Fishing Forum

Reluctantly talked the better half into letting me head to Rockport this morning and leaving her with the day after xmas mess.

Hit the State park side 7:30ish and made my way to the ice where a couple of larger groups had already set-up. Found an unoccupied spot of ice and drilled a couple of holes. Depth was 17' and fishing was slow. The ones I did manage to get were small and went back in. This was a problem as getting back early with a limit for the smoker would be helpful for my reputation at home. Little mama loves her some smoked fish and was the only bright spot in her mind about me heading out today[].

Went for a walk with the finder to see if I could find any blips through the ice at different depths and moved a bit deeper - 21' of water. Fish were moving through but apparently were not impressed with my offerings. Got a few hits and lost a couple at the hole but they were hitting pretty soft. Decided to switch offerings and finally figured out what they wanted[cool]. Every fish that showed on the finder cooperated with a 1" clear glow tube, yellow head w/ red eye, tipped with meal worm. Also, had good action (but smaller fish) on a fire tiger perch pattern ice fly tipped with 1" Pumkinseed Gulp Minnow.

Caught 4 keepers in 30 min. after switching rigs. All were in the 14-16" range but the smallest of the bunch had a belly full of eggs. I was a bit surprised; didn't think any spawning was occurring right now?

All but one of the quick keepers were caught about 7' below the surface. The other one hit my top rig and then dove to the bottom rig and hammered it. Fun watching it all happen on the ice machine; sometimes it feels like a video game.

I heard a rumor that Macfisher and the TyeDyeTwins were going to be out there this morning but I must have zigged when they zagged as I did not see their tent. Also, could have been the tent didn't get set-up as after the initial hour or two it was a beautiful sunny day, or it just blended in with the masses. Hopefully we'll see a picture filled report from them too.

Left about noon and home a little after 1:00 so I wasn't gone all day[].

Attached a picture of the masses but the Crackberry camera doesn't do it justice. The lake was loaded with hopeful fisherman. You would have been hard pressed to find a parking spot on the highway side today.......
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From your last picture, we were close to you today.
We fished right off the point that is North of the camp grounds that everyone was parked in.
We iced close to 30 Trout between three of us.
Our Trout were found in water that was under 20' deep.

Started the morning out closer to the middle but only found about 35' of depth and no Perch.
Moved back closer to the shore and went after the Trout.
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One guy fishing fairly close to me in 22' of water landed a perch. I am still yet to catch one at Rockport. Plan on targeting them specifically next time out. Were you one of the people in the group of Dr.s talking about organ transplants?
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went out this evening with my daughter from 3pm to 4pm on the highway side i caught 2 she caught 2 fish were 14 in 16in 17in 20in caught in 28feet of water 16 feet below the ice ratfeenki with power bait it was fast missed more then we caught all in just 60 minutes pretty cool to watch my 6 year old land a 20in on the ice (no sine of perch)
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Way cool to watch your kids catch fish. My 9 year old daughter generally likes to go but opted to stay home to play with friends and xmas presents. Missed her today but glad you and your little girl got into them.
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That wasn't us.
My son did catch a nice Perch first thing in the morning though.
We were North of most of the crowd and close to shore most of the day.
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You did not see us out on the ice today. TyeDye came down with the same AWFUL flu that I had last week just an hour or 2 after the Tibble adventure on saturday. He still has a temp of 100F. It is hitting our family 1 by 1......and thankfully it is finally done with me. I have not been that sick EVER in my entire life! Hopefully it ends with us.
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We (lurkinlizard and I) are at Rockport right now and have been since about 7:30. It has been kinda slow, but I got two 16" rainbows with a blue sparkly jig thing thing tipped with mealworm. I have also had bites on a clear ratfinkee with a pink head with waxworm. No perch yet. Mom has missed a few bites because she was playing with the fish finder...but they seem to like the pink jighead with a blue and silver tube body tipped with nightcrawler that she's using. I would post pictures but the phone is being uncooperative.
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So what was the grand total for the day and how long were you there?
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We caught seven but chucked a small one back. We were there from about 7:30 this morning to 6 in the evening, so it wasn't super fast, but at least we caught stuff. [] I kind of wanted some perch, but we didn't even get nibbles on our lines on the bottom.
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hello fellow bft. i was fishing there to. caught 11 in 5 hours. i was on the north west side of the lake catchin em pretty good.. all trout all about 12 to 14 inches if ya want to catch them perch the south side of the lake is best [cool]
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[quote catchnreleasem]hello fellow bft. i was fishing there to. caught 11 in 5 hours. i was on the north west side of the lake catchin em pretty good.. all trout all about 12 to 14 inches if ya want to catch them perch the south side of the lake is best [cool][/quote]

Hi Catchn, thanks for the info!

Yup we (daughter megustapescar and I) were on the south end, just out from Twin Coves campground in the state park. We caught a few perch there last year but no cigar yesterday. We fished in about 30 feet of water, just off the bottom for perch, and caught the trout in 10-15 feet of water.

Thanks again for the info!
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