Temps have averaged below freezing for over a month now, and most of our reservoirs are beginning to ice up. I stopped bass fishing about a month ago, and Ive been working on mods to my ice tent. So far, I added a layer of insulation, and setup a few light bars off of a 12 volt bettery. It should be good to go now for those after work expeditions. 

 

How many of you guys are already on ice?

Smaller lakes are iced over, the bigger lakes are quickly closing. High of 15 today lows are in the singles tonight. With that said temps. almost 40 this weekend. If I had to guess I'd say after Christmas unless we get a deep freeze. 

Ice fishing bay I'll be frequenting already has reports of 2.5 inches.  Will probably wait till after Christmas though before trying.  Have to sort through all the perch and throwback walleyes during early ice lol.

People have been ice drinking on lakes in northern MN for about a week now, some longer.  Several people and ATVs went through recently, be safe out there.

Good subject. Ice fishing is on my bucket list of things to do.

Small lakes around my place all have ice on them, medium and large are not far off. We’ve got over a foot of snow the last couple days though so that’ll slow the ice making on the already closed over lakes, although they’re calling for -29 deg.C with the wind chill for the next couple days so that might help with the lakes that are still open. 

13 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Good subject. Ice fishing is on my bucket list of things to do.

Do you ever travel north in the winter, or do you stay in Florida? Ice fishing can be hit or miss, and its not nearly as fun as fishing from the boat, but it is a great way to pass time in the winter. 

19 hours ago, gimruis said:

People have been ice drinking on lakes in northern MN for about a week now, some longer.  Several people and ATVs went through recently, be safe out there.

He said "ice drinking". Heh heh heh heh heh heh...

17 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Good subject. Ice fishing is on my bucket list of things to do.

You're not missing much! 

 

On a boat your spot isn't producing you hop on the big motor or TM and cruise to another spot.

 

Ice fishing you have to drill about 20 holes drop the flasher down see if there's fish, no fish? Move to the next one. After about 18 holes of no fish you finally see some, so you have to pack all your gear into a sled and pull it half way across the lake to the hole, unpack everything set it up drop a line catch about 2 fish and repeat until you've caught your limit, it's dark, or you're on the verge of hypothermia! ??

 

 

When I lived in the ice belt the only time I went ice fishing was if I went with someone who had an ice shanty.  And a heater.  And a cooler of beer.  Come to think of it I don't remember ever catching a fish!

27 minutes ago, Steveo-1969 said:

When I lived in the ice belt the only time I went ice fishing was if I went with someone who had an ice shanty.  And a heater.  And a cooler of beer.  Come to think of it I don't remember ever catching a fish!

It honestly wouldn't be bad if you had a power anger, flasher, shanty, heater, and beer. But all those things are expensive (except beer) especially to use only 2 months a year (in my neck of the woods anyways). 

3 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

It honestly wouldn't be bad if you had a power anger, flasher, shanty, heater, and beer. But all those things are expensive (except beer) especially to use only 2 months a year (in my neck of the woods anyways). 

Agreed.  That's why I only went with friends who already owned all that stuff!!  I'd pay for the beer and away we went.

10 hours ago, CarlF said:

Do you ever travel north in the winter, or do you stay in Florida? Ice fishing can be hit or miss, and its not nearly as fun as fishing from the boat, but it is a great way to pass time in the winter. 

I tend to travel often for fishing trips and have gone up north several times in the past year. Have caught muskies, smallmouth bass, northern strain largemouth bass,rainbow trout, palomino trout, and white bass to name a few types of fish I caught up north. I am not a typical Floridian, I can handle the cold better than most Floridians and even better than many Northerners who have lived their whole life in the land of hard water. One of these winters I will travel up north for ice fishing, that is for sure.

6 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

You're not missing much! 

 

On a boat your spot isn't producing you hop on the big motor or TM and cruise to another spot.

 

Ice fishing you have to drill about 20 holes drop the flasher down see if there's fish, no fish? Move to the next one. After about 18 holes of no fish you finally see some, so you have to pack all your gear into a sled and pull it half way across the lake to the hole, unpack everything set it up drop a line catch about 2 fish and repeat until you've caught your limit, it's dark, or you're on the verge of hypothermia! ??

 

 

I am open to new fishing experiences and ice fishing is one of them. Would like to target some muskies,northern pike, lake trout, and other big freshwater gamefish through the ice.

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, soflabasser said:

I tend to travel often for fishing trips and have gone up north several times in the past year. Have caught muskies, smallmouth bass, northern strain largemouth bass,rainbow trout, palomino trout, and white bass to name a few types of fish I caught up north. I am not a typical Floridian, I can handle the cold better than most Floridians and even better than many Northerners who have lived their whole life in the land of hard water. One of these winters I will travel up north for ice fishing, that is for sure.

