East coast Ice fisherman

21 members

A place to share tecniques ,past successes /failures and future prospects for fishing Gills and other fish through the ice.

Comments Discussions Members

chris

i got my first ice tournament coming up on January 30th.

Dec 14, 2010
John Sheehan

Where's the tourny Chris? Good luck, hope ya win!

Dec 15, 2010
chris

i dont know where it is yet

Dec 15, 2010
John Sheehan

Awesome Perch filet tecnique!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjTlFwQb7D0

Dec 20, 2010
Howard Webster

As of today we have all but lost our ice very warm temps for the 2nd day of January I will not go back out until we get a few days of freezing weather

Jan 2, 2011
John Sheehan

Was out yesterday and got some decent Gills Bass and Crappie but today is too warm and I wont feel safe until cold days and nights are consistent here too Howard.

Jan 2, 2011
Howard Webster

Left work 2 hours early today grabed my gear and headed to the lake. Caught 32 perch not any jumbos the biggest being 9 inches. All ere caught on a hali jig tipped with spikes

Jan 14, 2011
John Sheehan

Good job Howard!!Same with me and a Buddy we must have caught about 30 or more 9"Yellow Perch a mess of Gills 1Bass 2 Crappie and 4 thick 11-12 "White Perch .A mixed bag of baits. Tipups with small shiners.Tiny Fathead minnows on Nungesser spoon,Marmouskas with Spikes caught the most.Marmouskas and mealworms and Kastmaster with spikes all caught fish .We were really on them for four hours!

Jan 15, 2011
Jim Gronaw

Great reports, guys! I have been struggling as of late...10 fish on Monday evening and just 4 yesterday. I am planning to fish Faylor Lake in Central PA on Monday with some fish commission folks. Gills and crappies are in the mix.

Good luck!

Jan 15, 2011
John Sheehan

Jim -You da perch man and I have no doubt you'll be on lots of fish again soon.I got skunked a few weeks ago targeting Trout.

Howard -How deep were your Perch?

I forgot to mention all fish caught yesterday were on or inches from the bottom in 8-10' of water .Even the Crappie caught at dark were hugging the bottom.Of course I fished the place with the oak branch blowdowns.The spot is really holding fish!

Jan 15, 2011
Howard Webster

Due to ice conditions I am only fishing 6 feet of water only 4 inches of ice . Went out today and caught 37 more perch. All they seem to want is maggots it was 3 above zero here so i fished out of the shanty and did not set any traps saw 1 good pike swim by under the hole must have been at least 3 inches

Jan 15, 2011
chris

i got about 10" on my lake...how much do you guys have?

Jan 17, 2011
John Sheehan

at least 6" here in Northern New Jersey

Jan 17, 2011
Howard Webster

http://docksideoutdoors.com/ This guy has them at his shop he has a small online store and a baitshop . His Name is Ben tell you have talked to me and want some good colors he fishes himself and will pick what works up here

Jan 19, 2011
John Sheehan

Have less than 6" now I'm sure now with the above freezing temps and rain we've been having.

Jan 19, 2011
John Sheehan

Thanks Howard!

Jan 19, 2011
Jim Gronaw

On Monday, we had about 10 inches, 8 inches clear ice at Faylor Lake in Perry County. In Mason Dixon country it is 4 to 7, depending on where you're at.

Jan 19, 2011
John Sheehan

About 10 " ice.Went fishing from 1-5 0'clock and caught a bunch of Bluegills ,Crappie (about 5 ,10-12") a few White and a bunch of Yellow Perch and 1 Pumpkinseed.Where are the Bass???

Jan 22, 2011
Jim Gronaw

John...if you're catching all those panfish...who cares about bass!!!

Jan 22, 2011
Howard Webster

These are great we had a high of 9 degres today and was able to stay out and fish all day. I use a colman blackcat to knock the chill down

Jan 22, 2011
John Sheehan

Well Jim I just like catching 6 species more than 5 .Lol!

Howard ,how'd you do? What else beside Yellow Perch you run into on Lk. Champlain?

Jan 23, 2011
Mike

Can't wait to catch some more big gills through the ice.

Jan 23, 2011
John Sheehan

Mike -Any of those big gills you catch hit jigged spoons ?

Jan 23, 2011
Mike

John,

I have never caught any fish through the ice on a spoon. Everything I catch is on jigs.

