Just O-Kay at Manto-Way...Jan. 11

[Jmorfish]

Pretty early start this A.M., second souls to hit the ice..thickness about 6 or 7" today..we found 13 fow, where 9 days ago it was 11 fow in the exact spot..did so good last time, so thought this would be a good place to start again...Very slow to start, anything we were chucking at them...finally around 0900 got a decent perch, then 3 nicer 'gills, and a 12" bass..in that time my buddy got 1 'bow and 1 nice 'gill...so even slower for him...another friend came out and had better bites a little shallower, so I finally moved finding 12', got 3 more nice 'gills and 1 'bow..2 other friends joined me here, and they also got a few bluegill here...nice to get out with good friends, some fresh air and sunshine and catch a few good fish...somewhat frustrating, 'cuz about 95 % of the time they'd show up on the screen, come up or down to look at our presentations, then just drift away...tried waxworms, mealworms, spikes...once in awhile 'teasing' them up a couple feet off the bottom would get a little tap, but overall today was not a strong bite...that's fishin'...

[Springbuck1]

Pretty early start this A.M., second souls to hit the ice..thickness about 6 or 7" today..we found 13 fow, where 9 days ago it was 11 fow in the exact spot..did so good last time, so thought this would be a good place to start again...Very slow to start, anything we were chucking at them...finally around 0900 got a decent perch, then 3 nicer 'gills, and a 12" bass..in that time my buddy got 1 'bow and 1 nice 'gill...so even slower for him...another friend came out and had better bites a little shallower, so I finally moved finding 12', got 3 more nice 'gills and 1 'bow..2 other friends joined me here, and they also got a few bluegill here...nice to get out with good friends, some fresh air and sunshine and catch a few good fish...somewhat frustrating, 'cuz about 95 % of the time they'd show up on the screen, come up or down to look at our presentations, then just drift away...tried waxworms, mealworms, spikes...once in awhile 'teasing' them up a couple feet off the bottom would get a little tap, but overall today was not a strong bite...that's fishin'...

   Thanks for an actual report.  

I still haven't had my first real day on the ice, yet this year, so I really appreciate real talk.

[Troutster]

Similar experience on Sat 1/15. Took a church group of boys, got there early with the first wave. Caught 6 or 7 gills. Another adult did same. One boy caught 2 and 2 leaders caught 1 each. The bite was super lite and by 10:00 am it slowed significantly. I wouldn’t recommend Mantua for taking novices fishing. It’s too tricky.