04-11-2024, 03:14 AM
I needed to comp some hours at work, so decided fishing Tuesday morning was a fitting way to utilize the time. I’m not ready to hang up the ice gear just yet.
Got to the Soldier Creek dam road at 6:30 and was walking in by 6:45. Went SSW around the first point on the east shoreline. Temp was 14 degrees when I started walking out. Literally the easiest 20 minute walk. Solid edges, snow had melted enough to be solid but have plenty of traction too. Went about a half mile and set up off the point in 34 FOW. Started using Gitzilla’s in White w/red flake and crawdad color. Caught my first fish mid-column in less than 5 minutes, but truthfully the first 1.5 hrs from 7:15-8:45 were slow if not steady. The bite picked up about that time and fish would come through in waves. Caught bows 6-8’ down, cutts were mostly mid-column down to the bottom, but did have a few come up and whack my shallow rig. Things were steady until 11am then trailed off noticeably. At that point, I switched to a gold Swedish pimple and it was game on again. Fish were bum rushing the lure and would hit almost immediately for a time. I had to pack up at 11:45, but fish were still biting albeit a little slower. Still plenty of action to keep one interested though. Wish I could have stayed longer! End up catching around 30-35 total with 6 of those being bows in the 15-16” range. 5 of the 6 bows were 6-8 feet down; one was near the bottom. All lures were tipped with meal worm pieces. No worm, no hits. They would just come up and look at it then turn away.
By noon the snow/ice was starting to get soft, but the walk out was almost as easy…except there was no longer the anticipation to fish…only the realization I had to go to work. The temperature was 37 degrees when I pulled out for the drive home. All in all a great trip, but with warmer temps forecast and ALOT a lot of cloudy ice (even if there was 16+ inches total), I wonder how long conditions will hold. I’m already wanting to head back, but have no chance to do so till next week.
Oh yeah, I was the only person on the ice. No one else…had it all to myself
Got to the Soldier Creek dam road at 6:30 and was walking in by 6:45. Went SSW around the first point on the east shoreline. Temp was 14 degrees when I started walking out. Literally the easiest 20 minute walk. Solid edges, snow had melted enough to be solid but have plenty of traction too. Went about a half mile and set up off the point in 34 FOW. Started using Gitzilla’s in White w/red flake and crawdad color. Caught my first fish mid-column in less than 5 minutes, but truthfully the first 1.5 hrs from 7:15-8:45 were slow if not steady. The bite picked up about that time and fish would come through in waves. Caught bows 6-8’ down, cutts were mostly mid-column down to the bottom, but did have a few come up and whack my shallow rig. Things were steady until 11am then trailed off noticeably. At that point, I switched to a gold Swedish pimple and it was game on again. Fish were bum rushing the lure and would hit almost immediately for a time. I had to pack up at 11:45, but fish were still biting albeit a little slower. Still plenty of action to keep one interested though. Wish I could have stayed longer! End up catching around 30-35 total with 6 of those being bows in the 15-16” range. 5 of the 6 bows were 6-8 feet down; one was near the bottom. All lures were tipped with meal worm pieces. No worm, no hits. They would just come up and look at it then turn away.
By noon the snow/ice was starting to get soft, but the walk out was almost as easy…except there was no longer the anticipation to fish…only the realization I had to go to work. The temperature was 37 degrees when I pulled out for the drive home. All in all a great trip, but with warmer temps forecast and ALOT a lot of cloudy ice (even if there was 16+ inches total), I wonder how long conditions will hold. I’m already wanting to head back, but have no chance to do so till next week.
Oh yeah, I was the only person on the ice. No one else…had it all to myself
