It was the day after Christmas and there was no ice to be found in the
Chicago area. It was a balmy 50 degrees! Not fishing on such a warm day would
just be wrong.
I managed to catch about 14 fish from 3 out of 4 ponds. A
couple fish were caught on Lake Fork Shads the rest on Little Atom plastics. In
fact Little Atom saved the day. Using these micro plastics on ice jigs got the
finicky fish to bite and were perfect for the small fish. The baits I used
today were the micro Nuggie and the Wedgee. I used weighted Thill floats to get
the long casts I needed to reach the deeper water I would normally be ice
fishing. The fish were small But I was not complaining to be catching when other were still in bed.
It was great to catch some fish with no ice, especially with the crappie being
shut off in a lot of the area. Next time you head out in cold weather or slow
conditions bring Little Atom along to save the day!
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.
After a couple of 80 degree days the temperature plummets
down 30 degrees and my bass bite I had been enjoying shuts down.
DupageAngler,com has a podcast on Wednesdays which I
co-host. We were talking about the benefits of being a multi-species angler.
Two of those is the ability to drop what you are going after and the
willingness to change water.
Since my bass bite was dead I decided to switch to bluegills
in small ponds. I grabbed only a small ultra light and a box of Little Atom plastics. I rigged a fat-boy jig, a small Thill float, and a purl micro Nuggie.
My third cast I hook into the first of 3 bass. Funny, I came to this pond
because the bass were not biting. I then got into some nice gills. I continued
to switch colors and from Nuggies to Wedgees.
Once the bite slowed I switched lakes and quickly caught a
handful of fish. Yahoo!!! The temp drops, I am wearing a jacket, and I just had
a great couple of hours. Little Atom
came through big time!
These baits are affordable, durable, sleek, and deadly. They
are so sensitive that it only takes a slight twitch to get the tail moving. If
there is some wind and waves you don’t even have to get the baits moving at
times. They are so sensitive that the waves do the work for you. You can
purchase them HERE.
You can listen to our latest PODCAST where we discuss these
baits and others.
My good friend Chunsum signed us up for Kayak Wars. Kayak wars takes teams of five who catch, measure, and photo their catches for points. At the end team with the most points wins. Now, none of us live in our yaks so we have a snowballs chance in hell of winning, but we at least want to have some points. Chunsum, Sooner Bass, and I decided to meet at a small lake and we were praying for just a few points each. It was the perfect fishing morning. This day was warmer then it had been, the water was calm, and the lake invited me to enjoy the magic it holds. I had a very stressful week at work. As I have gotten older anxiety has become a resident in my head and is getting harder and harder to deal with. Only fishing can make it shut off like a magic door to a problem-less utopia. Once in my yak and set-up I took a deep breath and my worries drifted away and were replaced with content and calm. It did not take long for the first of 15 fish for the day to bite! I used a few different rigs. I just rotated them, trying to find what would work best. The first rod was set up with a crappie slip float and a straight minnow. The second rod had an ice jig and a Little Atom Jumbo Wedgee. The third stick had a thill float with a double rig of a tube jig and lake fork shad. The last set-up was just a float and crawler combo. I landed several nice fish. I landed only one crappie nice enough to score points on Kayak Wars. They don’t make it easy. One cast my Thill slowly disappeared, I set the hook and what I thought was a small fish decided to quadruple in size right at the side of my yak!!! My big fish opportunity vanished as it was covered with my expletives and tears. I didn’t have a chance. JcCrappies (Chunsum) caught plenty of fish as well and managed 2 fish for points! Ted (Sooner) met us late but ended up with about 15 fish when he finished. It was the perfect day for fishing, laughing, and relaxation.
Every year there are two days that I can count on fishing
for sure; father’s day and my Birthday. For my birthday I always take a day
off. This year thanks to the great friends I have found at DuPage Angler.com I
had partners in crime take off the day as well. Jason (aka Darkstar) and Ted
Yates (soonerbass) both agreed they would join me along with my brother-in-law
Al.
Well the winter weather again this year has been a
disappointment to say the least. Warm weather and unsafe conditions have taken
their toll on the ice angling community. I set my alarm and I was quickly off to
sleep anxious to start fishing in the morning. This morning mind you, I have
planned for weeks and talked my buddies into as well. At 3:30am I wake up to
pouring rain!! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME! I pick up my sell and let the guys
know that it’s off, we are done, and we are sleeping in.
I could not sleep, so I look outside and no rain. Well I
figure I should go see the damage on to the ice at my local pond. To my surprise
the pond is not totally destroyed and safe. The shore was wet but that’s it!!
So I quickly make some calls and both Sooner and DS are back in.
Our first two ponds are a disappointment. The first we could
not find fish, the second thin ice, but the third was the gold! Ds made it to
the ice first and crossed the thinner shore ice that was covered with 4 inches
of water and started making Swiss cheese of the lake with his ION auger. I go
to pull my shelter on to the ice and got a shock! I was walking backward and
did not notice this hole in the ice!! Maybe a beaver hole I am not sure but in
a city second my left leg is completely submerged and my ass is on the ice!!
HOLY COLD ICEMAN!! Thinking on my feet, well once I got to my feet I hid in my
minivan and put on the extra pair of snow pants I brought. Then yelled “which
of you is wearing more than one pair of socks?” Thanks Ted for the donation to
the pondboy fell on his ass foundation.
We decided to fish the suspended fish we found in 6.5 foot
of water. The crappie bite was great thanks to Little Atom Wedgees and Nuggies.
The plastics out fished any other presentation. In fact I did not even open my
spikes and waxies! It was a blast everyone was catching fish. The bluegills
were not as easy to get on the line but we managed to trick some of them as
well. Both the full size Nuggies and the micro Nuggies worked. I really love
the red and orange colors.
After fishing a while the guys went and got pizza for my
birthday!! What an awesome meal on the water! Thanks guys.
Well when the guys brought the food on the ice they
discovered the shore ice was getting worse and worse due to the climbing temps
and the sun now beaming down on the lake. We had to either cut our day short or
risk not getting back to shore.
We very carefully got ourselves and our truck load of
equipment off the dying ice and called it a day. Although it was not the all
day fishing marathon I had planned we managed to find some ice and some fish. I
had a great time with friends as well. Not a bad birthday angling
adventure.
