Took two buddies & fished Mantua from 9:30-2pm. Nice to escape the smog & actually witness sunshine. Bluebird day up there until the fog swallowed us around 11. Pounded some gills as soon as we landed (South Portal), then it slowed to a crawl. Had to do some serious recon. Iced some fish here & there, but no rhyme or reason to depth or pattern, tho it may have been the lightest bite I've ever experienced. Came full circle, ending up those last two hours nearly where we started, in 10-12' of water, using a 1/80thoz jighead with a spike chaser. Holed 60 gills, tho only 14 of them cleaners, some wannabe perch and four slimers. Talked to lots of anglers who agreed with the s-l-o-w-n-e-s-s of today, which might be related to evidence provided by one slimer who spilled his guts.
(see Exhibit A: perchlets 1"-and-under) Ice a solid 9" with dusting of snow atop for easy walking.
Gonna give Jordanelle a drive-by tomorrow.
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I was also at Mantua today from 1-6pm for the first time this season. The sun was shining and the fish were biting so it was an enjoyable day. Just like Perchinski said the bite was extremely light. Even with my ultra light ice rod and 2 lb ice fishing line the fish would barely make the tip of the rod go down or not at all. Most had to be coaxed into biting using very subtle jigging movements. The setup I used was a #12 charchuse glow rat finkee with a very small lead weight about 8" above that to help it get to the fish faster. The first hole I fished was about 10' deep and that is where I caught most of em, tried two other holes at 11' and 12.5'. The majority of fish were small bluegills with about 18 keepers and two fat perch one about 8" the other maybe 5". I also caught several finger sized perch, 3 bows, and 3 small largemouth bass, all of which were promptly returned down the hole. So overall I would say the fishing is still fair if you have the right equipment and technique, heavy line and larger jigs just wont cut it unless you are specifically targeting trout. One more thing, most of the fish were hovering within 3 feet of the bottom and wouldn't venture far out of their comfort zone. Next time I go I'd like to try out the northern side of the knoll, all the fishing can't be hiding in just the southern end. Tomorrow I'm gonna go see if I can find where all the jumbo perch are hiding out in Pineview!
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The jig you were using is my go to jig on mantua. Instead of using a small weight to drop it faster, I just use two small jigs. For mantua I use two #12 rat finkies, one glow chartreuse and one black or purple. That combo seems to rock for me.
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