12-26-2021, 03:31 PM
Fritzfishin and I went to Newton on Thursday. Due to several factors that I won't go into we didn't get to the lake as early as we would have liked, but at 9:00 the ice looked pretty solid. As we moved around the lake we encountered ice in the 4" range everywhere except the very edges. That soft slushy area was easily stepped over in the morning but not so much at 1:00 when we left. At that point there was some water on the ice from where it had melted. It was overcast so you couldn't blame it on the sun shining on it--it just warmed up that much. I hesitated to make a report because whereas it was kinda marginal when we were there it might be totally unsafe now.
We started out by the dam because that was where I had success last year. We couldn't raise anything though we drilled a lot of holes from 7 feet deep out to over 15. We heard some people had had a little success there a few days earlier but it sure was dead for us. Finally Fritz gave up and headed up-lake to where they did so well last year on crappie. I stayed and drilled a bunch more holes just sure that I just needed to find the exact spot where the fish were hanging out. I finally was able to jig up something off the bottom in a couple of holes around the 14' depth mark. No takers though. I got over my stubborness and headed out toward where Fritz had found some hungry perch. Along the way I went past a young man who had a bunch of fish scattered around on the ice. They were mostly perch but there was a very nice bluegill in there, too. I asked him if he had caught any bass and he replied that that was what he had caught the most of. He threw them all back, he said but he extended his hands to show me how big they were--looked like about 12-14 inches. Lmb was mainly what I was after. I asked him if he had any worms I could beg, borrow or buy (he had been catching all his fish on mealworms). See, the thing is that somebody forgot to bring the wax- and mealworms that he had all ready to go. I won't name who it was to protect the guilty. Anyway, the only bait we had was some nice red wigglers and some pick crappie nibbles. He said I was welcome to have some of his mealworms so I grabbed 5. What a nice guy.
When I reached Fritz further to the north he had several small perch in his sled. I had heard that perch meat was the way to go but I tried the mealworms and bits of earthworm first. I was using a couple of tungsten jigs. The white-with-a-blush-of-green did better than the orange one. I sat and watched as Fritz iced several more little fish before I finally caught one to banish the skunk. Then I tried a sliver of perch belly but got no takers. Things finally picked up a bit for me when I put perch eyes on. I only ended up with a half dozen of the little guys which I took home to save for bait. Around 12:30 (we had to leave at 1:00) Fritz said he was going to move one more time. He was sure a big bass was waiting for him in the bay just across the lake. While I was busy catching those last couple of perch, Fritz yelled out that he had something big on. He was whoopin' and a-hollerin' and came running over to show me what he got. It was a beautiful big largemouth. We got a picture of him and the fish and he went back across to measure it and take a picture for the contest. When I got over there he told me it was a bit over 18". In the past the #1 bass have been just that size so we conjectured that he would probably maintain that spot throughout the contest. I know a few guys, including me, who want to give him a run for his money, though. But I sure was happy for him. If he wants to share what he caught it on or anything else I'm sure he'll jump on here.
I'll be back and I'm pretty sure with what I learned that I can ice at least one bass.
We started out by the dam because that was where I had success last year. We couldn't raise anything though we drilled a lot of holes from 7 feet deep out to over 15. We heard some people had had a little success there a few days earlier but it sure was dead for us. Finally Fritz gave up and headed up-lake to where they did so well last year on crappie. I stayed and drilled a bunch more holes just sure that I just needed to find the exact spot where the fish were hanging out. I finally was able to jig up something off the bottom in a couple of holes around the 14' depth mark. No takers though. I got over my stubborness and headed out toward where Fritz had found some hungry perch. Along the way I went past a young man who had a bunch of fish scattered around on the ice. They were mostly perch but there was a very nice bluegill in there, too. I asked him if he had caught any bass and he replied that that was what he had caught the most of. He threw them all back, he said but he extended his hands to show me how big they were--looked like about 12-14 inches. Lmb was mainly what I was after. I asked him if he had any worms I could beg, borrow or buy (he had been catching all his fish on mealworms). See, the thing is that somebody forgot to bring the wax- and mealworms that he had all ready to go. I won't name who it was to protect the guilty. Anyway, the only bait we had was some nice red wigglers and some pick crappie nibbles. He said I was welcome to have some of his mealworms so I grabbed 5. What a nice guy.
When I reached Fritz further to the north he had several small perch in his sled. I had heard that perch meat was the way to go but I tried the mealworms and bits of earthworm first. I was using a couple of tungsten jigs. The white-with-a-blush-of-green did better than the orange one. I sat and watched as Fritz iced several more little fish before I finally caught one to banish the skunk. Then I tried a sliver of perch belly but got no takers. Things finally picked up a bit for me when I put perch eyes on. I only ended up with a half dozen of the little guys which I took home to save for bait. Around 12:30 (we had to leave at 1:00) Fritz said he was going to move one more time. He was sure a big bass was waiting for him in the bay just across the lake. While I was busy catching those last couple of perch, Fritz yelled out that he had something big on. He was whoopin' and a-hollerin' and came running over to show me what he got. It was a beautiful big largemouth. We got a picture of him and the fish and he went back across to measure it and take a picture for the contest. When I got over there he told me it was a bit over 18". In the past the #1 bass have been just that size so we conjectured that he would probably maintain that spot throughout the contest. I know a few guys, including me, who want to give him a run for his money, though. But I sure was happy for him. If he wants to share what he caught it on or anything else I'm sure he'll jump on here.
I'll be back and I'm pretty sure with what I learned that I can ice at least one bass.
The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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