12-24-2019, 08:24 PM
Buddy & I snuck up to Mantua this morn from 7-11, before both of us had to be home. Ice a solid 7" and cloudy. Got rained on the first hour or two, but 40-deg,
so not cold at all. Thank God for goretex & cleats. Walked out from the ramp and stopped to fish in 19'. Nothing going, so kept moving east until we actually found some cooperative gills, perch & trout after treking a loooong way to get over 18',
mid-lake. Kept 15 perch, 8-10", and a dozen eater gills. Let twice as many go that didn't qualify. Got some fish here & there moving east, nearly to the knoll, then worked our way back and snatched a few more from our best spot. The multi-colored spikes I mail-ordered from Knutsen's were the ticket. Put 3 of those on almost anything and they stay on, fish after fish. Waxies & perch strips also garnered some fish. Perch were bottom-feeders, while most of the gills we got had to be teased 3-4' up off the bottom. One gill atop the ice spit out 4 bloodworms, 1/2"- 3/4" in length. Not sure about the parking when we arrived in the dark, so we played it safe. But it did lookas tho nearly a dozen cars were parked along the southern road in the SE corner.
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so not cold at all. Thank God for goretex & cleats. Walked out from the ramp and stopped to fish in 19'. Nothing going, so kept moving east until we actually found some cooperative gills, perch & trout after treking a loooong way to get over 18',
mid-lake. Kept 15 perch, 8-10", and a dozen eater gills. Let twice as many go that didn't qualify. Got some fish here & there moving east, nearly to the knoll, then worked our way back and snatched a few more from our best spot. The multi-colored spikes I mail-ordered from Knutsen's were the ticket. Put 3 of those on almost anything and they stay on, fish after fish. Waxies & perch strips also garnered some fish. Perch were bottom-feeders, while most of the gills we got had to be teased 3-4' up off the bottom. One gill atop the ice spit out 4 bloodworms, 1/2"- 3/4" in length. Not sure about the parking when we arrived in the dark, so we played it safe. But it did lookas tho nearly a dozen cars were parked along the southern road in the SE corner.
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