Lockjawed bluegill

[Illinoisgiller]

Went off 50 mi. to a local strip lake and arrived at daylight. East wind but temp. warming and a storm front on the way. water was 12 -16 ft. and clear. The bite is still real light when it comes. It took a lot of teasing to goad them into taking the tiny jig w/wax worm. I was there for 5 hrs and got 5 gills.:rolleyes: Kept them alive this time and turned them back down the 14" deep hole. Now would be a good time to have one of those new battery electric augers. I've decided that I need to go back to work and let the gills rest a bit .It must be a stress for them to spend so much time laughing at me up on the cold ice. :D :D Mike

[Sharon]

:mad: DANG them fishies any way!! Hey, you got to go out, catch some and had something to post about.... I still say thats better than a sharp stick in the eye LOL :p

[Illinoisgiller]

My older brother has told me that when he ice fished a lot,they always took off most of Feb. The bite just never seemed to be there during that time. He also fished public water. I do hear that some private ponds are producing so perhaps a captive audiance is the answer now.Was nice out though. Mike

[T Bartels]

Glad to hear ya go out again!~!~!~!;) Stuff like that happens ya know what I mean?!!?!? Suppose to have a BIG cold front coming in tonight!!!! Gonna bring lots of snow!!(says the weatherman:rolleyes:) Hopefully we won't have school so I can get my poles rigged and my tacklebox organized!! Am I the only one that enjoys doing that so much!?!?!?!?:D My dad and I hope to be on the water by late March after we get back from Nebraska snow goose hunting (if the weather permits)!!!! Good Luck everybody!!!

[swampman]

it was a nice day today here, we got a lot of rain but it was up to 50 today, i didnt get out today but ill get out tommorow if its still nice.

[Rainman4u2]

Been watching the eagles accumulate on the river below the dam for the last week. My boss went yesterday to a private pond for gills, I'll know tomorrow what he caught.(If I can make it to work) You didn't happen to be down my way to fish were you???

Ray

[T Bartels]

I got that snow day I was asking for!!!!!!!!:D :D :D Now this is gonna be fun!!!!:cool:

[Illinoisgiller]

Ray, Yes I was out your way and beyond. I went by Woodhull just before daylight. I waved, but you weren't there to wave back. :confused: I went out by Victoria.
Will be interesting to find how the boss done. I wasn't able to find anywhere that they were stacked on the Vexilar . Love it when they are like that. I just peel them off the top till the stack shortens. lol
I've heard that some farm ponds are producing. Might be high population, limited food thing. :confused: You might not get to work today, blowing a lot even in town.
Taylor, Good luck getting everything organized. I thought one was supposed to do that the morning you go fishing. When I am going out all I got to do is figure out if my stuff in the Jeep, van, float tube, or boat. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
I think your way will work much better. lol Mike

[T Bartels]

lol, sound kinda like my dad!!! He just sticks all his stuff in the boat and then when we get on the water he's scrambling all over trying to find his stuff!! Prolly why I catch more fish than him, because I'm always fishing 20 minutes before he is because he can't find his stuff!!!:D Yeah, I'm kind of a neat freak when it comes to that stuff....I need to be able to find stuff in the tacklebox so I organize it myself so I know where its all at!!(my dad's not the "organized" type!!;) Anybody going fishing today?? I gotta go shovel snow so I'll be back on LATER!!!:p

[gofish]

giller had the same thing happenin here......strip pits i normally fish the gills are normally schooled up deep big time, but for some reason theyre just startin to last week. crystal clear water an havin to fish inside the weedbeds 10 ft deep or lil less to git em. drill a bunch of holes an catch 2 or three a hole then move on.come back in a lil while an catch a few more though.
lincoln trails normaly has real big schools jus roamin the flats off the boat docks but only found em in a narrow band fri. an had to work my butt off for em. 50 holes an only 30 fish in 12 hours. arthritis was killin me so i finally bought an eskimo barracuda gas auger. lil heavy but oooooh so nice. gonna git a different shaft an use it to do post holes for fence in the warmer months to pay for itself,an next years ice trips lol

[captkev]

It took a lot of teasing to goad them into taking the tiny jig w/wax worm. I was there for 5 hrs and got 5 gills.:rolleyes:


When you say "Tiny jig"...? How Tiny are you talking? and what size line are you useing? Also... Did you try anything other than Wax worms?

What I'm getting at is this past weekend we found the bite to be slow as well, I tried every thing from Frostee spoons and Fat boys to Marmooskas and Plastics. I found the winning combo to be a Small # 18 Beaded fly with one maggie to turn the sniffers into biters. Oh... And that was on my noodle rod with a 1 pound Gudebrod leader.

