Decided that I didn’t want to be done with ice fishing just yet, and Strawberry was on the menu. The plan was to get to the lake by daybreak, but my body and mind had other ideas. It was hard to get out of a warm bed, but I finally rolled out and left 45 minutes later than I had wanted. I arrived at the lake at 7:10 and took the SC dam road to my predetermined spot. When I I arrived, a couple Millenials had gotten their SUV stock trying to drive off the road. A guy with a Ranger was trying to pull them out and just didn’t have enough power. Plus, he was getting stuck claim the snow as well. His buddy pulled him out and they took off. I didn’t want to get into the deeper snow, so I connected my tow strap to theirs and pulled them out. This put me on the lake around 8am. Later than wanted, but that “stuck” feeling isn’t a fun place to be. Gotta pay it forward when given the opportunity!
The actual fishing was better for me than my first two trips. Had my first cutt in 60 seconds and action was steady until about 11 am when it slowed down. I was in 36 FOW and most fish came thru between 10-20 feet down. There were other fish in the lower half of the water column, but they were not interested in playing. They’d come up and look and then go back down. Fish in that first 20 feet were more aggressive. Best lure was a 1/32 oz. white jig head with a pearl paddle bug tipped with a mealworm and smeared with garlic crawler scent. 1/8 oz white jig with a crawdad or chartreuse Gitzilla worked well also. Fish were caught tipped with waxies and spikes but mealworms worked best though. Most rigs had some sort of hookless kastmaster or a dodger. Best dodger was red/purple combo with an eye.
Results were still not as good as Strawbery can be but iced around 15 cutts and 5 bows while losing a couple more fish right at the hole. Brought 3 bows home. 2 were 16-17” and the 3rd was 15”. Lost one roughly 17” bow at the hole.
Ice is about 15 inches with 4-5” of that cloudy. Only 4 or 5 inches of snow on top of that. Slush was not an issue.
The actual fishing was better for me than my first two trips. Had my first cutt in 60 seconds and action was steady until about 11 am when it slowed down. I was in 36 FOW and most fish came thru between 10-20 feet down. There were other fish in the lower half of the water column, but they were not interested in playing. They’d come up and look and then go back down. Fish in that first 20 feet were more aggressive. Best lure was a 1/32 oz. white jig head with a pearl paddle bug tipped with a mealworm and smeared with garlic crawler scent. 1/8 oz white jig with a crawdad or chartreuse Gitzilla worked well also. Fish were caught tipped with waxies and spikes but mealworms worked best though. Most rigs had some sort of hookless kastmaster or a dodger. Best dodger was red/purple combo with an eye.
Results were still not as good as Strawbery can be but iced around 15 cutts and 5 bows while losing a couple more fish right at the hole. Brought 3 bows home. 2 were 16-17” and the 3rd was 15”. Lost one roughly 17” bow at the hole.
Ice is about 15 inches with 4-5” of that cloudy. Only 4 or 5 inches of snow on top of that. Slush was not an issue.
