[taxidermist]

Either no one is out fishing, or, they're keeping it a secret and keeping a tight lip on here.

I hit Rockport this morning for the first trip of the hard deck season. I know, a little late to the party but I had other irons in the fire needing attention.
Ice was a solid 8"+ with a few inches of snow on top. Fishing was great, catching was crap! I was targeting Perch, and only ices 2 in the two hours I was there. I've seen bigger fish inside a sardine can, but hey....I didn't get skunked.
Didn't see any of the neighbors pull anything through the ice either. I spent time glassing the deer and elk in the area when I should have been out fishing. There was a little chill in the air (6 degrees) as it began to get light on the horizon. Dress warm.

 

[Catherder]

Thanks for the report. I think between the unsettled weather and slush, there haven't been as many out.

It's been a couple weeks for me too, but I will give it a go tomorrow.

 

[TOgden]

Thanks for the report. Two fish is better than sitting on the couch. I'm glad someone is getting out there.

My wife had surgery on her thumb last week so I'm trying to take good care of her for letting me go fishing all the time.

 

[Critter]

At least you were out trying.

I have found that with perch is that you either get into them or you don't. I have a pond that I ice fish on where one person can be killing them and another 20 feet away doesn't get a bite.

 

[DallanC]

Hit our favorite lake today... it was quite a chore getting there. County isn't plowing the road so we had to snowmobile in 14 miles. About 3 miles from the end of the county maintenance, we found some people who'd tried to force their way in in a Toyota and had slid off the road. They asked if our snowmobiles could pull them out (lol). I said no chance, then asked if they had a shovel, they said no. I dug through our gear, grabbed an avalanche shovel and let them use it, said to drop it off at our snowmobile trailer on the way out.

We got to our spot later than usual... and we were absolutely, the only ones on the entire lake. Not a single track or trace of humans other than the trail we made coming in. Snow was epic, drifts easily 8ft high in places, but we got in without too much trouble.

Fishing was great, lots of action and lots of chunky trout. We limited out quickly and headed back. I was glad to see the stuck guys were out. Kindof disappointed to see there was no shovel at the trailer, but oh well. We loaded and headed down to the highway. About 2 miles from the main road, here came the Toyota racing towards us and flagged us down. They totally forgot about the shovel and were racing back to leave it before we were gone. We all had a laugh about it.

Overall, beautiful day, did a good deed, great fishing, nothing broke down... and not a sole to spoil it.

PS: Ice is +24"

-DallanC

 

[Catherder]

Unlike Dallan, we had a lot of company at the Berry today. The parking lot was full at the marina. Buddy and I hiked out to one of our spots away from the crowds and found company. Oh well, it wasn't a problem at that point. Had a decent day, icing 40+ between us from about 9:00ish-2:30. Still a lot of slush unless you walk in sled trails and then it wasn't too bad. Ice was fine but in multiple slush and hard layers.

Very nice day to be out until the wind picked up a bit after noon.

 

[Firehawk]

i fished Rockport on Saturday for the 3rd time this winter. Ice was good. Fishing was soo slow. I smell like a skunk after that one. Wish I would have moved around a little more. Wife came with for the first time in years. Need to get her much better gear and I need to trust my gut when she says that her gear will work fine. NOPE!!

 

[pollo70]

Stepped out on the deck at Mantua on Saturday at 9:00am 8" of ice and about 4" of fresh snow on top fishing was slow but some action hooked four trout and missed a few bites between 2 of us wasn't bad after seeing other anglers leaving by noon and not haering or seeing anyone catching any fish most crowds where about 40 feet from the shore we went out almost to the middle 11 to 12 feet deep where we was fishing,fished untill 3:00pm .