Me, my dad and my wife ice fished both Echo and Rockport today. Started at Echo over by the dam. Was about 6 inches where we were. Fishing was very slow and hardly marked a fish on the flasher tried in many spots and many different depths not marking a single fish. Finally we were able to land 3 very nice rainbows but that was it and nothing else on the flasher. So we decided to pack it up and head over to Rockport. Few groups out by the dam. We went to the last turnoff with the bathroom. Ice was very spotty. We had no issues and was on about 5 inches of ice. Not far from us was paper thin ice. Saw a few people fall through. Luckily they got out ok! If you stay on the snow path you should be fine if you do it. Just don't go too close to the other areas. We probably caught over 50 or so perch between the 3 of us. All averaged 8-9 inches. My wife caught a very nice 12 incher. Swedish pimple caught the most tipped with night crawler or perch meat. Even caught some with no bait. Fished in 40 feet of water to get them. All pretty close to the bottom. Never marked a trout suspended there so no trout at Rockport. Overall it was a fun day on the ice!
Good report and sounds like a fun day. 12 inch perch is a great fish.
(01-21-2024, 03:13 AM)Fishpro22 Wrote: [ -> ]Me, my dad and my wife ice fished both Echo and Rockport today. Started at Echo over by the dam. Was about 6 inches where we were. Fishing was very slow and hardly marked a fish on the flasher tried in many spots and many different depths not marking a single fish. Finally we were able to land 3 very nice rainbows but that was it and nothing else on the flasher. So we decided to pack it up and head over to Rockport. Few groups out by the dam. We went to the last turnoff with the bathroom. Ice was very spotty. We had no issues and was on about 5 inches of ice. Not far from us was paper thin ice. Saw a few people fall through. Luckily they got out ok! If you stay on the snow path you should be fine if you do it. Just don't go too close to the other areas. We probably caught over 50 or so perch between the 3 of us. All averaged 8-9 inches. My wife caught a very nice 12 incher. Swedish pimple caught the most tipped with night crawler or perch meat. Even caught some with no bait. Fished in 40 feet of water to get them. All pretty close to the bottom. Never marked a trout suspended there so no trout at Rockport. Overall it was a fun day on the ice!
Thank you for your report. Glad you got into the perch! The ice this year has been questionable! Thank you for the warning on thickness!