Bluegill Fishing

Fished with Daryl on Mud Bay, which is part of Portage Lake. Temperature this morning was 32 degrees with a light drizzle and when we quit fishing it was 39 degrees with the wind blowing about 5 knots out of the southwest. The ice is 9 inches thick. The roads on the way out to Dexter this morning were terrible. There was a thin layer of ice on them and M14 east bound was completely shut down because of all the semi trucks jack knifed and in the ditch. Once I got to Dexter the roads were not too bad. We used spikes and small teardrops fishing just off the bottom to catch all the fish. We caught a small perch and put that on a tip up to try for some pike but it did not work. Most of the time while we were out fishing there was a drizzle of rain which kept us in the shanty. We started fishing at Bay Point and caught mostly dinks. Made a move out to the mouth of the bay and we started to catch some nicer fish. Caught a lot of fish today but we only had 11 keepers with the largest measuring 8 1/2 inches. Just enough fish for a good bluegill dinner.

Pan Fishing Today

Fished with Doug Esch and John Hiltz (Lou) on a small lake in Chelsea. Temperature this morning was in the lower 20s and when we quit fishing it was 19 degrees and very foggy. There was very little wind. The ice is about 8 inches thick but with all the rain forecast for this weekend it might put a hurt on the ice fishing for a while. We used Rat Finkies and small jigs tipped with mousies and spikes. We started fishing at O Dark Thirty (6:30 AM) and I do mean it was dark. We were dropping lines in the water 1 1/2 hours before sunrise hoping to catch some crappie. Well, that did not happen but right at day break the fish turned on and we picked up a few crappie. The bite was slow but at least we picked up an occasional fish. We only fished to 9:00 AM and then we had to quit. Could not ask for a better day for fishing weather wise and if we had a little more time we would have caught some more fish, this is just a great lake to fish in the winter. Kept 18 blue gills (largest was 9 inches) and 5 crappie (largest 11 1/2 inches). I did not know this but this was John's first time fishing for pan fish on the ice!

First Trip of the Season

Fished with Doug Sowa out of Bolles Harbor. Temperature this morning was 10 degrees with a wind chill of minus 4 degrees and when we quit fishing it was 15 degrees. The wind was out of the southwest 10 to 20 knots. The ice is 6 to 8 inches thick. We used spikes and shiners. Started fishing in front of Trout's and we did not catch anything. I made several moves up the harbor and never had a hit. Doug came and joined me up the river and he caught a couple of small bluegill and 1 eight inch perch. Fished for 3 hours and then we called it a day. Talking to some other fishermen as we were leaving and no one had any fish. Some of the guys had their cameras down and they said there were a lot of shiners, a few perch and some bass on the screen.

Happy Holidays !

Just wanted to wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Finally started to work on repairing the basement after the sewage damage from the flood on June 4, 2010. Since the boat is put away, I have had time to work on the basement.

With the arctic temperatures we're having I hope to be ice fishing soon!!!