Peltier, Peltier with toddlers, and Bald Eagle

We had lab ice fishing day on Wednesday. Our choice was "close to my house" or "catch lots of small fish". We chose "close to my house" (i.e. Peltier) but it turned into "catch lots of small fish". We started in 12-ft of water and we saw many fish, but they had no interest in our offerings. Zero. They were just swimming along. We tried shallower (8 ft?) and got into some small perch. I brought home 18 of them; they actually made a fine meal on Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, I tried taking the kids out fishing in the afternoon to Peltier, trying to catch small perch. We arrived a little later in the day than I would have liked, as I wanted to show them the fish on my camera. Nonetheless, we caught about 5 fish and had a good time.

Last night, I fished Bald Eagle Lake for the first time. We were parked in about 26 feet of water and there was about 8 feet of the water column full of crappies all night. They were aggressive and biting; I caught maybe 30 of them, but they were all smallish (Coon Lake size). I could have easily brought home a limit of fish, but I didn't feel like filleting them. I did record the location on my car-GPS, so perhaps I will go back again.

Peltier Lake, getting frustrated

I tried Peltier Lake again this morning, hoping that some new lighter line, smaller jigs, and spring bobbers would help me catch light-biting fish. No such luck, though. My major problem, I think, is that I did not find a good spot until the morning bite was almost over.

I arrive around 7am, just as it was starting to get light out. I was marking a few, random, scattered fish but I had troubling getting them to bite. I caught two fish before sunrise, both nice-sized crappies. I didn't feel either bite. The frustrating part is that they were only attracted to my larger glow-bait, which was on the rod without the spring bobber.

Around dawn, the action slowed considerably. I tried to get my camera to work. Although it was operating, it was too dark down my hole and I could not see anything. I eventually decided to move, in fact, simply so that I could play with my camera.

After I moved, I caught a 6-inch bluegill on my new, small jig. I had a bit of fun seeing fish on the camera but little success in attracting them. The live bait didn't seem to do much, but I could get them to at least look at my Ratso. This was the first time all year that the Ratso was attracting fish; perhaps that's related to my down-sizing. Anyhow, I managed to catch another bluegill (7+ inches) and a small perch before the action stopped entirely.

I did waste some more time back at my original hole. I saw a crappie and a northern, but neither was particularly interested in my offering.

In the end, it was a frustrating morning and I'd really like to go back out. Somehow, though, I don't think that will happen again this weekend.

Coon Lake: Double Limit

I don't know when, but I recently came up with the idea that it would be fun to keep a limit of crappies and bluegill at the same time. Well, I did that today at Coon Lake.

I arrived very early, perhaps 7 am (sunrise = 7:41am). It was VERY cold; the car said that it was -20F. I drilled myself a hole and got to work. I caught a crappie near the bottom, but then I started catching them suspended very high, perhaps 4 feet under the ice. By sunrise, I had perhaps 8 crappies on the ice... and then I caught two more.... just in time for the bluegills to move in. I finished up by 9:15am, although none of the bluegills were very big (and some were pretty small). I was home and filleting fish by 10am; I was finished by about 11:20am, so I am now filleting fish at a rate slightly faster than 3 minutes per fish.

The bad news is that I cannot seem to get the battery for my underwater camera to charge. I'm not happy about that, especially considering that I've only used it three time.

Peltier: Again

I went out to Peltier this afternoon, hoping to catch the "afternoon bite". I arrived around 3:30pm and it was crowded, as expected. I found a spot that was reasonably uncrowded and proceeded to start fishing. It was a rather frustrating afternoon, as I couldn't get any of the fish to bite (once again). I also couldn't get my camera to work, so I couldn't see what I was not catching. I did manage two nice bluegills (~ 7 inches), one nice crappie (~9.5 inches), and two tiny crappies (< 6 inches).