Everything Ice Fishing

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Reflections of 2018-2019 Ice Season

With the conclusion of my 2018-2019 ice fishing season I like to look back and reflect on the highs and lows of the previous ice season.

First fish of the season

This season was ushered in by cold weather and ice formation in early November and some friends and I were able to hit the ice on November 18th; which was the earliest I have ever been out ice fishing. Central and Southern Iowa would take a few weeks longer to lock up and have fishable ice, but I was able to find enough ice there on the first Friday of December to cut some holes and go fishing. With the extended cold this winter, I was fortunate enough to log 54 trips over the course of 20 weeks straight to 51 different bodies of water; 31 of which were new to me this winter. My travels this winter also found me fishing in three different states (Iowa, Minnesota, and Idaho).

This winter I only fished in two tournaments; the NAIFC qualifier on West Okoboji Lake and the Clear Lake Yellow Bass Bonanza. Most winters I average four tournaments but this year between traveling and other interests, those two tournaments would suffice.

The North American Ice Fishing Circuit qualifier on January 13th at West Okoboji Lake was the first time that the circuit had been back to Okoboji since 2003 and kicked off my tournament season. The NAIFC is widely renowned as the upper echelon of competitive ice fishing and my regular tournament partner Todd Reed and myself decided to try our luck in this tournament and fish against some of the best anglers in the country. When most folks think of West Okoboji, they envision gin clear water and sight fishing opportunities. Unfortunately this has not been the case the past few winters and this year was no different. Due to hazy water conditions, this was an electronics bite and the team who caught the largest mixed bag of 10 gills and crappies would win.

Crappies were going to be the ticket in this tournament and most of the larger ones were confined to a very small location in Emerson Bay. Launch order would be vital for a good finish and despite us launching fourth, that was not enough to get on the exact spot. We opted to fish other spots where we caught larger bluegills but come tournament day those fish were not in those locations, as they had been prior in the week, and found us scrambling for quality fish. We ended the tournament with a very disappointing finish of 38 out of 41 teams.

The only highlight from tournament day

My next tournament was the Yellow Bass Bonanza at Clear Lake, IA on February 10th and would be the first time I fished this tournament with my partner Cameron Arnold. We set out to fill our bag of 30 yellow bass and compete against over 300 other teams. The yellow bass fishing on Clear Lake had been very spotty all winter with some folks catching a bucket or two of yellow bass one day and only a handful the next day. Since neither of us had spent much time on the lake prior to the tournament weekend, I was apprehensive of how the tournament would play out.

Fishing was excellent the two days prior to the tournament and the yellow bass were more than willing to bite but were in smaller schools than years past. Tournament morning saw a change in weather and with that the bite also hastened. We found our best success fishing with 4mm tungsten jigs and maggots as the fish were not as interested in spoons as they had been the two days prior. With the bite becoming more difficult and with smaller schools of yellow bass, only 16 teams caught their limit of 30 yellow bass with half of the field unable to catch a single yellow bass during tournament hours. Cameron and I were able to catch our 30th yellow bass with 10 minutes to spare and our bag of fish was good enough for 16.37 pounds which earned us 15th place and were awarded a new Vexilar FLX-20 flasher for our efforts. A respectable finish for our team and the highest I have placed in the three years I have fished the tournament.

Top 21 weights from the YBB

In late January a group of five us embarked on a trip of a lifetime when we left the comfortable confines of Iowa to chase perch in the pacific northwest. We spent three days fishing the world class perch fishery at Lake Cascade, an impoundment of the Payette River in west central Idaho, which is an hour and a half north of Boise. Pictures do not do the trip justice at the size and quality of fish caught and if that were not enough, the scenery was second to none. Below is a video chronicling some of our trip to Idaho.

We utilized Southern Idaho Fishing Excursions as our outfitter and could not have been more pleased. Bill Lavin is the owner and only guide on the lake and comes highly recommended from our group, so if you're interested in making the trip be sure to look him up and book a trip!

Day 1 keeper perch

A couple of my larger perch from day 1

Day 2 keeper perch and trout

A couple of my larger perch from day 2

Day 3 keeper perch

A couple of my larger perch from day 3

15" yellow perch

13.25" 1# 10 oz yellow perch

My main focus this winter was the continuance of the quest to ice fish all 99 counties in the state of Iowa. Last year really sparked my interest in branching out and fishing different bodies of water than the same ones I have become accustomed to fishing over the years. So I took the challenge to heart last spring and started doing my homework to determine which lakes would be worth my time and effort to fish and set a plan of action to tackle as many as I could this winter.

