Ice Fishing

  Yesterday turned out to be a great day to get outside and have some fun.  When I left my house in the morning it was 10 degrees, however, there was no wind and plenty of sunshine.  As I walked to my Jeep I could already feel the sun's radiant heat and I knew we were in store for a good day.  I picked up Jan D and we ran to the tackle shop to get some shiners and spikes.  After a short drive we were on the lake drilling holes.



    The day's fishing was not fast and furious, but slow and steady.  The first flag of they day produced what I believe is my personal best Large Mouth Bass.  He tripped the flag like a perch and just went to the bottom with it.  When I set the hook he just about pulled my hand into the hole.  I knew I did not have a perch now.  The battle took about 5 minutes and several walks around the hole, but in the end I got him through the ice.  The Bass measured 22.5 inches in length and had a mouth as wide as a paint can.  After a quick photo and measurement we returned him to the depths before his gills froze up.
    Jan D was also lucky enough to catch a whopper Yellow Perch.  It was very large for a small pond.  He was also released.  We were also able to jig up a few smaller Yellow Perch and a bunch of Pumpkin Seeds.  The tip-ups gave us two nice crappie which we kept.  Over all it was an amazing day to be on the water.

    This year I decided to bring the Yeti Roadie with me ice fishing.  I was getting tired of having to wait for my catch to thaw out before I cleaned it.  Taking a cooler ice fishing is also a good idea, because it will keep your food from freezing.  I can remember one day when my ham sandwich froze and was as hard as a rock.  The Roadie also made for a great seat.  I ended up keeping 2 Crappie and 2 Yellow Perch.  When I got

 home they were cold and still flapping.  The idea of keeping fish in a cooler when ice fishing was a great idea.  I highly recommend doing the same if you go ice fishing.  Obviously it does not have to be a Yeti.