2002 - 2003 Ice Fishing Reports

[davetclown]

I haven’t got one yet but will soon.

We may have to give our weather man a good bonus this year her in south east Michigan for the snow and cold temps that make Michigan a winter wonder land.
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[davetclown]

well my lake is stiff today

stiff enough (4 1/2 inches) to hook into a dozen crappie bass and a few ciscos.

remember to be carefull treading out on to first ice. check your thicknesses as you go at least 3 inches on still water and more where there is moving water.
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[fisherman]

We fished scofield sunday and the fishing was fair to slow. Caught 30-40 fish(cuttbows) all the same size about 15 inches long between 2 of us. Kept hoping for some bigger ones but it never happened. Fished by the dam using jigs tipped with meal worms, wax worms, and worms. They wouldn't touch a minnow. We had to work for these little guys. They weren't even taking the bait off the jig when striking. Not many fish moving around that day where we were. The fishing always slows down after a good bite for a few days. Give it a few days and the big ones will feed again. Last year I caught fish up to 10 pounds here, so I know the big boys are in there. Tonight we will be heading out at 0200 for the morning bite. Sure was nice to hear the drag scream. Can't wait for afew other places to freeze. Slabs on ice!Aron

[davetclown]

I went out this morning for a couple hours and listened to the ice ripples crack as they shot cross the lake.

Not a bite came my way, so about noon the sun was beating down on me and I was roasting like a thanksgiving turkey in my snow suit, so I decided to take a break and run in to town to my bait shop and pass by another lake I ice fish on to see if there was any activity.

Union lake was still open 2 feet around the edge by the boat ramp and there was still one open spot across the bay from the ramp. My bait shop was just a block up the road from union lake.

I pulled in to the parking lot and did not see my bait shop. It was gone (bankrupt from no ice last winter) there is a airplane hobby shop with puzzles. Needless to say I had to double back and go to the other side of town to my other bait shop.

I stocked up on wax worns spikes and mousies. Headed back home to go back out on the lake for several more hours before the gills and crappie started biting just before dark.

About an hour before dark I decided to move to the other side of the lake where I was in the morning, I ran in to a angler just setting up for the night fish.

He set up his rods first then proceeded to set up his tip ups he had his back to his rods about a hundred feet away from his rods, I was about 30 feet away from his rods, I was watching his rods while I was drilling my hole and took my eye off his pole just for a second and looked back and saw the end of his pole sticking up out of his hole and going down.

As fate would play it, it was his early Christmas present bran new rod and reel. on the up side the bottom was only 16 feet down, so we spent a good half hour trying to fish the rod from the bottom of the lake with success.

I had taken my bottom line fish/depth finder out and set it up, the bait fish was hovering around 3-4 feet below the ice and the gills and crappie were hovering about 2 feet from the bottom.

They would not co-operate till just before dark, I pulled up to gills before it got to dark for me to see any thing. I had not taken my lantern because I had not planned to stay out after dark. They were still pulling them in when I left. I went home and made my self a gill sandwich.
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[davetclown]

spent the day on the ice yesterday, all day long no bite, late afternoon and in to the darkness things started to changs.

about 2 hours before dark the gills started hitting slowly but they are of decent size. as the sun sat over the horizen (though we could not see it because of dence clouds) the crappie started hooking up with regulairity. making for a pleasent evening.

I was not fishing for crappie just gills, and when the sun light was gone so were the gills and thus my fishing action as well, I stayed there for two hours after dark watching my buddies fish, They were down right comicel fishing with 2 poles each and out of reach of each other.

they pulled in a good share of crappie but missed as many as they caught. one pole would get a strike and they would run to grab it then the other pole would get a strike, It whent on like this the whole time I was there and I am sure that it continued like that after I left. same guys that lost a pole to the fish yesterday.

I am fishing south east michigan...
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[davetclown]

the morning bite is getting better, this morning I pulled in 4 gills and a... [center][/center] [center]just enough to cook up for lunch and then back out on the ice I go for a couple hours of eve fishing. Fish for breakfast fish for lunch and fish for dinner, If I get a little extra I will have fish for a midnite snack...[cool][/center]
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[davetclown]

[size 1]I strolled back out to commerce lake again today, and sat on the ice for about 3 hours,

I managed to pull in 8 gills and 2 crappie. though the bite was slow and to make things even more chalanging the bite was light to say the least.

patiance is the key word for today's adventure, of cource I left before the main bite set in,

dispite the worm temps during the day (mid 30 - 40) the ice is holding its own. (8 inches) the real test is wensday and thrusday when temps hit near 50 degrees.

the night time temps expected between now and wensday are dropping in to the mid to lower 20's so we should not loose any ice, the temps fryday and saturday are suposed to drop back to 20's at night and 30's day light.[/size]
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[davetclown]

I ventured out to commerce lake again today, temps in the mid 40's and the bite slower than the days previous.

so it was of to micky D's for cod on a bun.

with about 15 of us there we managed to come up up with 14 fish, I was slacking today [blush] no fish for me.

tomarow is another day provided I dont get hit by lightning again [] temps are supost to reach 50. I am not looking forward to the heat wave, we only have 8 inches of ice.

the heat wave will end tomarow nite and the freezing temps will be back as they should be. I just hope the rains dont eat my ice away.
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[davetclown]

half a dozen guys when out this morning on lake St Clair.

they were catching perch. though the fishing was good they decided to move over a little, so they did.

not getting up off their seats they found them selfs floting down twards the detroit river.

one man jumped in and atempted to make the distance, he came up short but was able to swim distance. the other 5 were resqued by helicopter.

they started off at around harison twp and floated about 3 miles down river.

this is a yearly event, but usualy in the spring the iratic temps in south east michigan has realy put a damper in the ice fishing in the last week.
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