Reflections 2016-2017

First fish of the season (yellow perch)

With the end of my 2016-2017 ice fishing season, I like to look back and reflect on the highs and lows of this ice season.

The season started somewhat on time and found me ice fishing in northern Iowa by the second weekend in December.  Many years folks in that area are on the ice shortly after Thanksgiving, so this year wasn't too far off from that time frame.  This was a much different outlook then the year prior where it wasn't till after New Year's when folks could access the ice in northern Iowa.  

Most of the winter, central and southern Iowa received little to no snow and actually had more rain days than snow events.  This made for easy walking on the ice, but wasn't beneficial for snowmobile and atv traffic on the local lakes due to lack of ice thickness and questionable edges.  Our season was also cut short by above average temps for much of late January and early February and saw ice fishing in central and southern Iowa finished by the second weekend of February.

This season I was able to log 30 trips on the ice to 17 different bodies of water; 10 of which were new to me.  I was pretty pleased with those numbers considering the shorter season and exploring ten new bodies of water is something I enjoy.  My travels this season found me again spending the majority of my time in Iowa; but I was also able to fit in a trip to Lake of the Woods right after Christmas with a good friend and my dad.  I had never fished Lake of the Woods before and none of us had fished it through the ice, so this was a new adventure for each of us.  This trip turned out to be more of a vacation than a fishing trip as Border View Lodge offers fantastic accommodations.  

Sunset on Great Traverse Bay - Lake of the Woods

The highlights of the trip was spending time with my dad and buddy and watching my friend fight a lake sturgeon for a solid 40 minutes only to have his line break before the fish could make it top side.  The consensus in our group after speaking to the guides at the lodge was that the fish probably would have not fit through the 8" hole and was estimated to be between 48-52" long.  Not a large lake sturgeon by any means, they can grow upwards of twelve feet long, but quite a challenge on six pound test fishing line and a 30" ice fishing rod.

Unfortunately this picture doesn't do the fish justice

Mounted Lake Sturgeon at Border View Lodge Restaurant

This winter I competed in three different tournaments.  The first venue was Stan's Bait and Tackle bluegill tournament on Lil Emerson bay at West Okoboji, Iowa with Todd Reed.  Typically the waters are gin clear with abundant submerged vegetation at West Okoboji, but that was not the case this year with visibility only two to three feet and little to no vegetation present.  Our patterns from prefishing did not hold true tournament day and found us with a disappointing finish somewhere in the middle of the pack out of twenty seven teams.

The second stop was the Iowa State Fishing Club's tournament on Hickory Grove Lake.  Todd and I teamed up again for this tournament and after prefishing the weekend prior to the tournament, as well as the day before the tournament, we felt confident in our patterns and fish location.  Thankfully, those patterns held true during the tournament and we won the tournament as well as Todd catching the biggest fish of the day.  Everything came together that day and this was easily our best tournament we have fished together in the six years we have teamed up.

Winning bag of 10 panfish weighing in at 8.66 pounds

This season I was able to catch a couple of new species of fish through the ice; a sauger and tullibee while we were at Lake of the Woods.  

I spent some time targeting channel catfish through the ice this winter and it culminated in me landing my personal best channel catfish.  That same night also resulted in one of my most memorable times on the ice as a buddy and I landed approximately thirty channel catfish between three and eight pounds in a matter of a few hours.  I have never experienced a school of catfish three feet high and seemingly endless for that long of period of a time.  Had we stayed later into the night; I have no doubts we could have caught even more catfish, but obligations the following morning had us off the ice after only a few hours.

5-6 pound channel catfish

7-8 pound channel catfish

28" 9 pound 12 ounce channel catfish

30" 13 pound 6 ounce channel catfish

I was also fortunate to catch my largest fish through the ice this winter.  The Saturday prior the Iowa State Fishing Club's tournament on Hickory Grove, I snagged a common carp in the tail.  The fight lasted about thirty minutes with many strong runs which tested the capability of my fishing line, reel, and rod.  To my astonishment my small tungsten jig stayed in the carp's tail during the fight.  I had to drill a series of three other holes, so that there was room for the fish to fit through, while also holding onto the rod in order to land the fish.  It was quite an ordeal, but only made it sweeter once I was able to land the fish.

