My last blog was supposed to be last ice fishing day, and it was. Well, until this past Saturday. I had all my rods put away, everything was packed in the back of the utility room and put away. It really was, but Mother Nature made me get it back out. It wasn't my fault.
The recent colder temperatures at night kept the ice in check this past week. I knew the ice would be suitable for fishing, and I just had to do it.
Hi, I'm Todd, and I am a fishaholic.
I made a few text messages to get at least one person to go with me, safety first. It didn't take long to get Don Henry's text message back, he had his things all put away too, but out they came. We made a quick trip to hopefully find some good ice on a local farm pond. I was very pleased to see the edges locked up solid as we walked down to the pond. I knew our chances of fishing that day was going up!
We made it out on the ice, it was solid, about 4-6 inches in depth. I started popping holes, and Don followed up with the
Vexilar checking to see if any fish were out and about roaming. He found some in about 8-9 feet of water and started fishing. I kept drilling holes making my way to the deepest part of the pond and then all the way across to the north side. I was in "exploring" mode to find out about this pond, as I have only been there once before.
We continued to catch crappie and a few bluegills for the next two hours. They would come through suspended, or be about two feet under the ice, those were very aggressive. After catching about 40 panfish, I had the itch to catch some bass. The last time I was here I caught about an 18-inch bass, or three-plus pounds. I was eager for another battle with one of those specimens. I tried a Salmo minnow bait, but no takers, so I switched to a jigging spoon, GAME ON! I did not hook up to another big one like a few weeks earlier, but did get one that went about 2.5#. In total I caught about 10 bass that day, a very fun way to end the year.
Don had a great day on the ice too, gills, crappies, bass and a lot of laughs. Always fun to go ice fishing...one last time.
The end of the ice fishing season came this past Wednesday (March 27th) for me and a couple of my ice angling friends. Don Henry, and David Bowles joined me for one last adventure to find solid ice. A protected pond/lake with trees or located in a valley will hold ice much longer than an area that is out in the middle of nowhere. I knew of just a pond like this, and communicated with Kent, the land owner. He didn’t mind at all if we looked around. As the three of us walked down to the pond we noticed that things looked good, no open water and it appeared solid around the edges. We came to one side of the pond, and things were not good at all, one step on the ice, and one wet boot as it broke right through. Time to try the other side…BINGO, walked right out and started testing the ice. I started to quickly drill holes and measure for thickness and quality. We were in business for some late afternoon fishing and our smiles were as big as a ten-year olds on Christmas morning!
We quickly found roaming crappies and bluegills in the deepest water the pond had. We were sitting in 15-22 feet of water for most of the time. The fish would come in suspended and we would pick them off as they approved of our baits. The fish were hungry, they knew spring was coming up, the water temperatures are getting warmer, and the pond water was once again teaming with microscopic life. Fishing was great, and with every fish we caught we knew to cherish it, as it could be the last one of the year. Night was approaching, and as the sun started to hide behind the horizon, we knew that time was just about up for the ice fishing season. We all had a great afternoon/evening of fishing and it will be one to think about until next December. 
