CARF Outdoors: MONSTERS THROUGH THE ICE

Monday, January 15, 2018

MONSTERS THROUGH THE ICE

Lightfield BBQ and I were back on the ice and exploring new hard water. I don't know what I would do without the phone app Navionics. It's seriously the best $10 I've spent in a long long time. Without it, I would have no idea the depth I am fishing in my raft, kayak, or when I am out ice fishing.

Is your Navionics working??

On this day, we were on the hunt for anything. Having only caught 1 fish in our previous outing "WALLY WALLY - WHERE YA AT" we decided that we would set out with the goal of just catching fish. Any fish. So we targeted some shallower water.

How Swiss Cheese is made.

After popping a popping some holes and contributing to making this lake look like Swiss cheese, we set up shop, and got our flashers in the holes and were immediately marking fish. Time to get our jigs down there and see who wants to play.

Hubbin'

Red illumination coming from the heater is a very welcomed sight when the temperature is in the single digits. Lights on the flashers are even more welcome, and get the adrenaline going so that you can temporarily forget about the cold.

The game of lights.

We both were making so many fish. I literally had my face in the hole as I was watching the fish take turns swipe at my jig. I spotted a few sizable fish with my eyeballs, but the small ones were the only willing participants. I changed jigs a few times to bigger sizes, but still nada.

Monsters Exist.

Lightfield and I had some fun none the less, hooking up with a plethora of small perch and 2 sunnies. Nothing worthy to keep, but still a lot better than just sitting there wonder if I was ever going to see my rod bend.

The long arm technique to make catches look bigger.

The release back into the ice hole.

This ice fishing sport is quickly growing on me, and I'm looking forward to getting out on the ice a lot more, and hopefully experiencing what it's like to hook into much bigger fish. My first fish of the 2018 year was this 10 pound perch (pictured below). I couldn't believe the gut on this one. It looked as if it had eaten a bowling ball.

10 pound perch.

Some advice for all fisher-people, regardless of time of year, fly fishing, gear fishing, and ice fishing. Don't forget to close up your tackle boxes before bumping your ass into them. That is of course, if you're not in training to be the best at the game pick up sticks.