31" 16 pound 4 ounce common carp

16 pound 4 ounce common carp

(photo courtesy of Chad Angell)

I also caught another carp this winter, this time in the mouth, in late February.  The carp hit a glow red Clam Bomb Spoon which was packed with wax worms.  It was a much shorter fight than the previous carp as I was only fishing in five and a half feet of water and the fish was less than a third the size.  Still a lot of fun and a blast on light tackle and a short rod.

24" 5 pound 2 ounce common carp

I would like to take a moment to thank my sponsors Clam Outdoors and Sportsmen's Direct for their continued support this winter.  It is a pleasure and honor to be a part of each of each of their respective teams and endorse their products.

With that said, that puts a wrap to another fun season.  See you on the ice next winter!

DIY Measuring Scoop

Here's a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to make a dual purpose ice scoop.

Many ice scoops on the market have too wide of a diameter to fit inside a 6" hole, but I've found the Lakco scoops work well for that task. They are inexpensive, around three dollars a piece, and can be found at most sporting good stores and bait shops.  The downside to the scoop is that it doesn't have any measurements on it, so i made a quick improvement to allow for that.

I had some adhesive rulers from the Iowa DNR on hand and they worked perfectly for this task.  Simply cut them to length, around 11", and width.  Carefully apply the ruler onto the back side of the scoop as demonstrated below.

These measuring scoops work great for measuring ice thickness as the hooked end firmly holds onto the bottom of the ice.  They also work great for measuring panfish as they are a mini "bump board" with the curved end.

I've been using this scoop for a few years now and am happy to report that so long as you get a good seal between the ruler and the scoop, the ruler will stay on and not peel off.

So if you fish out of a 6" hole and are looking for a scoop with measurements, give it a try.

Fits inside a Genz box allowing for a more mobile system

Short fish story

So earlier this winter I was fishing for panfish; which is usually what I target through the ice as they are plentiful and pretty cooperative.  It was a typical outing targeting bluegills and crappies that were relating to wood, in 20-30 feet of water, and I was catching some fish in the process.  I had been fishing for maybe ten to fifteen minutes and catching and marking the fish during that entire time.  I had just set the hook into a smaller 7-8" crappie and was reeling the fish up when I saw a strong return on my flasher briskly ascend towards my fish but then disappear about half way up the water column.

Now I have seen air bubbles numerous times on my flasher and while this return was somewhat similar in appearance, air bubbles generally don't leave the screen nor ascend so quickly.  So after landing the fish, removing the hook, and sending it back down the hole, I commenced fishing again.  After about four to five minutes of not marking anything on my flasher I began to wonder what had all transpired and why the lack of fish present.  So I dropped my Vexilar underwater camera down the hole and began to pan around when I quickly found the source of my unexplained mark on the flasher and disappearance of all the fish.

The videos below explain the reason for the lack of fish as well as the strong return on my flasher.

After watching the muskie on the camera and recording the videos on my phone, I tied on my largest Rapala Rippin Rap and Clackin Rap and attempted to try and catch the muskie.  I knew that landing the fish would be a challenge as I had on thin line and was fishing near structure.  Despite my best efforts, the fish had no interest in the 3-4" lures I was presenting and was more interested in the 7-10" panfish I had been catching.  After a couple of minutes, the muskie left my screen on the flasher and I didn't see it again when I dropped my underwater camera down for a second time.

So as we all know, big fish eat little fish and muskies are no exception to that rule.  I knew the lake I was fishing a some muskies in it but it was never a species I had targeted nor had seen others catch while ice fishing.  The large mark ascending on my flasher was this muskie trying to eat the crappie I was reeling it; but for whatever reason half way up, it broke off from it's pursuit of the crappie.  I have caught pike before; which had a panfish in it's mouth that I was reeling up, so I knew it wasn't uncommon for muskies to do the same.

Next time I will be more prepared and have some 5/0 hooks in my tackle box and drop a smaller panfish, on a set rod, down the hole in hopes of catching this fish again.