Yea John , you're right ,changing up to 8# test or  10# test leaders for the bigger Pickerel  lakes is a good idea .I'll keep the 6# test for my lake that is mostly Bass Crappie and Perch .I've seen like three Pickerel in that lake in 25 years of constant fishing  . I've been thinking Quick strike rigs but don't own one .The Pickerel I've caught have mostly been on shiners using tipups .I did get one about 18" on a dead sticked ice rod while setting tipups or jigging another hole ,but that was only once that I recall .

    I am from NENJ ,a border town to Sloatsburg NY ,called Ringwood . Closest "big " lake is Greenwood Lake.             

     Yes ,Pickerel with their nice looking pink fillets are great eating . Do you filet the floating bones out with the side fillets or make fish cakes? The top and back sides are nice and boneless though aren't they !

http://matsuanglers.org/wp-content/uploads/Quick-Strike-Rigs-for-Pi...

John Foro , I was confused , when you said quick strike rig ,  I was thinking the automatic fisherman tip up . Gotta check out that quick strike in more detail ,thanks!    Heres the Automatic Fisherman :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Anybody finding any ice yet in PA?

Today it was iced over , most of where I was rowing and fishing yesterday . Was hoping for safe ice by now but it aint happening here in NENJ. Hang in there Bruce!

This is killin me ! 46 DEG today .

This  has been up and down temp wise ,we get cold then it's up in the 50's, now we are having a cold snap this week, I have a friend that went out with 3" if that I don't want to go for a swim,I live in midcoast Maine

I hear ya Mark. Patience friend! I've been getting things ready though I 'll tell you that!   

yes before Christmas there was  a lot of open water even ponds in my area we'd get ice then it would be open water, it was weird Christmas to wear a tee shirt outside.

Finally got out on some ice yesterday .Felt good to fish a different lake for the 1st time . Brother Greg got a few bass a Perch and a Gill .I got a two Perch and two Gills . I fished mostly in  8' .Bizarre moment of the day was Greg getting a Bull Bluegill on a tipup with a fathead minnow.

Caught 6 legal largemouths through the ice yesterday at Lake Raystown. The biggest is 19" and the smallest 15." We were fishing shiners and minnows on gum ball jigs and Swedish pimples. I was fishing 4lb. test mono on tip-ups and jigging rods.dish pimples.

Real nice haul Bruce! Excellent work!

Guys,I've been doing real Lousy .Fished three lakes so far and my sad total is 2 Yellow Perch, 5 Bluegills, 1 Pumpkinseed .Here are the lures I've used to get  the waxies, spikes, worm piece, Shiner head or mealie down to the fish . All fish caught in the 7-5 ' range at 8-10' ranges .

Welcome Slip Sinker, looking forward to your input!

thank you for the addition!

just like you im disappointed in the ice fishing results on the lakes... and its just not you and i... its a wide consensus from many different lakes... i try to talk to as many fisherman as i can while im out there gathering input... its been rather slow even here.

i noticed on my last outing good algae and color on the bottom in about 6 ft of water... we had very little snow cover and clear ice.

my little ice fishing lake i selected for this winter

• its close to home
• easy on easy off
• short walk to any structure
• its private and protected
• and its loaded with panfish!

The small deep basin was loaded with schools of crappie all soft water season… ive been concentrating on the edges of the break between the basin and the flats that start at 8 ft.  now im thinking maybe the fish (the good fish) are still on the flats. The deep basins are absent of crappie and that is where you expect them to be.

The lake has been ice covered for three months coming next week and probably another month and a half to go.

I had a trip to a lake this past Sunday. There was 10 inches of ice, but a layer of soft ice with slush on top. It snowed most of the day and I caught only 1 small perch. My buddy caught 4 perch. It was a pretty day with the snow and all, but I like a little more action. At least I got to eat all of my lunch HA!

Ha ha Bruce ,I brought the Beef Jerky along to chew on . I'm dying here for some good action!

Slip ,I've talked to no ice fisherman recently except for my brother , and Nephew who I've fished with and a friend who hasn't done well. Gotta  get out there more!

Road trip to DCL is a possibilty, John!

