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