planned on going out today but when my daughter asked if I wanted to there was no way I was passing that up. Not hot by any means but still picked up 10 or so in 4 hours on the usual finesse baits. 

 

One of her better ones of the day.

 

Last one of the day.

 

Of course, just as the winds kicked up with a storm system heading in and the light of day about gone we found an incredible school of fish (she likes the fish ID on in 2d). I gave her a couple minutes jigging a kastmaster while I cleaned things up before the long run back to the ramp but unfortunately no takers before running out of time.

 

Went out for a couple hours today. Today I didn’t feel like taking it to serious- I just decided to play around with the roostertail again, and the tube. Did pretty good with the rooster but nothing on the tube. I had a lot of fish follow the rooster without taking. But those that did were a blast on the ultralight. Had fun and got some peace and quiet so that’s all that matters.

Crazy day. Fished a few hours without any bites offshore 20-40 feet, water temp 47. Finally my buddy hooks up with a fly on sinking line, 18” skinny smallmouth. I landed the fish for him and took a picture, jump back up on the trolling motor and grab my rod that I had set down when he hooked up (zoom dead ringer on drop shot). Turns out there’s a bass on it! The owner size 1 hook was right in the top lip in perfect position even though the rod was unmanned. Guess who? It’s the bass I’ve caught 4 times in that same spot the last two winters. And he was much fatter than when I caught it a couple weeks ago, probably because it eats everything. No more bites for an hour or so and we head to the lake house to put another coat of mud on some drywall. As we head back out to fish late afternoon, we decided to try some cliffs. My buddy got one on the fly and I got two on a worm, small fish. We decide to go back offshore and I hook up to something strong and fast vertical jigging a rapala lipless that has been through the ringer and no longer rattles for some reason. This fish is pulling like a striper causing me to free spool several times. I keep telling my buddy it’s a striper and it’s shoots up toward the top like a smallie. It decided not to jump but I did see it, a nice 20-21 ish smallmouth maybe 4-5 lbs. just as he is approaching my hands the lure just came out, hooks didn’t bend or anything. Bummer but I don’t think it was super big so I tried not to think about it. I kept on jigging that same bait and a nice walleye ate it! Good way to end it 

On 1/25/2020 at 8:42 PM, NorcalBassin said:

Hadn't planned on going out today but when my daughter asked if I wanted to there was no way I was passing that up. Not hot by any means but still picked up 10 or so in 4 hours on the usual finesse baits. 

 

One of her better ones of the day.

 

 

Last one of the day.

 

 

Of course, just as the winds kicked up with a storm system heading in and the light of day about gone we found an incredible school of fish (she likes the fish ID on in 2d). I gave her a couple minutes jigging a kastmaster while I cleaned things up before the long run back to the ramp but unfortunately no takers before running out of time.

  

Looks like a fun day! Can't pass em up with the kids want to go. Mine will be that age sooner than I know!

15 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

 

I catch a lot of bass (and occasional cat) on those. I've never had one get so battle scarred as that. I like the #5 and swap out the stock hooks with #8 Triple Grips.

I wish they were battle scars! I think I left it next to some plastic worms. Somehow it doesnt rattle

Ever tried a jigging rap instead of the ripping rap? I like to keep a #7 jigging rap tied on to drop on schools of fish I mark. Everything eats them, and they drop like a rock so you're not waiting for them to get to the bottom. The gliding action really seems to drive them nuts some days though.

No but I saw wheeler doing it up north on you tube, I’m gonna give it a whirl if I can find a jigging rap at any stores around here. I’ve heard it’s mainly for ice fishing 

That's the rumor the guys that use them want to keep alive. I caught so many white bass on them last year dropping on schools offshore in the summer. My buddy that owns the guide service I work for pretty much only fishes jigging raps all summer for wipers, whites, and walleyes.