Four Friends and a New Frozen Lake

What a strange winter this has been! The Temperature will be in the 20s, no 40s, um no 30s! With the up and down temps, the avid ice angler in the Midwest has had to keep his eyes and ears open for safe ice. Last week we were placing our bets on DuPageAngler.com on whether we would even be able to get on the ice for the weekend.

This trip would include DuPage Angler Members Dark Star(Jason), JcCrappie(Chunsum), Brim Reaper(Bob), and myself. The four of us traded phone calls and made plans to try a new location. Usually I stay on small lakes and ponds where I know I will find fish and numbers in short order however with the weather, only bigger bodies of water had safe ice. Area ponds and small lakes had 3 inches or less. We decide to try Loon Lake at Silver Springs State Park. DS told me that this lake was suppose to have yellow bass which immediately had me day dreaming of the yellow bass bonanza that use to be the norm up at the chain before the great die off.

We arrived at 8 and were lucky enough that two guys were already on the ice. This saved us from having to find a safe place to get on. We just had to follow their line of holes back to the shore. We had to climb down a short embankment which for us is a major pain in the rear do to the plethora of crap we bring, but since we had four guys we just made a make shift assembly line down to the lake.

Everywhere we drilled, the ice was a very safe 5 inches. Now in my head I know that its safe, but this lake was cracking and popping like a gigantic bowl of rice crispies! I mean it was loud and nonstop. I have never heard a lake groaning and complaining so much. This made me on edge especially as a couple freight train cracks shot right between our legs.

We started drilling shallow and kept moving deeper never going too far without drilling another hole to make sure the ice was still safe. We had four augers to start. But this little auger snapped its blade, and this little auger died, and this little auger popped a screw. Yeesh!

When we hit 17 foot of water we marked something interesting. DarkStar dropped his camera and we found an old picnic table down there covered in algae like an old ship wreck. Problem was no fish were on it. Since at this point we had drilled half the lake never finding any concentration of fish we just set up camp and hoped for scaly visitors.

After a while I thought I heard JCCrappie say that he saw a fish under the ice. Not long after that Brim says “Hey I see fish swimming 3 feet down!” I thought to myself what are these guys smoking? It is 17 feet here! Why in the world would there be…… “Jesus there is one!” I said. I cranked my line up as fast I could to get back to the surface. My jig hit three feet and instantly zizzzzzzz went my drag the fish slammed it!!! It was a beautiful trout! I heard there might be some there left from the fall stocking but to be honest I did not think we would get any. This was my first Inland Trout through the ice! I was stoked!!

Right after that I rigged a minnow and float rod three feet down and the guys in the other shelter did similar set-ups. About 20 minutes later my minnow does the nervous something huge is going to eat me dance. Then in an instant it’s gone! I was lucky enough to score a second trout. Yes!! Soooooo cool!!! I let them go hoping someone else might catch them once more.

The bite was really tough but the guys managed to score a handful of gills and JCCrappie did catch a yellow bass!! (Jerk so jealous)

Although the bite was slow I had so much fun. Being able to add a new species to my ice angling adventures was pretty sweet. Loon Lake offers a variety of species including crappie, perch, and cats as well. Even though we did not slam them I will return to this lake next winter just for the variety and the chance to catch several kinds of fish in a single outing. Silver Springs was a nice place for four friends and a new frozen lake.

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.