It would not be truthful to say that every place I fished was a home run as that was simply not the case. But with that said, I was able to discover some outstanding and untapped fisheries through out Iowa in my travels this winter. Sure the road got long and lonely at times, but the desire to unlock each lake fueled my passion to complete my goal. One piece of advice I have to fellow fishermen is to not be misguided when others tell you that there isn't any good fishing in Iowa; you just have to go out and find it.

I was able to fish a body of water in 36 different counties in the state of Iowa this winter bringing my total up to 50 counties I have ice fished in Iowa. So I am halfway through completing my challenge, but realize that the second half of the counties will be much harder to complete as they are further away and many do not offer great public fishing.

So what fun is all "work" and no play? In late March a gathering of about 50 fun loving friends and myself hosted our second annual Yellow Bass Beatdown this time at 5 Island Lake in Emmetsburg, Iowa. It is an informal event full of fishing, food, and fun to commemorate the past season and help the resource by removing the aquatic nuisance species, yellow bass, from the lake. Last year we held it at Clear Lake and estimated around 1,000 yellow bass were removed from the lake. This year we moved the event to 5 Island as it offered more numbers of yellow bass but unfortunately they are smaller in size. By the end of the day we estimated 3,000 yellow bass were removed from the lake and the fish were donated to a handful of needy families. It was a fun conclusion to the winter and full of laughs and great memories!

Some of the 3,000+ yellow bass

My good buddy Chad and I clowning around the day prior to the yellow bass beatdown

This winter I was able to catch a couple personal bests through the ice and tie with another species. While in Idaho, I was able to catch numerous perch in the 13-14.5" range and tied my personal best perch in the process. I also caught a personal best 11" 1 pound 3 ounce redear sunfish through the ice this winter and a 21.5" 5.75 pound largemouth bass. It is always gratifying to catch trophy fish through the ice and to do it on public waters makes it all the more sweet.

21.5" 5.75 pound largemouth bass

21.5" 5.75# largemouth bass

11" 1# 3 oz redear sunfish

Below are a few of the memorable fish I was fortunate to land this winter.

10" bluegill

10 1/8" bluegill

9 5/8" 15 ounce bluegill

11" 1# redear sunfish

10.5" 14.6 ounce redear sunfish

19" 4.75# largemouth bass

19" x 15" 4# 9 oz largemouth bass

14.5" black crappie

14 1/8" black crappie

14" black crappie

14.5" black crappie

14 1/8" black crappie

14.25" black crappie

14.5" black crappie

14 3/8" black crappie

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!

Final trip of the season to central Minnesota the last week of March

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Reflections 2017-2018 Ice Season

First fish of the season, a whopper yellow perch

With the end of my 2017-2018 ice fishing season, I look back and reflect on the highs and lows of the previous ice season.

This 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 around the first week of December, if not sooner, so this year wasn't too far off from that time frame. Central and Southern Iowa would take a little while longer to lock up and have fishable ice, but I was able to find some ice there around Christmas this year.

I was fortunate to log 47 trips on the ice to 27 different bodies of water; 10 of which were new to me this winter. These figures are quite a bit higher than previous years and i attribute that to good ice in northern Iowa through April and a reinvigorated zeal for fishing new lakes. My travels this winter also found me fishing in three different states (Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota). I was also fortunate enough to fish the latest I have ever been on the ice, with a quick trip to Rice Lake towards the end of April.

Two man limit of walleyes 4-21-18

This winter provided some of my best competitive fishing ever as I competed in four tournaments and one derby. Derbies differ from tournaments in that you only have to catch the largest fish for predefined species and takes some of strategy out and replaces it with luck.

The first tournament this winter was the Central Iowa Icesticks tournament at Badger Creek Lake. I fished with my regular fishing partner, Todd Reed, and we were able to secure first place out of 18 teams with a bag of 8 crappies and 8 sunfish totaling 10.85 pounds. I was also able to catch the largest redear sunfish with a 1.08 pound specimen. With my previous experience of the lake and by doing our homework prefishing, we were able to develop a solid game plan and thankfully our pattern held on tournament day.

Final Standings for Central Iowa Icesticks tournament

Todd and I with a few of our winning fish

Two 10.5" redear sunfish

Three keeper redear sunfish

10.5" 15.2 ounce redear sunfish

10.5" 1 pound 1.6 ounce redear sunfish

The second tournament was a quick turn around and found Todd and I fishing the Iowa State Fishing Club tournament the following weekend at Hickory Grove Lake. We finished in second place, out of 17 teams, with a total weight of 7.84 pounds for our bag of 10 panfish. We were disappointed in our finish as we had won the year before, but were edged out by close to three quarters of a pound by the first place team who had an impressive bag of 10 crappies. This tournament was bittersweet as it will be the last one at Hickory Grove, for a while, as they are renovating the lake starting this summer.

