New Auger Adapter

The IceMaster Drill Adapter works just fine! Drilled 12 holes today through a foot of ice and still had a good charge left. The video shows holes 9 through 12 being drilled. Four (foot deep) holes in 40 Seconds! You should have seen the ice and slush flying around with the first 4 holes that were drilled!

Enjoyable Day, But No Fish

Fished with Joe Pennebaker at Lake St. Clair. Temp this morning was in the upper teens and as the day progressed it made it up to the lower thirties. A breeze out of the southwest of 5 knots with lots of sunshine made for a perfect day of ice fishing.

The ice was over a foot thick. Started fishing around a mile out from the Salt River in approximately 8 ft of water. We decided on this spot because when we arrived it was daybreak and there were already about 25 people here. Visibility was around 4 feet and we only picked up a few small fish. Decided to move so we headed back towards the Salt River a half mile and fished in 6 ft. of water. Visibility was still not very good. Didn't pick up any fish, so we headed towards the yellow seawall and started fishing 500 feet from shore, in 4 ft. of water. Visibility here was excellent and we could see the fish on the bottom. Fishing wasn't hot and heavy but the fish were agressive on the bait. Minnows were the preferred choice, although after an hour the fish were totally disinterested in our offerings. Fishing is a lot more fun when you can see the fish in the hole.

We kept 7 perch between 7.5 and 9.5 inches. I did catch a large rock bass and Joe lost a largemouth bass of at least 18 inches at the hole. Talked to several other fishermen on the ice, one of whom had a couple perch over 14 inches fishing in the shallow water. Guess we shouldn't just follow the crowds.

Lots of Ice Today

Fished with John Hiltz today. Temperature was in the lower 20's with the wind 10-14 knots out of the South.

Talked to Louie this morning before we went fishing and Louie said they were catching a few fish in front of Gino's, but he also heard they were catching fish at Metropolitan Park at the Day Sail Ramp. We decided to go to Metropolitan Park.

Talked to a few guys at Metropolitan before we headed out who said they were catching a few fish. We headed out towards the left and 300 yards out. Fished in about 7 ft. of water and all we caught were dinks. The ice was a foot thick and the water was cloudy with visibility of about 3 ft. Made another move 200 ft. further out and the first fish we caught was 9.5 inches, so we figured we had a good spot. The water was a foot deeper here. We decided to stay in this spot for the rest of the afternoon as it was getting late.

Fishing was more productive when we were jigging, rather than just letting the bait sit there. We used mousies, spikes and minnows today. The minnows caught the larger fish and the mousies outproduced the spikes. Caught a lot of fish today, but only kept 9, between 7.5 and 9.5 inches, enough for John's Mom to have for dinner.

Next Planned Trip: Sunday, Feb. 24, with Joe at Lk. St. Clair

The Polar Plunge

Planned on fishing Lake St. Clair with Joe this afternoon. Temperature was in the lower thirties with a breeze out of the southwest at 10 knots. Since we were going out later, we planned on fishing until dark.

Drove by Cotton Road and the parking lots were crowded with a lot of people on the lake. We decided to try Salt River because it would be a shorter walk, and from past experience, better fishing. When we arrived at Salt River we talked to another fisherman who was heading out. He said he did good last weekend but as he was talking to his buddies on his cell phone they said the fishing was not that good and the water was a bit cloudy today. We watched him leave the canal heading towards the Salt River and walk out onto Lake St. Clair.

We got our gear together and made our way towards the lake. I was about 15 feet onto the canal when I fell through the ice. After several tries of falling backwards, I finally made it on to solid ice. As I was soaking wet from my feet to my waist, our fishing trip came to an abrupt finish.

On the way back home we stopped and talked to a few fishermen at Cotton Road who said the fishing was not that good.

It sure seemed as though it would have been a good afternoon for fishing as far as the weather went, but I guess when you're soaking wet you don't want to stick around and find out.

Guess I should have just gone to Belle Isle where they held the Law Enforcement Torch Run Polar Plunge into the Detroit River today! By the way, we didn't catch any fish today. P.S. No photo today since I was otherwise occupied!

Planning on fishing next weekend with John Hiltz.

Fun With Fish

Here is a video of our fishing trip on Superbowl Sunday, featuring Dale and fish. (Note: You may need to click on the arrow twice to start the video)

Big Gills Again!!

Fished with Daryl and Dale again on the canal to Woodburn Lake. Temp was in the lower to mid 30s all day with hardly any wind. Just another good day for ice fishing.


We fished the same area as last weekend but we did not do as well. Dale caught half as many fish today compared to last weekend and Daryl caught about the same. I finally caught some fish today so those guys did not have to donate to my pile of fish, even though Daryl tossed a few small fish in my pile.

Daryl and Dale think that the glow jig with a little green work best on this canal. We kept 37 bluegill between 7 and 9 1/2 inches and 1 crappie at 10 inches.