Pennsylvania icefishing

Thought I’d start an informational board for icefishing in our state. Post pics of your catch and what lake you’re fishing. Info on ice thickness is appreciated but not necessary. Your choice. Please don’t give coordinates to the spot as other people may get upset. You know the ones that think they own the spot and don’t want company, those ones.
Sunday, 1/16. I fished the swimbeach area on Shenango lake. Caught some nice gills in 8ft on plastics. Also caught this 14 1/2” crappie.
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The drag back to the parking lot was treacherous. No snow on the sandy beach and grass. Should be much better after the big snowstorm we had a couple days later.

Friday 1/21. I fished the Jamestown area of Pymatuning lake. Ice was solid 5” and 2 more of refrozen on top of that. Found a nice school of 7 to 9” bluegills. Caught over sixty but only kept 25. All 8” with a few 9’s thrown in. They were deep, 18ft, and hit both jigs and plastics and jig and waxworm. Every color I tried worked. Fished about three hours and called it a day.
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Couldn’t find the crappies so just enjoyed myself on the gills. Got a nice mess of fillets.

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Some nice looking fillets. Thanks for doing this post.

Nice fillets Chaunc, congratulations

Nice post, Chaunc. A real nice mess o’ fish!
Bob

Good eating out of that cold water.

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Originally Posted by kycreek

Good eating out of that cold water.

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Got invited to fish a private lake with some friends today. I caught over fifty small crappies and gills. All released. Kept a half dozen yellow perch. Just enough for a meal while watching the football game tomorrow. Kept a few bigger crappies too. The fish were all caught in six feet water, near wood. Small tungsten jig with glo maki plastics.

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This is a great idea! Just what us hard water anglers need. I just recently retired and I hope to get out this week sometime.

Sent from my LGL722DL using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Met one of my nephews at Jamestown today. We fished together for a few hours. Snowed the whole time we were there. 9:30-12:30. Caught a gang of good size bluegills and a 13” crappie. Tremendous amount of people there today. Looked like a Minnesota tournament on the lake.

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Originally Posted by chaunc

Met one of my nephews at Jamestown today. We fished together for a few hours. Snowed the whole time we were there. 9:30-12:30. Caught a gang of good size bluegills and a 13” crappie. Tremendous amount of people there today. Looked like a Minnesota tournament on the lake.

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This should be a busy time also.
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Mike

Just got a good report from my friend Dan that wilhelm is good now. Said they got 30 keepers yesterday. Mostly crappies. I’ll give a report on Conneaut lake Saturday. That’s where I’m planning on fishing.

Sounds like a plan! We have a whomper of a storm on hand starting this evening. So far just some light snow as a warmup.:(
Bob

I headed up to Pymatuning lakes Jamestown area this morning and had a good time on the big bluegills. Most were 8” and over with some at 7 1/2. My buddy stopped by and took some of these home with him. I kept 8 for myself.
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Not sure about Conneaut lake in the morning.

Nice gills!

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Originally Posted by chaunc

I headed up to Pymatuning lakes Jamestown area this morning and had a good time on the big bluegills. Most were 8” and over with some at 7 1/2. My buddy stopped by and took some of these home with him. I kept 8 for myself.
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Some good eating there Smitty. So how many fish do you think you've eaten over the years? I'll take a guess and say 1,000,008. :biggrin BTW, Happy "belated" Birthday! Hope you have many more.

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Originally Posted by Zeke

Some good eating there Smitty. So how many fish do you think you've eaten over the years? I'll take a guess and say 1,000,008. :biggrin BTW, Happy "belated" Birthday! Hope you have many more.

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Hey Rev, are you doin any icefishing on Wilhelm? I have a buddy Dan that invited me to come fish with him and his crew whenever I get time. Thought you could join in.

Fished Pymatuning with a different nephew Saturday. Between the two of us we put forty fish on the ice. Mostly gills but some crappies too. Snow wasn’t bad to drag on and ice is close to ten inches. Good fishing in the entire area and a lot of guys enjoying getting out. The parking area is packed solid. Some have to park as far back as the restrooms. Weekdays aren’t quite as bad but still a lot out for a weekday.

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Originally Posted by chaunc

Hey Rev, are you doin any icefishing on Wilhelm? I have a buddy Dan that invited me to come fish with him and his crew whenever I get time. Thought you could join in.

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Smitty,
I don't really have any ice fishing gear but I would be glad to meet up with you there. I could bring what I have in the way of tackle. Just let me know. Thanks.

Nice morning and sunrise on Pymatuning yesterday. A little windy but temps were very comfortable to bucket fish in. Be careful out there. Someone is drilling ten inch holes and they’re becoming bigger due to the warmup. They may have a light coat of ice and snow on them today.
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Very nice sunrise picture, along with some nice fish.

:ThumbsUp, nice mess of fish! Thanks for sharing

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Had fun gillin at Pymatuning Monday.

That's a nice mess of gills.

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Originally Posted by S10CHEVY

That's a nice mess of gills.

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Went to Shenango swim beach today. Two keeper crappies and two keeper gills. Easily caught twenty fish but all were small. Wind was bad so we only stayed three hours. The walk back to the truck is still tough. Would have gone to golden run but the roads are dangerously bad back there. Guys are getting stuck as the traffic for both ways isn’t possible and the guy that moves over is the one getting stuck.

Yea, I noticed, going to get gas at 5 Points, that they are not plowing them out.

Since they’re not plowing Shenango, I headed back up to my Jamestown spot Friday. Another good day. My spot got a little crowded as people came and setup around me as they saw me catching fish. Caught over 30 gills crappies and smb. Brought home 7 fish. Gave them the rest. Showed them what I was using and how I was fishing it before I called it a day at noon. I hope they did okay.

Just relaxing on Pymatuning ice
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Looks like you have a nice setup there Smitty. Some fish in the bucket too. Any crappie?

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Originally Posted by Zeke

Looks like you have a nice setup there Smitty. Some fish in the bucket too. Any crappie?

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Finished with one. 13” slab. I was just after the gills tho. Found a good spot and just relaxed hammering them. Caught around fifty. Kept 15 that were 8” and better. Today might be my last day on the ice.

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Originally Posted by chaunc

Finished with one. 13” slab. I was just after the gills tho. Found a good spot and just relaxed hammering them. Caught around fifty. Kept 15 that were 8” and better. Today might be my last day on the ice.

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CHAUNC WHAT IS THE SHORE LINE LIKE TODAY

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Originally Posted by shaved ice

CHAUNC WHAT IS THE SHORE LINE LIKE TODAY

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Not good yesterday when I came off at 4. Foot went thru by the dock shoreline.

Those few cold nights helped get the shoreline back together. Got to Pymatuning this morning and there was a couple boards placed to get on the ice. The ice is 12” thick still. Got into a nice bite in 20 ft with brush. Caught close to fifty gills crappies and a yellow perch. Jig and waxworm did the job best. Got some on plastics too. Good day on the ice.

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Nice fish! Always fun when you get into them like that.

Those two will make you a nice meal congrats.