Well I no tell anybody .... lol. But that is a nice ole bass bud 👍... that lake has some nice bass for sure. Wife and I were down by dam one night last year just looking for some crappies , she set the hook and I knew it wasn’t a Crappie from watching the fight , told her hold on I’ll get the net ..... Yepper Mr. bass was netted 😜😜👍

Pretty sure there was only one dummy fishing today 'cause I did not see another person on the lake for as far as I could see across the ice.

Shoreline still iffy for the first few steps in some areas but not nearly as bad as the past few days. Least not in the area I skated around on today. Geez a guy could have traveled from the marina to the dam and back on ice skates if they so desired. Wouldn't have been a bad day to have some ice cleats attached to my boots today, which I didn't 'cause I do not own a stupid pair..... of cleats.

I fished shallow then deep, then deeper, then shallow, then the rains came, then I went home cause whoever said "fish bite better when it rains" is a dang liar.


That's not clouds dropping to the horizon that's clouds dropping rain on me. Stupid clouds.

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Got to do a little fishing today on my most favorite lake and caught somthing that somebody said was a fish!!! Kept catching em too, so I invited a few home for dinner.

Yinz know I don't spot burn but the fish I was catching was in 16 ft of water and was fishing about a foot off the bottom with small fatheads.

Hits were fairly agressive but as expected with Perch, they would come and go.

Converted a Humminbird DX 200 to use for ice fishing, (my 1993 Wide Eye model seemed to be on it's way out) and marked a lot of fish between 8' and the bottom. Fish were coming and going all day. Sometimes a single fish, or several in a school and other times, larger fish could be seen with clouds of bait fish.

Few other anglers on the ice but I didnt get a chance to find out how they were doing.

Ice was 10" and definitely no problems with shoreline ice. A couple inches of snow covered the ice but that is suppose to change by tomorrow night with more snow in the forecast.

Can't make no promises but I'm going to do my best and get back out on the ice, bright and early tomorrow afternoon.

Wish me luck 😏
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Congrats on the catching, BTDT.... I'm sure you enjoyed your hard earned dinner last night!

Thank you very much Fisherlady but no fish for dinner last night, I had to place the little buggers in the fridge to thaw them out so I can fillet em.  Only 6 accepted my invitation so it shouldn't take long to prepare dinner but,  tonight's....... the night 
 
 
Thanks again, I appreciate it.

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Don't stay out there too long!!!

Ha haa Opsman that's some darned good advice.   Not gonna find me traveling to play on the ice today, or should I say snow,  I stayed home and did that.  
 
I was outside plowing the white stuff that was dropped off in my driveway sometime during the night and the wind, would kick-up causing a whiteout so bad, I made a wrong turn...... three times! 

Been busy drilling holes the past three days and been catching fish too. Today (2/13) was goodest day out of the three with temps in the mid thirties, very little to no wind, sunshine and, ice like glass.

Great day for taking a walk on the ice and getting in some good exercise. With no snow on the ice, dragging your junk on a sled was a breeze. I took advantage of the situation and treked to places typically not accessible over the frozen tundra, short of having a snow mobile, dog sled or really really big drone to drop your asz on the ice somewhere.

My first leg of the trip I traveled to here.

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From the boat launch wayyyyy over there.

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Then when I found out there was no fish way over there, I turned around and traveled back. Not to worry, I had my Navionics phone app so I just followed the route, to get back to the boat launch.. Priceless!!!

Had fun catching fish too. Not Crappie, Perch or any fish like that mind you. Did ya ever notice how fast them little fatheads can swim in a bucket when ya forget your minnow net?

As yinz know, spot burning ain't permitted so I can't tell ya where but ya don't have to use a chartreuse ice jig (1/32 oz) tipped with a whole minnow to catch Perch. Just pinch the head off the little buggers and impale it on the jig hook. Don't use the live ones for this fishing trick, you might need them for Crappie. Besides, the dead ones are much easier to catch without a net.

Good times and tight lines.

Today I'm sad to report the ice at Wilhelm is looking a bit weathered. At least the surface is, having lost that mirror shine and much easier to navigate without cleats. Pools of water were forming and growing larger as the day grew on.

Plenty of solid ice but with the warmer night time temps and plenty of rain in the forecast the ice will certainly melt, inch by inch until finally giving way, to anglers in botor moats.

Fished til 5:30ish when the sprinkles began and by the time I was loaded up and trucking, fog was rolling in with heavier rain.

Pretty sure with virtually no cold weather in the forecast and upwards of an inch of rain over the next two days, die hard ice anglers will be 'walking the plank' to gain access to the ice.

Perch was the fish of the day for me but nothing, to write home about.

Guess the next few days will be spent cleaning and storing my ice fishing gear then it's off to preparing, for ice out.

I'm so happy.


Spring is certainly in the air as seen in trickles of water created by the snow melted from the warming temperatures. Add rain to the mix and those trickles will become streams, running into the lakes quickly increasing water levels, lifting the ice as well as flooding the shorelines making ice access difficult and dangerous.
 
Fish safely and tight lines.

So just airing out my brain but whats the thought on putting chain pickerel in the lake . I always hear about the glory days of the lake and a fish that was prevalent was pike which are now extinct in the lake for some reason. I just cant help but feel those slimy dudes could do quite well with the shad/help thin out some of the stunted fish . The better crappie in this lake are more often the whites which can feed on shad once they become of size .