Jan 23, 2011
John Sheehan

Well you catch great fish Mike!The Bluegills and Smallmouth Bass you catch are great!

Jan 23, 2011
Jim Gronaw

This year I have caught bass, bluegills, crappie and yellow perch through the ice using a variety of lures...Kastmasters, Rattle Flash Spoons, 1/80th and 1/100th oz jigs, marmooskas and Gill Getters. About 65 % of my fish have come on gillgetters tipped with waxies. All lures were tipped with either waxies or maggots.

Jan 27, 2011
John Sheehan

I 'll have to give waxies a shot Jim.Been fishing spikes/mealies and my latest interest in ice bait,salted minnow heads on spoons.

Jan 27, 2011
chris

my tourny is tomorrow. where have you guys been getting some nice fish (depth, cover, structure)?

Jan 29, 2011
John Sheehan

Good luck with the Tourny Chris! It's been a week but I was catching fish in wood cover in sand/dirt bottom in 8-15' fish hitting near bottom .Bright color (Chartruese) with the snow cover.

It might be worth trying near a creek channel if you can find it with the right cover for your lake . Ice has got to be real thick by now (It is around here)but be careful if their is a spring nearby.

Jan 29, 2011
John Sheehan

All 5 fish yesterday came on waxies/Frostee Spoon.Salted minnow heads,nothin',Spikes /Marmooskas,nothin. Thanks for the tip Jim!It seems like the mid ice slowfishing has begun for me . This happened last year also.

Yesterday: 18" Pickerel, 2Gills about 7&1/2 each ,Yellow Perch about 9" ,One 10&1/2 " Crappie

Feb 1, 2011
chris

caught this on in 21' of water on a small jig. its about 9" and the biggest gill i saw at the tourny

Feb 1, 2011
John Sheehan

Just like the color of the 8"ers I been getting. 9" is a nice fish!

Feb 2, 2011
Mike

Had a nice afternoon on the ice. 20 gills up to 9 plus inches, 7 rainbow trout, 1 Crappie, and 1 chain pickerel. All jigged up in 14-17' of water on a tiny gitzit tipped with a waxworm.

Feb 5, 2011
John Sheehan

Excellent day Mike ! LIKE THOSE RAINBOWS! How big was the Pickerel? You got a great lake there! 9" +BGills!Incredible.

Tell me was the snow thick on the ice and were the fish close to bottom or what?

Thanks for any info!

Feb 6, 2011
Mike

John,

Happy to share some info. The Pickerel was only about 15" long. The total amount of snow/ice was about 18" with half being true ice and the upper half a sort of mixture. 2/3 of the fish were near the bottom, but I did catch about 10 fish suspened about 10' down in 16-17' of water. Watching suspended fish react to my baits on the Vexilar was fun. I visually lost my jig at one point, when one of the rainbows grabbed it and ran off to the side about 10-15'. Nice to be out there when the fish are active. Best of luck on your next trip.

Feb 6, 2011
John Sheehan

Ice Fishing Sat .2/2/11 11:30-4:40..21 fish 6 yp 7 bg 1 wp,7 crappie
around 18" ice 9 holes tired me out somewhat ...lazer auger gettin a little dull after 3 yrs.
Spot 1,1 fish)Started out by dam at out flow corner . Fished 3 holes less than an hour 12-15 'near bottom 1 avg. YP Mid sized jiggin' rap w/wax worm
Spot 2,9fish) moved over by stream in flow ,cut 3 holes ,8 ' ..little off bottom ..fished about 1 hr. 9 fish 5 BG, 4 Yp on white/blue marmooskas/spikes ...Smaller white Genzworm/waxworm or Shiner piece on Chartruese stripe Kastmaster/waxworm
Spot 3,11 fish ) over by Doctors house ,cut 3 holes,12-'15'Gold 16th oz.Flyer w/Shiner piece -White Perch.
Genz worm and smallest jig/rap w/Shiners tails or heads caught 7 Crappie ..2 bg and 1 perch on waxies or spikes on Marmooskas and Frostee jig

Feb 13, 2011
John Sheehan

Thinking the Perch are moving at this time from winter ice holes.Last time out (2-20)it was mostly gills and only a few Yellows and one White Perch.

Feb 21, 2011
Mike

Got some gills and redbreasts in 22' yesterday. Slow jigging bite, but a couple of quality fish.

Feb 21, 2011