Sloppy but Fun

Fished with Joe on a small lake in Chelsea, John could not make it because he was getting over the flu. After a couple of hours of fishing Doug S. showed up. Temperature today was in the middle 30s with a southwest wind around 5 knots. We fished in the fog and a drizzle for most of the day. The ice is still 8 inches thick but it is starting to get soft. Walking on the lake was very difficult because of the snow cover and the slush. Started fishing where we left off on the last trip and we never had to move. We caught a lot of fish today but we had to sort through them to have a nice catch. Most of the fish were caught off the bottom but every once in a while there would be fish from the top to the bottom. We kept 37 bluegill. When we arrived back at the vehicle the CO was waiting for us to check our fish count and for our fishing license. Today we both passed with flying colors because I had my license with me this time. The CO tried to give us 11 fish that he just took from another fisherman that did not have a license, but we passed on his offer.

The End is Near

Fished with Daryl at a small lake by the Chelsea prison. The temperature was in the middle 30s with a slight wind out of the northwest. Had to walk through about 5 inches of slush on the lake which made for a tough go. When you drilled a hole the water would start gushing out of it so we fished in a lot of water. At one time I was sitting in 4 inches of water. The ice is 8 inches thick and just last week it was 14 inches thick. We started fishing at the crack of mid morning again. Started fishing in the middle of the lake and we only had a few fish. Started making our way back towards shore and we finally found some fish. The bite was slow but at least we caught some fish and all I wanted was enough fish for dinner. We kept 25 bluegill,1 crappie and 1 perch.

Blue Skies, Upper 40 Temps and Illegal?

Fished with Dale and Daryl on a small lake in Chelsea. Temperature this afternoon was almost 47 degrees with a southwest wind 5 to 10 knots. Just a nice day to be ice fishing. The ice was a little wet on top but we still have 14 inches of ice. We decided to try the mid day fishing (which is not the best time to ice fish) because it worked for Daryl on his last trip. The first spot we tried we only had a couple of keeper gills after an hour of fishing. Made a move towards the center of the lake where there was a group of fisherman and we started to catch some fish. Right about 3:00 PM we started to catch some nice crappie about 3 feet below the ice. Usually crappie are caught right before first light and right after dark. We kept a total of 48 fish, a mix of gills and crappie. O yeah, as we were fishing the CO came out and was checking for over limits of fish and fishing licenses. We were not worried because we had very few fish at that time and we were all legal. Well, I could not find my fishing license. After looking for about 10 minutes I told him I have a license but I don't have it with me. The CO called into his office and verified that I had one so I was good to go. Once he got done checking everyone he passed out quite a few tickets.