14 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Looks at the pics of 12Pound's local lake - looks at the pics of his own local lake...whimpers

48 hours ago there was around 3 inches of ice at my dock. 

3 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

48 hours ago there was around 3 inches of ice at my dock. 

I saw a couple guys out on Emerald Lake today - next few nights we're going to have below freezing temps...so it's not over yet here.

Man, I’m not even close yet!

The coast guard had for whatever reason a U.S. icebreaker trying to get into Midland harbour on Georgian Bay, which is about 45 min south of where I am, and they had to call off the attempt due to TOO MUCH ICE! 

For an icebreaker! 

Now they've called in a larger Canadian one to get the job done, not sure why they didn’t send in the big one first, especially since right here in Parry Sound is one of the largest coast guard bases around, unless it was away working maybe and the American one was close by. Apparently there’s over 3’ of solid ice out there in spots, that’s a lot of ice for the bay, especially for this time of year. And all our inland lakes still have minimum 30” of ice on them. Guess I’ll leave the boat in my storage shed for a while yet before it comes down to the house to get loaded up ? 

We are completely ice free. Might throw some jigs this weekend...

 

...still do not believe there will be fish in March.

Swung by Lake Menderchuck this afternoon ~

We're still locked up - 

Not a surprise at this point but we could be trending in the right direction.

A-Jay

7 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Swung by Lake Menderchuck this afternoon ~

We're still locked up - 

Not a surprise at this point but we could be trending in the right direction.

A-Jay

Crazy you still have snow on the ground. Here in Milwaukee we're almost all open water. Most lakes with current just broke up, some lakes 100% ice free. 

5 hours ago, Brew City Bass said:

Crazy you still have snow on the ground. Here in Milwaukee we're almost all open water. Most lakes with current just broke up, some lakes 100% ice free. 

I'd be surprised if we didn't.

Sadly we got 2 inches last night & it's snowing right now.

Still 'early' for us though, so we're good.

Will not complain if it gets warmer though.

 

A-Jay

49 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I'd be surprised if we didn't.

Sadly we got 2 inches last night & it's snowing right now.

Still 'early' for us though, so we're good.

Will not complain if it gets warmer though.

 

A-Jay

Crazy. I was just steelhead fishing in shorts and a t shirt in 60* weather two days ago. I really didn't think lower Mich would have been so different. 

1 minute ago, Brew City Bass said:

Crazy. I was just steelhead fishing in shorts and a t shirt in 60* weather two days ago. I really didn't think lower Mich would have been so different. 

Otsego County being in the northern center of the state, seems to always be one of the coldest spots in lower MI.

Fishing's pretty good though.

And I'm not wearing shorts in my house yet 

A-Jay

 

9 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Otsego County being in the northern center of the state, seems to always be one of the coldest spots in lower MI.

Fishing's pretty good though.

And I'm not wearing shorts in my house yet 

A-Jay

 

That's the spirit! A man of patience. Sometimes the good fishing is worth the frosty wait. 

24 hours later!! And the time has finally come ! Woohoo , idk if I’ll catch anything but just to get a line wet will be amazing 

Gave it a try. Got to test my new Kistler Magnesium & Aldebaran 50. Was not easy to cast light stuff til I got it dialed in. By “dialed in” I mean turned all the brakes off. Then it casted half the spool with a quarter ounce jig. I lost one bootleg dark sleeper and my jig with mini craw on it. I do not believe it will be possible to catch fish for at least another month. Water couldn’t be more than 40 degrees. I will also say that I’ve only seen bedding fish or fish protecting babies in August. So I just don’t see any fish eating now. No signs of life anywhere, except birds. I saw guys using bait still get the skunk. But the jig/mini craw combination I picked looked perfect in the water ?

 

Eh, didn't make it out Friday -- forgot I had to bring my wife to the airport ?

 

Instead, I and the dog took an excursion yesterday to visit 5 of my regular spots, check the launch conditions and get some water temps in the shallows: 42, 44, 46, 45, and 42.  Only one had any ice still on it, as far as I could see. 

