12-09-2021, 02:47 PM
Welcome to the site, I know a new pond is intimidating and I may recommend some other areas because I don't like to fish with the crowd... I'm also assuming that the current cold snap will make the ice safe... I like the north half of the lake from Wild Rose (will cost $20 to park) to the county Dock (Frome) ramps, including Pintail (both of the latter are free parking this time of year I think)... Early ice the fish are near shore and fishing shallow (less than 6 feet) isn't a bad thing, but get out of the weeds, actually if you can find a spot on the edge of the weeds is best, the fish use that as a highway to travel through... (I would recommend getting away from the crowds if possible, the fish are really noise sensitive.) (Also good idea not to be near gas augers they scare fish way away from you in shallow water.) By Christmas the fish may be moving out deeper, if so find open areas around weed patches, we fished a few underwater mounds in the middle before and found good fish numbers, and usually no one else gets out that far, so the fish aren't scared to feast... If you have electronics watch for fish, if you don't see any in half an hour move to a new spot... (if you don't have a sonar, then lay on your belly and put a cover over your head and look down the ice hole, in shallow water you can see if fish are there.) I did really well with a Manic Cut'r bug in natural glow color... They look white, but glow green... tipped it with a smashed meal worm and caught 15-16 fish in an hour and a half, so they will definitely take that lure, now you just need to find the fish... Good luck... Jeff
When things get stressful think I'll go fish'en and worry about it tomorrow!