Fish-Hawk.Net

Took a long drive with plnczy this week in search of some safe ice to do some fishing on. Stopped at many lakes along the way only to see the ice conditions were plain dangerous. Continued driving further to finally find a lake with what looked like decent ice for us.

Put on the survival suits, and started drilling holes from shore to check the ice, three and a half to four inches of black ice. Proceeded walking out drilling holes every ten paces until we were in 18 FOW.

It`s been a while...it was nice to get the gear wet again and get back on the Vex. I upgraded to the 20 this year and with it being my first time using it, was I ever impressed. Started marking fish right away. Within a few minutes... I see what I have been waiting to see, the red bar coming up on my lure! Caught our first bow of the season a few minutes after being there. Stayed for about 2 hrs catching 4 more small ones.





In no way am I saying local lakes are good to go yet, ice conditions were very different from lake to lake as we travelled further and further away. Take the time to play it safe.

1rst ice fishing report of the season on fish-hawk . Nice to see some of you going on the ice. Nice bows .

Nice report

Way to go Mike & Serge!!
First ice - 5 Bows - good stuff!

You guys are crazy.....crazy for not inviting me!

Fine looking dinner guests.

Well done.

Drop

Hey Mike

Thoroughly disappointed in this post!! Used to seeing much bigger trout than those, especially from you. (Just kidding bud)
Will see you on the ice, soon enough. Got to take a drive later in the week to check some ice conditions. Starting to go a little
stir crazy already. It's been almost three weeks since I've been fishing.

Billy Bones

Its always an adventure when I get out with Mike, I realy enjoy our outings. Mike is definately the trout MASTER. what he didnt say in this post is that I got skunked! .. I had fish on, but lost them at the hole while he landed most of the ones that he hooked

I want to re-iterate what Mike said ... EVERY lake we looked at had different ice conditions! Some lakes on this day were WIDE open while this one was safe and others were in between. ... NOt to mention.. when you access a back country lake and drill through 4" of ice 5' from shore at point A ... It DOES NOT MEAN that there will be 4" ice at point B. There could be 1 or 2" there... so PLEASE be carefull if you plan to go out and take EVERY precaution possible as we did.

I'm planning to head out tommorow for Rainbows as well. First attempt at ice fishing for them and I was under the impression that around first ice they would be a lot shallower then 18'. Just curious if that is the norm for this time of year?

With a little help I might be able to add some pictures tommorow afternoon. If it helps at all the lake I'm heading to is no more then 25' deep and one whole end of the lake is a big flat no deeper then 3-4 FOW.

Matt_Stothers wrote:I'm planning to head out tommorow for Rainbows as well. First attempt at ice fishing for them and I was under the impression that around first ice they would be a lot shallower then 18'. Just curious if that is the norm for this time of year?

With a little help I might be able to add some pictures tommorow afternoon. If it helps at all the lake I'm heading to is no more then 25' deep and one whole end of the lake is a big flat no deeper then 3-4 FOW.

I would imagine that every lake is different. Personaly, I like to fish drop offs

The official first ice fishing report! Sounded fun!
Plncrzy is so right when he says just because there is 4" of ice 5' from shore dosen't mean theres 4" everywhere.
Be smart, put your drill to use often on these first outings!

Troutholic.

Love this for a first ice report of the season!!

Good job being careful boys!

Craig

Matt_Stothers wrote:I'm planning to head out tommorow for Rainbows as well. First attempt at ice fishing for them and I was under the impression that around first ice they would be a lot shallower then 18'. Just curious if that is the norm for this time of year?

With a little help I might be able to add some pictures tommorow afternoon. If it helps at all the lake I'm heading to is no more then 25' deep and one whole end of the lake is a big flat no deeper then 3-4 FOW.

Matt, I like to fish in 20 FOW for rainbow`s during ice time. Yes they will come into shore chasing minnow`s but I find more in this depth. Usually find them close to bottom about 4ft off. Don`t be afraid to suspend a line with a worm offering.

Way to go Mike...happy to see your persistence and common sense paid off. Looks like you found the right conditions. Around these parts 3-4" of black ice is mid-winter conditions and is plenty of ice for me !

tight lines

ratsotail

Sweet first ice bow action guys!!