Fishing December 25, 2007

Christmas morning and getting out for an ice fishing run and it doesn’t get any better than that unless the fish are not going to cooperate. Since the weather here is looking like the temps are going to hover around the mid 30’s for a number of days we decided to make a run to a local pond that we have never been to and see if the fish want to play. This pond is one of those that not many people know about as you need to hike through the woods to get to it and is a town reservoir that many people forget that you can fish at. Since the rains and warm winds have been blowing, the next few days we are not going to be able to hit the ice, figured that we better give it a try and see what is happening. The ice on this pond was sporadic as the thickness was fairly uniform but the make up was different from one part to the next. Where the shade hit the ice most of the day it was a solid 8-12 inches but where the sun was hitting it there was a layer of 2-3 inches of frozen slush with an open layer of 3 inches of water with a 4 inch layer of black solid ice. This area as well you needed to watch your step as there was a few times you would break through the top layer to step on the black ice, not fun. A spud bar is needed still as every pond you visit is going to be different and without one you are taking chances while you are out on the ice. We worked a number of holes and had plenty of lookers that we could see on the flasher, but they would just sit and look at the bait and the bite was definitely off. We did manage to catch one nice sunfish and a small bass, but were a little disappointed that the fish were not going to cooperate this day. There were only a few holes that had activity but no matter what we put down the hole they would just sit there and look at it. Was a tough day out there but any day on the ice is a good day and this was another pond that we wanted to try and time to look at the next one to sample. With the conditions changing daily with the warmer weather and every pond is in a different state as far as ice conditions, everyone out there needs to be safe and be sure of that next step...

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