CARF Outdoors: WHITE BEAR LAKE PERCH

It's official - I have caught the ice fishing itch. I went out and bought myself a used single person flip over sled, 8" hand auger, and a real cheap ice rod combo. Now my Vexilar is no longer alone as the lone piece of ice fishing gear.

I will not ice fish without one of these.

I drove out on White Bear lake. Since there were roughly 3 billion trucks on the lake already when I pulled up to the boat ramp, I figured the ice would be safe enough for me to drive out on. This was the first time I took my own vehicle out on the ice, and let me tell you, it was extremely nerve wrecking.

It's so loud - I love it!

Using my Navionics, I looked for what would be the best spot. After driving out to the spot I had chosen that would yield fish, I learned that I was not the only person who thought that was a good spot. There were already quite a few ice houses over the exact areas I wanted to set up shop. I settled for an area somewhat near them.

Didn't realize my auger and shelter were from the same company.

I set up a tip up with a jig and tipped it with a few Gulp grub worms, and then I set up my shelter. If was much roomier than I had expected for 1 person, and it kept me out of the cold wind. I was loving it. I started jigging and marked a bunch of fish on my flasher, but couldn't get anything to commit. When I did finally coax a fish into biting the jig it turned out to be a MONSTER...not really.

Monster Perch.

The action was non stop with twinkie sized perch. I was entertained and super stoked that the CARF Outdoors #icatchsmallfish tour was on fire to kick off the year.