Saturday panfishin' 1-16

I got out for some panfish chasing and found some in 7 ft in the weeds. I could see them come up through the weeds on my flasher on the low power setting. One inch Gulp! alive fishfry got my fish for me. it was a tough bite, you really had to tease em up a bit to get them to bite.
in the afternoon me and Jack looked for some deep water to get some crappies. We found a few out in 30 ft close to the bottom. they would be slow to come up, but was able to nab a few, nothing of any size though.

First fish for me, a nice 9 inch gill. it was the biggest of the day though.



pretty perch



future slab?



shootin' the bull with jack and some guys from CKOudoors




more sunfish

Weekend panfish action 1/9-11

I got to spend a long weekend with Jack,Casey, Andy and friends for some panfish chasin' We were fishing a shallow lake with a max depth of 21 feet. we found schools of fish roaming the basin, they were active and willing to bite, but after a fish or two they would be gone and I would have to change holes til I got on them again.
I started off with a 1?100th oz t.h.e. Jig black and white. Got some fish upsizing to a Lindy's rattling flyer spoon with a genz bug instead of the treble for a hook.
My best bait for the day was a red northland gill getter sized 12 with a red berkly Gulp! alive fishfry bait.

MT's 2010 monster bluegill on ice derby.

Leaderboard

Some nice fish guys!

First place goes to Jim Kusuda with this monster sow gill at 10.5 inches!










Second place lance Bainville with this nice 9 7/8 slab




Third place with a 9 1/4 inch gill is Steve Fleckenstein



Nice fish guys! the open water event that includes gills and crappie division will soon commence!
Who thinks they can catch a huge Gill through the ice? Enter it in the MTs monster bluegill on ice derby!
It starts this weekend, and goes til the ice is gone! Why didn't I start this at the beginning of the ice season? because I just thought of it now!
Just catch a monster bluegill, and if you think it could be the big one, take a pic, post it on this thread, or email it to me and I will post it on the leaderboard on here! I am going by length, not weight, since most don't have the best scale for getting an accurate number.
Take it on a board so it is touching the "0" side, and whatever the tail toutches, that is your length! Here is an example:



Also, to verify that you caught it this year, put your name and "2010" on a piece of paper clearly readable and inclue it in your picture.
Entry is free and open to anyone that is fishing through a hole in the ice.
No dead beat up or frozen fish will count, take a pic right when you catch it, that is when they look best!

Here is the prize, not a new truck or anything like that, but not bad for a free contest, a framed "2D lifesize replica" of your winning catch. Here is a one I made last fall:




happy fishin'

MT

Newyears pannie action!

I got out this weekend fishing up on Big Sandy lake for newyears day and the day after.
I started out with the plan to hole hop with my fishtrap picking off the more agressive fish and moving to the next hole. I put on a bro's gill getter with a Gulp! alive fishfry on my Thorne Brothers power noodle, and nailed a few crappies. Conditions were tough and put the crunch on my plan, there was lots of slush under the powder making my fishtrap feel like dragging a pile of bricks, and it was nasty cold and windy, with winchills near minus 30 degrees, and blowing snow filling the holes. Finally I gave up the moving and camped on a hole. after I picked off a couple of hungry crappies, the fish went negative. I downsized to a ckoutdoors T.H.E. Jig, 1/100 oz black and white, and used my St. croix legend lite ice rod with their spring tip to detect the light biters.
When fish came through, I was able to get them pretty good with that approach and put together a pretty good day. nothing really big , but it was fun. CK was fishing in his Otter right next to me showing Troy how to finesse those light biters, when he hooked into a monster gill well over a pound!
Saturday we woke to minus 32 degrees, (not the windchill) We went out on Billhorn bay, and they had a road plowed out so we could go right out to the hole with no work. CK invited me to fish in his big portable shelter, an otter lodge, that was really nice, very comfortable and relaxing. I stuck with the black and white hair jig all day, as it was working pretty good. they were really negative and had to be teased into biting, sometimes lifting them up a few feet, other times slowly dropping it on them while carefully watching the spring for anything suspicious looking! it was a fun way to fish, kind of like a chess match only fishy. We did'nt hammer em left and right, but the size made it worth the wait for each bite.
What a great way to ring in the new year!
Best fishes in 2010!
MT





Out in the sun with a sunfish!

In the otter with a crappie



Nice Mule

Some nice gill shots













CK cookin' up some good grub


Slab







the big one




Another nice slab


the Big gill, 10 5/8 inches and well over a pound!

Our harvest for the day


Icey sunset!