ice fishing (lake county, il)

shannon the bluegill slayer

Hit the ice for the afternoon bite taking my girlfriend (Shannon) on the ice for her first time ever! Weather was overcast with a slight wintry mix coming down and she was wearing her bright pink jacket, and wanting to bring a purse. I advised her this was not proper ice attire as we trudged through the snowy slushy slop. Our destination wasn’t far from the shore and this spot was one I had already run recon on and done well the week before. We were fishing the main and only prominent point on this couple hundred acre lake.

another good gill for shannon

Immediately I set two flags and an arctic warrior all rigged with fat healthy med shiners. I popped a few more holes for jigging and got my girl setup with the vexilar and a wax worm. Man, she was ready to fish. BAM!! Before I could even put a rod in the water had her first bluegill on the ice. The graph, at this point, was absolutely packed with fish. I thought to myself “right on, the fish are still here”. One after another I unhooked bluegill after bluegill, I couldn’t even keep up with rebaiting let alone have any time to fish. What a blast, I’m so glad she was having fun.

After the first dozen fish, things got a bit wet and cold. We decided to setup the shack and it wasn’t long before things were situated and the heater was cranking. The first flag went up, and as I approached I could see the spindle spinning. Fish on! I was a bit flustered, not wanting to look like a fool I took a deep breath and regained my composure. After some precise timing, an impeccable hook set, and a some brief hand to hand combat, I pulled a nice 18 inch largemouth through the hole.

a decent bass for neal

We get back in the shack, only to continue to get showed up by my girl. The bluegill action was hot and heavy for the majority of the day. A tip-down produces an average crappie and the second flag adds another largemouth to our fish count. This lake has to be just packed with healthy fish. I got sick of rebaiting waxies, so I switched over to some gulp (1 inch fish fry white). It didn’t matter what I used they were hungry. It seemed liked they actually preferred the gulp with the added bonus of keeping the smaller fish at bay. We ended up with a total of 70 + bluegills, a nice crappie, and 2 bass. We kept 23 keepers for the frying pan. What a great first ice-fishing trip for Shannon and what a great fish fry!

hungry anyone?