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| Yellow perch action was hot and heavy today. I found a school of them and caught big numbers jigging. |
I got out fishing today, ice fishing that is! It's something I used to do almost daily when the kids were young, and the winters were colder. We used to get home from school, put on the heavy winter clothes, head to a local pond and jig until dark. With our recent warm winters, ice fishing has been very limited in recent years.
When I say ice fishing I really mean jigging. I spent the afternoon today in a productive pond that had between 5 and 6 inches of hard, clear ice. As luck would have it, I think someone was there before me, and drilled about 20 holes in just the area I intended to fish. I never had to chop a single hole.
I was jigging a small gold Kastmaster spoon. On the hook I had a meal worm. These can be purchased in pet stores. Meal worms are a must if you are looking for serious action. Almost immediately, I started catching yellow perch. Most ice fishermen know these fish run in schools, and I caught most of my perch in holes that were about 20 yards apart. While I landed a lot of perch, I also landed some hefty bluegills and a foot long largemouth which was the surprise of the afternoon.
It was a productive day and it felt great to get back on the ice today.
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| The surprise of the day turned out to be this largemouth bass. I landed this largemouth, some bluegills and a load of yellow perch. |
