First ice trip of the winter

My partner and I hit the ice about 3:15 this afternoon on a small interior Twin Cities Metro lake.

We cut three holes and then the Kluge adapter we had between the 18v drill and the 6" hand Strikemaster failed when the chuck came loose. The safety crossbar popped right off the adapter and the cutter portion went to the bottom of the lake. (So did the safety bar and the failed washer that was supposed to hold it, before I cooled off a bit.)

Well we just fished the three holes we had until we knocked off about 5:00. One at about 6', one at just over 7' and one about 9'. Ice was clean and crystal clear running about 8-10" thick under the light snow cover. Nobody else had been on that lake that we could see, not fishermen anyway. Temp was right about 20 degrees, no wind and very light snow. No other holes to be seen at all.

We could see activity on the bottom, likely perch, but they would not come up after anything and we soon found out why. Pike.

Attachment 111238

26" -took a #10 jig tipped with a waxie. We hadn't even had the lines in the water 20 minutes.

We proceeded to catch another, that one on a #12 Fatboy also tipped with a waxie and about half a dozen perch that we eventually coaxed off the bottom, all of them also on a waxie tipping a tiny jig. Most fish came out of the 7' depth with a couple of perch at 9'. Those were part of a stepped drop off that eventually makes 14 to 15'. Last year we had fish all up and down the steps depending on the outing.


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A little smaller at just under 24".

From time to time a heavy red mark would come through, more pike; they were on the move this afternoon, which kept the perch buried in the bottom. I think we did okay to even take the few we did, but the pike were the bonus excitement. The first one pretty much filled up the hole once I got her worn down and could get the head started. Everything released to fight another day.

I did not take out an inline reel this afternoon, only my UL spinning reels; but that was probably for the best considering the oversized fish we took (everything was on noodle tipped rods; so the pike were beaten by drags we knew and trusted).

The fishing was good, but boy was the outing expensive. The Kluge adapter was on its fourth year, and had given faithful performance up until this afternoon. It kinda bites when your safety feature fails, but I intend to get another one. The adapter is $45 and I will need another hand auger on top of it!

Nice fish there no1 Sorry to hear it was an expensive trip.

The expensive part is one of the things to be concerned about, if you use a rechargeable drill to cut your holes. Chucks can come loose. I thought I was covered for that and for three years I was. No gasoline mess or expense during that time and quite a bit less weight to carry around, too. Some household current, of course, but well... some guys go through 10 gallons of auger gas a year; so that almost evens out, if one considers the alternative.

It was real nice to get right back on fish, the first outing of the year, and on a lake we do not fish during open water or even really have good maps for. But of course there was a price; isn't there always a price!

Really cool pictures - thanks for sharing. I'm still trying to determine if this southern boy wants to work up the cajones to step out onto the ice lol

Second outing.

Got the auger replaced and the adapter, too; so we went out today again.

Same lake farther down the break on a table about 12 to 13' deep. Same couple of hours towards later in the afternoon. Today we ended up catching a good baker's dozen mixed bluegills and hybrids, a small bass and a perch. Earlier in the afternoon they were coming up off the bottom and coming in from the side as far up as 4 feet from the bottom. We had a couple of real strong smacks, and quite a bit of the standard bluegill nibble. We have been getting lucky and putting even the first holes on fish.

The bite tapered off and quit as the sun went down, which is different from most other lakes we fish where dusk is prime time. But the rule on that particular lake is daytime fishing. We got out just a bit too late today and last week for the best bite. Tomorrow and Thursday we plan on another lake where magic can happen from daytime through the time the sun hits the tree tops on the western bank until full dark, hoping for the crappies we have found there in the past.

One hint for those who use the cordless drill and lithium batteries. You get a lot more holes if you keep the battery warm. I will drill a few and then when I fish them, the battery goes down inside my bibbs, and then comes out ready to work, if I need more holes. A lot of lithium batteries lose their gunch when they get too cold. It makes a difference even when it is pushing 30 degrees like it was today.

