This Ice Season Started for us early! A good old fashion
winter, who would have thought it after last year’s warm short season. Looking
for safe ice was our first concern. We drove north because we heard of safe ice
up at the top of the county. Every small pond Sooner Bass (Ted) and I stopped
at my spud bar went through( this is a heavy bar use to test ice before you
walk on it). Surprisingly, it was the large ponds or small lakes that had safe
ice. I believe it was the lakes with wide open areas where the frigid winds
aided the ice creation.
We had checked
several places all unsafe. When we were about to give up Sooner who said hey it
cannot hurt lets check this bigger pond I fished once a while ago. This lake is
surrounded by cat tails and is sort of hidden as well as old. When the spud bar
could not break through we ran to the car to get our stuff. It was about 7pm
and dark. Right away we started nailing huge gills! The small ones would be
considered ok at many of the ponds we fish! The night bite ice fishing
historically has not been good to me so this was awesome.
Since this was the only safe ice, I and other
DuPageAngler.com Members returned a few times. Beard Heads on and every time produced something. I
even took my daughter in seven degrees. The heater was blasting as she caught
17 gills and loved using the Fish TV. Five trips I fished with JC Crappies (Chusum),
Dark Star (Jason), Crankin King (Scott), Brim (bob), and Fluke (Alan) all
hardcore DuPage Anglers. All had their Beard Heads on and we were all staying warm.
We used many techniques. Straight lining, floats n jigs,
floats n minnows, Little Atom plastics and our new weapon, Magic Maggies from
Aurora Lure Company. The Maggies are awesome, if you put one in your hand next
to a real wax worm there is not much difference except one is trying to get
out. These come in red and white and caught a ton of fish. We are field testing
these now and are excited at the early results. I will revisit these plastic baits
once Aurora Lure Company has them on sale.
Getting out more then a couple times in December was
awesome. Catch and releasing a pile of full grown bluegills was the star on top
of the angling tree. I am looking forward to the rest of this season.
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