First cast

First cast of hopefully a good fishin' season!

Late march multi species action!

Well, after a couple of weeks of nice weather , winter is back in the northland!
when winter is here, ice fishing is dear, so off to the hard water I went!
I was invited last week up to the Alex area for some pan fish action. The ice was plenty hard, but really bumpy and hard to walk on. We tried the spot that was producing last weekend, but nothing around but tiny perch, We moved in near shore and cut some holes, and it was fish on right away, Only it was a walleye!
We tried a little longer but nothing was there.
We tried cutting a few more holes with out any action. I ended up hitting some holes left behind by other anglers who I saw picking up some fish before leaving, so i went over and found a reed bet there in 8 ft of water! kind of strange, but it was a good spot! We got lots of crappies and sunfish with an occasional largemouth bass to spice things up! I started with a fatboy and red maggots, tried upsizing to a flyer spoon with no success, then went to a medium ratso plastic to target crappies, as the maggots were getting too many smaller gills

Last shot at late ice big gills in the metro area

I got out Saturday for one last late ice fling in the metro area and the big slab sunfish came out to play! They were not biting fast and furious, but the size was pretty good! They were biting right under the ice 1 to 2 ft down, you could sight fish without a fishtrap just fine. i got my fish on fatboy jigs tipped with red maggots. Jack got some nice ones on plastics too. he also got a couple of good crappies.

Golden shiner!

Huge bucketmouth!

I love big bluegills, mabye a little too much!

after work sunfishin'

I got out for a bit of fishing after work, plenty of daylight thanks to daylight savings time! I met casey on the lake and he already had some holes drilled. The ice was a foot thick but starting to get pretty dark and soft, open water will soon be here!
he got a nice sunnie right away, and soon I had one too. I was using a flier spoon with maggots. Casey was having more action on a smaller jig. He was using a powerbnoodle rod and he let me try it, i really liked it! it was as sensitive as a spring on the tip, but still had the feel you tend to lose with a spring. i know it will be on my shopping list for next winter!

Casey with big sunfish


nice one for me


two perch on one lure!



Powernoodle gill

More pics from the weekend

I like how this one turned out. I put the sunfish on the ice, and there was so much water on top that is could swim, plus the wind was making waves so I thought it was a neat effect

Dave caught this bass and it had this small spoon in its lip!

Big sunfish and bass action

I got out with some friends for some late ice sunfish action, and had a great bite going on. I got more 10 inch bluegills than i can remember on an ice fishing outing. plus bonus largemouth bass up to four pounds and some good perch, sunny and 50 degrees too, cant beat that!
I got my fish on a lindy rattlin' flyer spoon with lots of red maggots for bait, also got some on a fatboy jig. Upsizing was the key to getting bigger fish. smaller plastics also worked, but you had to sort through more small fish. Most of the fish were in 8 to 11 feet.
Get out while you can, this late ice won't be around long, and the fish are really feeding now!

Big bluegills

some bass action too

more gills!

The melt has begun~

Fish for dinner!

Pan BBQed perch
heat some butter on skillet, then season perch fillets with blackened redfish spice, cook nice and dark and add favorite bbq sauce, it is one of the best tasting things I have ate in a long time!

Old reliable. Crispy panfried crappies and bluegills
heat peanut oil on skillet, drop fillets in a bag of bread crumbs, shake,
add a little lemon pepper or garlic powder for flavor, done when it look like this, always tastes great!

Megamiler

Megamiler: A new term coined by Michael Thompson for those who can get over 300,000 miles out of any vehicle.

I just joined the megamiler club today with with my 98' Nissan Villager van! :)

Turtle lake UPL

Well, we got back from the last UPL of the winter on turtle lake. Fishing was pretty good, my hands look like pin cushions from all the bluegills I had in hand! I struggled with the crappies, only gtting a couple, jack came through with them when he hit a hot hole and iced a bunch in under 5 minutes! all the fish we got only a few feet under the ice. i used a lindy fatboy jig with red maggots. jack fished most of the day with a white and glow ratso plastic. I thought we had the win today, but the last team to weigh in beat us by .1 of a pound. Good job, winners! but we will be back next year! :) :)

Thanks again to Matt Johnson for putting on this fun series!

PANfish yummmm

Yummm, here is what I have been eatin' for dinner!

Perch and mushroom saute~

lots of butter on the pan, add shrooms and perch fillets. season with parmesan cheese and italian seasoning!





Lemon pepper crappies
Oliv oil and putter heat it up, put crappie fillets in pan, add lemon pepper, and a little salt, turn and cook til done!




Yummmmmm!