Leader board for the tournament

Our 10 keeper panfish

Todd and I with some of our better crappies

The third stop was at the Holiday Lake fishing derby the first weekend of February. Holiday lake is a private 150 acre lake near Brooklyn, IA which allows the general public to fish there one day a year and the proceeds go to the fishing committee to stock the lake. Four buddies and myself weren't sure what to expect as we had never fished the lake nor took part in the derby, but our eyes were opened up by the experience. There were 404 participants for the derby which is about twice as many people as I was expecting. Fishing was fair, but our group was able to catch bluegills, perch, crappie, bass, and a walleye and one member of our group was able to tie for first place in the bluegill division with a 9.75" fish.

Flier for 2018 Holiday Lake Derby

The Yellow Bass Bonanza at Clear Lake, IA was the following weekend and would be the second time I fished this tournament with my friend Lance. We set out to fill our bag of 30 yellow bass and compete against 300 other teams. The yellow bass had been elusive most of the winter but thankfully fishing picked up right before the tournament and 90 teams out of 301 caught their limit of 30 yellow bass. Our team finished 27th last year and we looked to improve upon that this year, but unfortunately we were only able to reach 40th place with a weight of 14.08 pounds. Our efforts weren't in vain as 40th place was awarded a new Vexilar FLX-12 flasher.

Lance and my bag from the YBB

Largest yellow bass (10.75" 0.75 pounds) and white bass (15" 1.75 pounds)

The final leg of my tournament season was an unexpected one when a buddy asked me to fish the North American Ice Fishing Circuit tournament at Bitter Lake in South Dakota. The tournament circuit is the longest tenured and the upper echelon of competitive ice fishing series in the United States. We found ourselves fishing against 25 other teams from 10 different states across the United States. Chad and I found a pattern and location we really liked and were able to over come a tough bite on tournament day to win by over two pounds over the second place team. Our bag of 16 perch weighed in at 10.04 pounds and Chad was also able to catch the big fish of the tournament, a 14" 1.92 pound perch.

13" 1.5 pound yellow perch caught prefishing

Chad and I with NAIFC tournament director Jack Baker

Oldest daughter holding the trophy

Our bag of 16 perch

While a lot of my time this winter was slotted fishing or preparing for tournaments, I was able to get out and do some "fun fishing". This year I made it a point to fish some different bodies of water, something I enjoy doing, and I was able to find some real nice bodies of water which receive little or no pressure and offer so good fishing opportunities.

Nick Meyer and my two man limit of Spirit Lake yellow perch 3-24-18

Two man limit of Spirit Lake yellow perch 3-24-18

12.75" 1 pound 2.6 ounce yellow perch 12-22-17

I recall one morning during the boring drive to Hickory Grove to prefish for the ISU tournament that I started thinking about how many different counties I had fished this winter. This sparked my interest to tabulate how many different counties I had fished in this winter; something I had never tracked previously. My final tally found me fishing 18 different counties this winter, which is a stat I was somewhat surprised at. I look forward again to trying new bodies of water in coming years and hopefully uncovering other hidden gems. Below are just a handful of some of the better panfish I was able to catch while fishing these new lakes.

14" Black Crappie

13.5" Black Crappie

11.75" White Crappie

12" White Crappie

14" Black Crappie

12.5" White Crappie

9.5" Bluegill

It's also fun to tangle with something larger then panfish and while this year didn't yield the numbers I normally like to catch, it still didn't disappoint.

17.5" Largemouth Bass

18.5" Largemouth Bass

17.25" Largemouth Bass

19" and 16" walleye

18.5" and 15" walleye

Two 16" walleye and a nice mixed bag of yellow perch and bluegills

16.5" Walleye

15" Walleye

26" 7 pound channel catfish

27" 8 pound channel catfish

It should come as no surprise to anyone in the state of Iowa; who pays attention to fishing, but Clear Lake was on fire for the yellow bass and walleyes the last month or two of the ice fishing season. The size of the yellow bass are quite impressive with many yellow bass reaching or surpassing trophy requirements (10") each trip. It is a fun time to search out the schools of aggressive yellows with a group of friends and we took full advantage of that the final month of the season.

First Annual Yellow Bass Beat Down on 3-10-18 was a success with hundreds caught and good times had

Jeff Heinze and my haul from 3-16-18

My keepers on 3-23-18 (158 yellow bass and one 16.5" walleye)

I was also able to catch a personal best through the ice this winter. While prefishing for the NAIFC tournament at Bitter Lake South Dakota, I was able to catch a 14.5" one pound thirteen ounce yellow perch.