Glad it all worked out and you got some fish..

Thanks, the new auger cuts just fine on the drill, far better than the joker out this afternoon with the gas powered auger with the dull blades. He couldn't get that sucker to cut or even bite into the ice with his full 200 pound plus weighing it down.

Different lake today from yesterday. First two crappies of the winter for us, both decent 10" fish, plus about 30 bluegills. All still swimming. Average was significantly bigger than the average we expected out of that lake, too, although no real trophies. Water depth was about 10', and best bait was a gob of red eurolarvae on a size 12 diamond jig. On the ice about 2:00 and heading for home about 4:30. So it was a pretty decent catch for the time involved.

Once again I gave the Gentz inline reel a good work out, and I tried out a spring bobber (the titanium wire one from Frabill). Both worked ok, but I remain somewhat less than impressed with both. They do have to be handled a little differently than what I am used to; so the testing continues.

The lake we were on has a stabilized shoreline thanks to WPA way back in the thirties; mostly it is walled. It is way down, easily three feet below normal, but the structure we were on was just about exactly where we remembered it. Next time I will take along the GPS which has set waypoints. We got coldfingers and packed it in before prime time really took off, too, or we might well have added to the crappie numbers. In years past that lake has had some exceptional dusk bites as opposed to the one we were on yesterday, that seems to roll up its sidewalks at dusk.

Both the bluegills and the crappies were bigger this year than in winter's past; so we are going back there tomorrow.

Sounds like you had a good trip. I went today and it was so windy you could not fish. We had 30mph winds. I put out 3 tip ups and set in my truck and watched them. I had 1 flag over an hour. Think it was a Bass. Run out some line and went into the weeds and dropped the minnow.

What I do in the wind is fish the protected shore both summer and winter. There is good fishing water all around me; so I have some choice in where I fish, with productive locations available no matter which direction the wind is coming from. Otherwise in the summer my light lines become unmanageable, in the winter I can normally get enough protection just by facing away from the wind out on my bucket, but I still prefer a protected shoreline. That is just more comfortable.

I finally got my hard sided house ready for a shake down trip. The lake had 14 inches of clear ice and three inches of snow cover.
I set up on a 22 foot break off of the main basin. Fishing was quite slow with a bunch of small to medium sized perch iced. I will have to try a night trip as the day bite for crappies was negative. :-(

Attachment 112106

Good Looki'n Shack you got there..

That lowering running gear is a real nice feature. Does it also collapse for road trailering? It sure is roomy enough. It would certainly address one of the problems we seem to be having in that both quarry and the big toothies seem to be keying on our open holes, the former going all lockjawed and the later cruising in for handouts. You can very easily close off the light shafts from them in that.

Judging from the pines in the background I would have guessed, being well north of the Twin Cities, you would have had more than 14" of ice, which is only just a shade over driving on. We have close to a foot here ourselves even deep in the Metro heat island.

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Originally Posted by no1son

That lowering running gear is a real nice feature. Does it also collapse for road trailering? It sure is roomy enough. It would certainly address one of the problems we seem to be having in that both quarry and the big toothies seem to be keying on our open holes, the former going all lockjawed and the later cruising in for handouts. You can very easily close off the light shafts from them in that.

Judging from the pines in the background I would have guessed, being well north of the Twin Cities, you would have had more than 14" of ice, which is only just a shade over driving on. We have close to a foot here ourselves even deep in the Metro heat island.

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The 6x8 foot house was originally a skid house and I had the trailer assembly added. Set up is a breeze, pull two pins and crank the house down on the ice. This is a cold weather house a has four inch foam walls;a gas lantern or small Buddie heater is all the heat source needed. When it gets to cold for the portable I use the hard sided house for shirt sleeve comfort.
You are correct I am up in the pine tree area about twenty miles south of the headwaters of the Mississippi.