Thin Ice Here Thin Ice There Making The Best of Midwest Weather

The Midwest has been cursed with weak winter weather. Cold weather woohoo! 50 degrees son-of-a!! This has made ice fishing a challenge in our local area.

Ted Yates aka Soonerbass of DupageAngler.com Taught me to Kayak last season so I decided I would return the favor and take him ice fishing. I was extremely excited because I re-connected with a friend from college on FB, her parents back in the day let me fish their private pond! She was nice enough to call them and asked if I could fish there again after 12 years and the answer was yes!

We got there as the sun was coming up but walking up we noticed two big holes of open water in the middle of the lake. I walked out on the ice drilled a hole and it was only 3 inches. I took a couple more steps and had cracking. We would not be able to fish this great lake this weekend. We went to two more ponds and the shores had open water. Man! Really? I call Steelie Pete another DA member and he says to try a lake not far from his house.

We get there and 6 inches of solid ice!  We are marking a ton of fish but they just won”t pull the trigger. Then sooner gets his first fish!!! I apologized for the slow bite and Sooner happily says that he just wanted to drill a hole and catch a fish so he is all good.

The slow bite was bothering me so I decided to move. BIG mistake the next 4 ponds or so no safe ice. We finished the day on a small pond that had just over three inches (most winter state suggest 4 inches) and the bite was just as slow. We managed to catch one more fish and leave not feeling secure and not getting hits. We should of never left Pete’s.

 Sunday I wanted revenge and Dark Star and I head out to a pond which is surrounded by buildings and houses hoping that this would protect it from the warm south winds. Man! I was wrong again! It had the most dangerous ice I have seen yet. So we cut our losses and head back to Petes neck of the woods.

The bite was still very slow and it is very cold, BeardHead cold. Jason (DS ) manages to start picking up crappies suspended in 11 feet of water using a Lindy Toad. We change spots after Pete told us to move to another area. In 8 feet of water I am now marking plenty of fish suspended in 4 feet of water. I started with live bait because it is very slow and my minnow gets slammed without any time to react my 6lb snaps in a heartbeat. (insert baby crying noises) I manage to catch some small gills on waxies but they stop. So I switched to a Little Atom Micro Nuggie and quickly nail another four or five small gills! Thank you Little Atom.

With the conditions being crappy and not having the time to travel up north, I was happy to find a pond with good ice and catch fish. I also had fun with Sooner and DS. The Little Atom Micro Nuggies saved my bite and the Beard Head saved my face!. Please when temps are up and down be careful out there. No fish or great lake is worth your life. 

Practice proper safety steps, stay warm, talk some smack, and maybe catch a few small winter panfish.