I figured that this threaded needed to get started. Post up your pics and story for this year good luck!
I took my little guy to a local ice fishing contest, we have never fished this lake. Luck was on our side there was about 100 people in the contest with the top three fishing in each species taking home $$. We ended up taking 1st and 2nd in bluegill, 1st in perch, 1st in largemouth bass, and 3rd in crappie. I thought we were going to get kicked out. Here are some pics Check out this bass for a Wisconsin bass it's nice. Here he is with the winnings And the winners This was an 11" gill
Wow. Nice, Rook. You're living the dream up there! Make sure you feed all the grouse this winter. We need a big group for next year.
Wisconsin's like an outdoorsman's Disney World I guess. @Rook52 , you look like youre living the dream up there.
It is really great here in scony, I just wish we had a few more big game animals to hunt. We really only have deer and bear for big game. They are trying to get elk going again but I'm thinking it's going to be awhile before there is a huntable population. Small game is abundant, I love turkey, coyote, and grouse hunting but we need more fowl as well just really green heads and honkers. Gotta get @Expat up here for them timber chickens. Alaska is my dream, but the wife isn't to fond of that idea. One of these days I'll break her down.
Had a great night and morning calling. Called 14 on 5 stands. Breeding season is in full swing now. Here's a couple pics.
Stuck it out a couple weekends ago on the pond, lakes too windy. Ended up connectiong with this nice bass right at the end of the retrieve:
The top water bite was on this morning! I got 27 since sun up and my little bro got 24. Not all top but both in this picture were
Nice, what's your water temp? I was hoping to get out next weekend. 52 degree is normally when they spawn here.
Water temp is high 40 low 50. There getting shallow but super oriented to structure. We would hit docks, but if your more than a foot off the support structure your not getting bit. I was having my best luck casting past the dock at an angle and reeling in until I actually bumped the dock support with the bobber. It's been a lot of work though. We catch 100-200 fish and only end up with 30-40 keepers.
@IW17 where you using real or artificial bait. I was going to try tube jigs, purple and white or pink and white. I always bring minnows but I'd like to commit to artificial, it seems more fun. I have a few lakes in mind that have a lot of structure that are pretty good crappie lakes
@Rook52 Each year has been different, but I rarely use live bait anymore. This year we've been having great luck with 1" Berkley gulp minnows in chartreuse shad. I use either a 1/32 or 1/16 ounce jig, always under a bobber. In previous years I've used maribou jigs, usually in some sort of white/chartreuse combo, but I haven't had much luck so far this year with these. It might be that the water is still cold and their metabolism is still slow, so it's just too big of bait.
Grabbed a picture of the largest crappie and one nice gill. Crappie is 14" and the gill is just shy of 11".
@Rook52 I lied to you. It the 1" Berkley Gulp minnows in chartreuse shad. This is the bottle they come in. Also these are the jigs I'm using. I believe they're made by Spro. Any jig would work, but these are thin and the keeper is metal wire so they hold the tiny minnow on them very well. I'll generally catch about 5 fish before changing bait. And at under $6 for about 2 dozen(maybe) it's far cheaper than live bait.