[Illinoisgiller]

I started out with Ratso's & rat finky (sp) . Ended up with a little black sparkle teardrop, but on a 12 hook. Wax worms for bait, we don't have maggots available. Line was huge by your standards. 3 lb blue tinted ice line and don't recall the brand. I need to get some of that 1 lb stuff but not for where I was at. I think too much wood. Rods I use are whatever is cheap in micro. I like to keep them at 24" for the Shappell 3000 shelter. Door zippers are on the last gasp, so might be thinking a different one. Haven't really got the life out of it yet. Bought it for $75.00 used at the edge of the ice one time 4 yrs ago.
I'll have to tie up some micro hooks and try them. Thanks for the tip.

[patjandonlan]

Went fishing sun. Caught 3 good sized bass various sizes of bluegill and enough crappie for a meal! Sorry to hear you didn't catch much. The ice on the pond was about 9 inches deep. I used to wonder why people would ice fish, now I get it(or its got me)

[Illinoisgiller]

That's great Pat!!! Great to hear that you got on them.:cool: :cool: Do you use a vexilar or something similiar? The reason I ask is I that I am curious if they were stacked or not.
I'm supprised that the ice was only 9" unless it was over a spring. Ice here is around 14" and is the same in southern Iowa.
Wish I'd had you for a guide on my last two trips. lol Enjoy the fruits of your enjoyable labor.:D :D Mike

[Rainman4u2]

Sorry it took a while to respond. He and his kid took 5 in 5 hours on the Hennipin near Big Island using waxies. Ever need an ice fishing partner/wanna teach someone let me know...LOL!!!!! :rolleyes:

P.S. I'm available most Thu, Fri, and Sat mornings...LOL!!!:D


Ray

[Ron_French]

Giller, Like Kev was saying, to turn the sniffers into biters try down sizing. When you think it is small enough, go smaller.
I use 3/4 pound tippet line for a leader and a size 22 hook with a small piece of red thread tied to it and a half a maggot. Slowly let it drop into the fishy zone and hang on. I had to use this tactic when pre fishing for one of the traps. I went 45 minutes without a fish then put this rig on and caught 20 in the next half hour.
Good luck and good fishing.

Ron

[Illinoisgiller]

I sure appreciate the response. I think I finally have it imbeded in my ole mind that I need to downsize a bunch.:rolleyes: I'll be off to the fly section of our local shop today for supplies. :cool: I'm not sure I can coax those big bulls up 20+ ft. through the brush and limbs, with that light line, but gotta try.:cool:

I and the 2 grandsons are hitting the timbered lake on Monday, as they have no school ,and are too young to party hardy long into the night celibrating the presidents. :D :D I've already resolved to be satisfied to enjoy the day with them and won't get serious enough to take the fun out of the day for them. :rolleyes: They are usually good for a couple hours at a shot when there are two.
Thanks again, Mike

[T Bartels]

Good Luck on Monday Mike!!!! I'm getting ready to head down to the Outdoor Show now, so I might see ya there!!!:D

[swampman]

did ya get anything at the outdoor show today? i went to a gun and knife show with my grandma and she ended up buying a new england firearms shotgun for her to learn to shoot

[T Bartels]

Yeah i found some stuff down there....got some crappie jigs and a new Ugly Stik. Is the shotgun your grandma bought a 20 gauge or a 12??

[swampman]

its a 12, but i have a 20 my grandma can use until she gets used to the kick.

[T Bartels]

Yeah, a 12 isn't that much worse then a 20 once you get used to it.;)

[Illinoisgiller]

I've been out 3 times without positive results in the catching .
Sat., after being turned away from the outdoor show, I tried a local canal. Didn't mark any fish even in the deepest 5' spot I found.
Sun. My son called and wanted to tyr a local strip mine pit neat Victoria. It was nice out so we never did put up his shelter .No bites. He could actually see a gill 8' deep pushing his tiny jig sideways. :confused: We enjoyed the afternoon out but no fish.
Mon. I and the grandsons went out for the day. We had planned to go to Belva Deer but knowing the bite was off, we decided to try Lake Iowa for the first time. Like everywhere ,the ice was around 14" We drilled lots of holes , never marked a single fish. We did talk to a couple fela's fishing on the dam that had given up. They said they found a couple gills that would just push the jig sideways. lol With that info and not doing well we packed out. With the 47 degree spring weather ,we went and got some ice cream cones on the way back. We stopped by Lake McBride on the way back. The boys by then had decided a small hill there was better for some sledding than the prospect of chasing the gills that don't bite. :cool: lol My new shack remains folded , never been set up on the ice, and doesn't look like it will be this year. At least getting it broke the cold spell. :p :p Mike

[gofish]

ya aint the only one giller,4 big gills an one 4 lb channel all day from a spot that normally gives up all a guy wants to clean. strange year.

[capt.kirk]

Strange year??Fishing hasnt been the same since the Tsumi hit:confused:
Kirk

[Mutt]

In a couple of weeks I hope to go and tryout the new (new to me) boat out for some gills and some bass. Gonna try them new fangled lures I got from gostafish I cant wait till try them out and give a report on them.