3 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

Eh, didn't make it out Friday -- forgot I had to bring my wife to the airport ?

 

Instead, I and the dog took an excursion yesterday to visit 5 of my regular spots, check the launch conditions and get some water temps in the shallows: 42, 44, 46, 45, and 42.  Only one had any ice still on it, as far as I could see. 

Don't let those water temps scare you off.

Get out when you can.

They will be there waiting for you.

A-Jay

I'm back in business here... Phew!

1 minute ago, A-Jay said:

Don't let those water temps scare you off.

Get out when you can.

They will be there waiting for you.

A-Jay

 

I'm sure there may have been some catchable bass at each place if I could have gotten out away a bit from shoreline. 

 

At this point I'm mostly waiting for free time. Hoping I can get the 'yak out in the next 2 weeks, but even if not, my schedule opens up a little after that.

 

Now, if I were retired....

On 3/29/2019 at 4:44 PM, 12poundbass said:

What a difference 6 hours makes! 

 

 

Please tell me you made a few casts into your new lake after you took that picture....

 

2 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

I'm sure there may have been some catchable bass at each place if I could have gotten out away a bit from shoreline. 

 

At this point I'm mostly waiting for free time. Hoping I can get the 'yak out in the next 2 weeks, but even if not, my schedule opens up a little after that.

 

Now, if I were retired....

I hear ya ~ 

Retirement does allow some flexibility no doubt.

But I'd trade with you in a New York second to add some length to the fuse, if you get my drift.

 Stay Safe & Good Luck this season.

A-Jay

It was 65* a few days ago. It's 35* today. God hates Illinois and I don't blame him.

14 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

Please tell me you made a few casts into your new lake after you took that picture....

 

24 hours later I did. I had to wait for my son to get home from Florida. He would have killed me if I did without him. We didn’t catch anything. It’s pretty shallow out from my house 3-5’.

 

I was really considering getting the boat out, mainly so I could say I was the first on the lake lol, but I’m not quite ready to launch it. I’m hoping this week I’ll get everything ready for a weekend launch. My lake and the lake across the road are completely open. The other lake less than a mile away is 70-80% open. My smallmouth lakes I’m not sure of, I’ll see one tomorrow and maybe hit that one this weekend.

12 minutes ago, Glaucus said:

It was 65* a few days ago. It's 35* today. God hates Illinois and I don't blame him.

We got snow flurries right now.

 

A little more than two weeks from today this time last year ~ 

Be nice if I could avoid most all of this mess until next Christmas.

A-Jay

Skunked again this weekend. Lost a crankbait and a couple of jigs to snags. Saturday was a good weather day. Today was low 40’s and rain. 

 

On the bright side one of the local ponds is almost ice free today and should be this week. I will definitely be visiting it next weekend. I am going to soak some worms to get a Bullhead just to catch something in my home waters. 

 

I surely would have gone mad already if not for my Florida trip to shake the skunk off of 2019

21 minutes ago, NYWayfarer said:

Skunked again this weekend. Lost a crankbait and a couple of jigs to snags. Saturday was a good weather day. Today was low 40’s and rain. 

 

On the bright side one of the local ponds is almost ice free today and should be this week. I will definitely be visiting it next weekend. I am going to soak some worms to get a Bullhead just to catch something in my home waters. 

 

I surely would have gone mad already if not for my Florida trip to shake the skunk off of 2019

I've been thinking about just cat fishing for a couple weeks until the garbage weather clears out.

I was watching a guy fish for catfish while I fished for bass the other day. He hooked into a decent on and it broke his line. He was using what looked to be a little ultra light rod and a little spincast reel. Probably didn't have more than 6lb line on it. He shouted that he needs to get stronger line. I'm thinking no kidding man, and stronger gear in general.

It will be 27* at 6am and 50* by 4pm. I'm going to give it a go, but the whole weekend was cold so it will probably be slow. 

19 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

We got snow flurries right now.

 

Got a few inches here, too.