With the close of my 2013-2014 ice fishing season, I find myself taking time to look back and
reflect on the highs and lows of the previous ice season.
This winter saw terms from the meteorological community, such as "polar vortex", which pretty well summed up the weather during the winter months. After having a string of a couple of years with warmer than normal temperatures, us ice fishermen were blessed with very cold temperatures this winter. These massive arctic cold fronts extended much further than during normal winters and pushed as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Ice thicknesses reaching upwards of four feet thick had been observed in the northern states and here in central and southern Iowa, two feet of ice was found in many locations.
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| Iced up gear was the theme this winter! |
We
were also very fortunate in central and southern Iowa as we were not
inundated with snowfall like parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and various
other states in the Ice Belt were. These conditions provided an
extended ice fishing season for the Ice Belt and many anglers are still
ice fishing in the state of Iowa as I write this.
My
travels this season found me spending the vast majority of my time in
central and southern Iowa this winter. Being the father of two young
children, I was not afforded the opportunity of taking trips to far away
destinations and the majority of my trips were within an hour and a
half of Pleasant Hill. This winter, I logged 38 trips on the ice to 22
different bodies of water; 10 of which were new to me. I was very
pleased with these figures as my total trips were similar to last year's
totals and I was able to fish some new bodies of water in the process.
I also found myself ice fishing the earliest I have ever been out;
Thanksgiving morning near my home in central Iowa on two inches of
gorgeous ice.
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| First fish of the season - Thanksgiving dinner? |
I competed in two team tournaments this year and my partner, Todd Reed, and I started with a respectable finish at the Team Extreme Big Creek tournament, finishing 4th
out of 13 teams. I consider Big Creek to be one of my home waters as it is relatively close to where I live and one of the lakes I frequent quite often during the winter. We were able to cash a check at this tournament, but my competitive side was hoping for a better outcome. Next year is a new year though and hopefully we can improve upon our placing.
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| Myself and Todd receiving our check at Big Creek tournament |
The
second tournament we competed in was the Team Extreme Rock Creek
tournament. Like the Big Creek tournament This team event also had a bag of eight crappies and eight bluegills, and the team with the heaviest weight
takes first place. My fishing partner, Todd Reed, and I formed a solid
game plan from our prefishing and ended up taking
2nd place out of 12 teams. We were both pleased with our placing as we
executed our game plan well. We were ultimately beaten out by a lone
kicker crappie caught by the winning team to edge us by 0.2 pounds.
Throughout the years, I've always been a big
fan of catching bluegills through the ice. They are generally
plentiful, easy to catch, and offer a good fight once hooked. This
winter I decided a change of pace was warranted and I switched gears to
focus primarily on crappies. Crappies also thrive in our Iowa waters,
are easy to catch, and offer a good fight once hooked, but often bite
best when the sun is down; at least the larger fish do, in my
experience.
With
that in mind, this winter I found myself fishing more at night or
during the dawn/dusk periods in search of large crappies. The homework I
put in during the previous fall and time spent scrutinizing lake
contour maps really paid off. The Iowa DNR's master angler program lists any
crappie over 14" as a master angler fish. I was fortunate enough to
catch seven crappies this winter over 15" from three different bodies of
water in Iowa.
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| 16" 1.934 pound Crappie |
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| 16" 2 pound Crappie |
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| 15.25" 1.83 pound Crappie |
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| 15" 1.64 pound White Crappie |
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| 15" White Crappie |
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| 15.25" Black Crappie |
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| 15.25" Black Crappie |
I was also able to set
personal bests in three different categories of fish species caught
through the ice this winter. I also caught a new species of fish
through the ice; they are pictured below.
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| Channel Catfish - 27.5" 11.5 pounds |
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| Bluegill - 10.5" 1.375 pounds |
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| Black Crappie - 17" 2.65 pounds |
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| ~11-12" Rainbow Trout (New species through the ice) |
I would have to say that this winter has provided me one of the best years I have ever had on the ice. I was able to cash a check in each tournament I fished, set personal bests in three different fish species, tackle some new waters, and spend time on the
ice with good friends. I would also like to thank my sponsors Clam Outdoors
and Sportsmen's Direct for helping me achieve some of those goals;
without their assistance, it would have been much more difficult.
With that said, that puts a wrap to another season. See you on the ice in December, if not sooner...
