nice job

solid

Hi Folks, Guided the hard water yesterday with repeat guest who fish with me in the summer.  Beautiful day on the ice with very little wind and great walking conditions with sparse amount of snow on top of the 11.5" of ice.  Constant action yesterday as our tip-ups started popping the moment we set them under the ice.  We set up in a large basin over 30' to 50' of water.  Most of our set-ups were just below the ice to 15' down.  We used all but 2 of the 30 baits we brought onto the ice.  We landed a nice wild rainbow trout and 20 solid 9" to 12" yellow perch.  there was not much time for jigging.  The bait of the day were rosy red minnows.  The ice had receded a bit from the previous week and safe ice conditions might not last very long into March this year if we do not get some more cold weather.  Will be guiding again tomorrow.  Have Fun, Willy

lots of flags

Hi folks, Guided a large party over the weekend at my shanty.  Nice weather day prior to the Artic cold blast on Sunday.  Good solid 12" of black ice and very little snow cover. Creepers are a good idea as it is a little greasy walking around the ice.  We set up 20 tip ups tipped with rosy reds, small golden shiners, smelt, and crawlers.  We chased flags for most of the morning and caught lots of yellow perch and even a large bullhead.  Never caught a bullhead through the ice.  No trout, though there were a few flags where we missed the hook set.  Hard telling not knowing.  Most of our action came with the flags set between 10' and 20' below the ice.  Jig fishing stated off slow until we started chumming the water and then the perch bite really picked up.  Bright colored lures tipped with maggots and worms drew lots of interest.  Smelt fishing was pretty slow.  I will be back on the ice later in the week.  Have fun, Willy

trout fishing

Hi Folks, I had not been on the ice for a couple of weeks until yesterday. My daughter Lina Katherine Dietrich was born on 1/25/2012 at 1:44am in Burlington Vermont.  Not sure that new born infants and ice fishing go together.  However, I did manage with a friend to put out a 6' by 10' heated shanty a week ago on our local reservoir.  The shanty is pretty comfy and I think my daughter would like it. I guided yesterday afternoon into dusk.  There was a solid 10.5" of black ice and walking around was pretty easy if you have creepers on your feet.  Pretty slick out the hard water with the lack of snow.  We set up tip-ups for trout and jig fished for yellow perch and smelt.  The tip-ups were baited with worms in close to shore against rocks and right off sharp drop offs.  Looking for a big cruising brown trout.  Out in open water we set live smelt right under the ice and down through the water column.  We jigged several turns off the bottom with brightly colored Hali jigs tipped with maggots and caught perch and smelt.  the smelt fishing really picked up dusk.  The smelt moved up in the water column as the sun set.  Pretty typical.  The tip-ups only produce perch.  Pretty good action but not the target species.  Fun afternoon on the ice.  Trout season will run through the third Sunday in March.  I will be guiding again this weekend in between changing diapers and helping out my wife.  Have Fun, Willy

the new member of the catfish family