Maybe Jim ,but it'd be something I'd have to put into my weekend work schedule . Would love to get out there and fish with you though!

This coming weekend is supposed to be great weather for ice fishing in my area of Blair, Cambria and Somerset Counties. Maybe I'll have some pan fish photos to post. Good luck to all!

Yes Bruce...let me know how the PA bite is going!

So im doing some research on crappie location for ice fishing during the winter months here in mid michigan... i came across this article that details crappie movement in BOW during the winter by lake type. very informative and a must read for crappie fishing on the ice... i believe this also relates to all panfish movement on the lakes during hard water season. explains vertical movements thru the water column concerning oxygen levels and plankton mvts during the day. awesome article

http://www.in-fisherman.com/panfish/crappie-black-or-white/fishing-...

Great idea, those flags. We had a guy drown a few weeks ago. He was fishing alone and disappeared. Two guys came along and saw all the equipment unattended and immediately called emergency personnel, but it was too late. So sad.

I was able to to take a day off of work yesterday to hit the ice. We fished a lake about 90 miles from my home. The temp was 16 degrees when we started and then hit 31 by the time we headed home. We kept 21 blue gills, crappie, perch, and one fat cat. I took half of them and just got done filleting. We fished jigs tipped with wax worms, mousses, and minnows. I have no idea what mouses are so I hope someone can enlighten me. They look like a small wax worm with a tail. Believe it or not I caught a soda can on a tip up in 28 feet of water. I couldn't believe it. 

congrats on the great outing Bruce!

 Hi Guy's, New to posting. Bruce looks like a good day, I'm from New England so it sure brings back memories.

.Hi Scott. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome Scott! Bruce that is very sad about the guy who fell threw the ice and died .I wonder about the effect ,on ice , of high winds and lots of snow !

 Great Perch ,ya got there .You earned them!

I'd like to know what a mousy is to . The always pop when I hook them to .What's the proper hooking procedure ?

Ice tent on the Monksville . I am not trusting the ice however ,

I think we should be on ice around here any day now. I've heard of a few guys have been on various lakes, but I want to be sure the ice is safe.

Amen on being sure ice is safe.

Hi Dick,

Two guy  went through the ice on High Point Lake in southern PA a day or two ago. The ice is so thin in some places guys are going out wearing life jackets. That's just really stupid. I don't want to ice fish that much.

Bruce ,almost the entire East side of Cupsaw lake is ice free and it's ashallow lake mean depth of abot 15 feet . I cant believe someone  was on Monksville and hope he didn't fall through .There might be a shallow ledge he knew about leading to a deeper channel but still come on on! Don't push it , no fish is worth it !

I don't blame you Bruce it sorta takes some of the fun out of it.

Go ahead Laugh ,I'm not ashamed ! In great anticipation, I've been getting out and messing with my ice fishing gear already !

Well John your 6 years ahead of me maybe someday.

Yes but you've been tying great jigs and I never even got out last year .You are way ahead of me as I see it .

Sorry John maybe this will be your year. I haven't been like I said for 6 years now.

I have tied up some ice flies up and handed them out to use. Got some pictures back so I guess they worked but guess If I do get out one day I'll have to tie up some more I gave them all away.

I haven't tied any ice flies, got plenty from last year I couldn't use because we really had only about 2 weeks  of ice. I can't wait for good ice this year.

Hope you get some good ice early this year.

The weather around here has become very erratic. We'll get maybe 3 or 4 days in the lows 30s and then we get hit with a 50 degree day or two.

Same type weather here Bruce East of you . Ringwood NJ ,40 miles NW of NY city

Going over my 2009-2010 ice fishing album here the archive says I went out on the ice 15 times! .I think the earlest ice Fishing I've been able to do is Dec. 26th  2010 http://bigbluegill.com/photo/pc26002202-1?context=album&albumId... 

The best I ever did was 12 trips. I think that was 2 years ago.

Was there ever a more convincing look of bewilderment than on Greg's face here ?

Bruce , I lift my glass to you for a new record in ice fishing expeditions for you and I this year !

Welcome to the group Carl ! I know in Tennessee, you don'6t get ice but it'll be great having you around anyway .