I am open to new fishing experiences and ice fishing is one of them. Would like to target some muskies,northern pike, lake trout, and other big freshwater gamefish through the ice.

 

 

 

 

That wouldn't be too bad. My brother in law caught a 45.5" 25lb pike off a tip up that looks like it would've been a riot. 

 

Another thing to consider that I enjoyed was spear fishing. I never got one, but it was fun sitting in a shanty over a huge hole just watching fish swim around not even aware that I was just above them.

5 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Another thing to consider that I enjoyed was spear fishing. I never got one, but it was fun sitting in a shanty over a huge hole just watching fish swim around not even aware that I was just above them.

 

Hahah I was watching a videos of some guys in Europe who cut a large hole into the ice. They would basically draw pike in using whatever method, and then spear them. It seemed like a very different concept than what we do here. Although in northern Utah on Bear Lake, people cut out giant sections of ice and use dip nets to catch these little native fish called Cisco. Looks kind of fun in its own way. 

5 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Another thing to consider that I enjoyed was spear fishing. I never got one, but it was fun sitting in a shanty over a huge hole just watching fish swim around not even aware that I was just above them.

I grew up near Lake Winnebago in WI where there is an annual sturgeon spearing season. I never had a tag myself but went with my uncle a couple times. When the water was clear it was amazing how well you could see everything while sitting in a dark shack.

44 minutes ago, Steveo-1969 said:

I grew up near Lake Winnebago in WI where there is an annual sturgeon spearing season. I never had a tag myself but went with my uncle a couple times. When the water was clear it was amazing how well you could see everything while sitting in a dark shack.

It sure is amazing how well you could see. Pretty cool too when you are staring at your decoy and a pike sneaks in and scares you. 

 

They guy I went with used sucker minnows, the minnow would usually tip you off ahead of time something was coming. 

57 minutes ago, CarlF said:

Although in northern Utah on Bear Lake, people cut out giant sections of ice and use dip nets to catch these little native fish called Cisco. Looks kind of fun in its own way. 

I wonder if Cisco are like Smelt. Smelt dipping is pretty big in northern Michigan in the spring and the winter. Guys will come from hundreds of miles away to go smelt fishing at night through the ice. They're pretty good eating that's for sure!

3 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

It sure is amazing how well you could see. Pretty cool too when you are staring at your decoy and a pike sneaks in and scares you. 

 

They guy I went with used sucker minnows, the minnow would usually tip you off ahead of time something was coming. 

My uncle did the same thing, he would have a live minnow on a bobber swimming around the hole. He would occasionally move the decoy through the water to try and attract a sturgeon's attention. And he put white objects (like paper plates) on the bottom so if a sturgeon swam through you could see it more easily.  He never speared one while I was in the shack and I never saw a sturgeon in the hole, but lots of other fish. What a cool experience it was.

never ice fished since my home lake is mainly bass though i could get into it. there are at least 4" of ice on my home lake already. i know there are a fair amount of perch in the lake that could be fairly active.

Not me lol.

I did watch " Grumpy old men " with their ice fishing scenes the other day.☺

I went ice fishing once, after 30 minutes of no bites, a little bird landed on my head, chirped 3 times, took a dump on my shoulder and flew off. Literally 30 seconds after that I got a bite and caught nearly a 1.5lb red ear. I packed up my stuff and went home saying "if that's what it takes for me to catch fish through the ice it ain't for me!"

20 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

It sure is amazing how well you could see. Pretty cool too when you are staring at your decoy and a pike sneaks in and scares you. 

 

They guy I went with used sucker minnows, the minnow would usually tip you off ahead of time something was coming. 

I wonder if Cisco are like Smelt. Smelt dipping is pretty big in northern Michigan in the spring and the winter. Guys will come from hundreds of miles away to go smelt fishing at night through the ice. They're pretty good eating that's for sure!

Ok all this jazz sounds really fun and I want to do it

9 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Not me lol.

I did watch " Grumpy old men " with their ice fishing scenes the other day.☺

Those are two of my favorite movies.

9 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

I went ice fishing once, after 30 minutes of no bites, a little bird landed on my head, chirped 3 times, took a dump on my shoulder and flew off. Literally 30 seconds after that I got a bite and caught nearly a 1.5lb red ear. I packed up my stuff and went home saying "if that's what it takes for me to catch fish through the ice it ain't for me!"

That IS funny!

 

I don't know.  If I could reliably catch pound and a half redear just by having a bird poop on my shoulder, I'd say "poop away!"  Smaller fish, no.  (Note: I'd spray my coat with some major Scotch Guard and keep a generous supply of paper towels nearby).  Yes, I know.  Ice fishermen are a strange breed.

With all the snow we got in the last 24-36 hrs nobody is going to be on the ice anytime soon. That's for the lakes with a small layer of ice anyways, it'll slow them down. Maybe the open lakes will produce quicker.