Ice Fishing Video and Pics From Otter Creek

Here is a short ice fishing video from fishing at Otter Creek last week. We caught a bunch of fish and had a lot of fun:

Ice Fishing Otter Creek


Otter Creek is a 680 acre farm in Fulton County that I have been working on for 3 years. It has 3 lakes and 2 controlled cell hatchery wetlands with over 200 acres of intensively managed fishing water that meander throughout the property. I manage literally thousands of acres of water across Illinois and would have to say that Otter Creek is hands down the best fishery of them all. There is no equal anywhere in the United States to the quality of Otter Creek's multi-species fishery.

For anyone interested in this project, here are more videos and pictures of Otter Creek Preserve. Its pretty much the coolest place on earth! Not only is every square inch of the lakes manicured for fish, but you can see the land is managed pretty intensively as well. This place is about as scenic as it gets in the midwest!

Otter Creek Vertex Aeration System:


Otter Creek Fishery with Luke Clausen


Ducks and Geese of Otter Creek


If anyone out there is serious about making a world class turn-key hunting and fishing property, definitely get in touch with Herman Brothers Lake and Land Management! We have assembled a team of the very best fish and land guys in the midwest and are very excited to be starting a couple more big land and lake renovation projects such as this in 2011.

Also as a fundraiser for the Hooked On Fishing Park, I will be taking a handful of guided fishing trips at Otter Creek Preserve yet this Winter and also in the Spring. Stay tuned for more pictures and videos of these upcoming trips! Every time fishing out at Otter Creek is camera overload!!! Plus we have a bunch of cull fish like crappies that need harvested. Here are a few more ice fishing pictures from last week at Otter:

pistakee bay- first fishing trip of 2011

Double header fishing, I made it out mid day and fished 2 lakes yesterday. I started on Long Lake which actually is one of the closest lakes to my house that I have never fished. Started on Long around noon and fished the southernmost point from 8 feet out to 16 feet. Water was super clear and marked only 2 fish in the 15 holes that I drilled. Worked up and down and in and out from that point and finally decided that 2 hours was enough to devote to something new (that wasn’t panning out) and decided to travel to some more familiar water. Long was crystal clear water and even through the ice I could see the bottom standing in over 8 feet of water. I figured this clear water might be best left for an overcast day or a night trip. Being so close to the house I will devote some more time in the next month getting to know Long Lake.

I headed back to Pistakee Bay to make something out of my free time. Arrived at 2:00pm and plugged half dozen holes around the shallows surrounding Coon Island. Searched for some bluegills roaming the flats but after 30 minutes I switched gears to deeper water.

2:30pm in deep water (14-16 ft) started to mark big schools of fish right off bottom. Coaxed half a dozen bites from the roaming schools which all turned out to be drum…

Around 3:00pm the big schools of drum seemed to die off! Marks were coming in around 8-10 feet. I adjusted my fishing depth and instantly started to hook up on some crappie! 

pistakee lake crappie

pistakee lake white bass

pistakee lake drum

 Left for home around 5:00pm. The bite really turned on between 3:00 and 5:00 and was able to land 6 crappies and 2 white bass between those 2 hours as well as the half dozen drum from earlier. Timing seemed to be everything and thank God for ice flashers, it came in handy for honing in on those suspended crappies!

The brutal bommies

We went fishing with our friends Yuki, Jose and Maki. The weather was good, but the bite was not really hot.

Yuki had expressed a desire to fish among some bommies. For those who do not know what a bommie is. A bommie is a shallow piece of reef with some being close together and some far apart.

Below you can see small reef structures just below the surface, these are bommies. The splash is a popper doing what poppers do, POP!

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

When casting to GTs among bommies you have to change the style of fighting. You have in effect, given the fish and advantage. There are sharp edges everywhere, just waiting to cut your braided line. The fight, once hooked up to a GT, will be brutal at best. You have to keep the GT from getting you around a bommie and that will not be easy. Pound for pound they are one of the hardest fighting fish in the world.

If Yuki wants to fish the bommies, then why not? After all it is really addicting even if it is a bit costly in terms of lost gear.

Yuki and Jose surveying a good spot to cast to.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

Looking out over a school of bait with birds that has just moved off of a bommie. Very fishy but no luck to be had here.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

Yuki popping amongst the bommies.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

Yuki with a really nice coral trout. Just goes to show what you can catch on a bommie.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

Here is a quick video of Yuki catching the coral trout and then Yuki being taught a lesson about bommies by a GT.

Yuki did go on to redeem himself, but I feel that the agony of defeat never left him.

Bommies are the realm of heavy tackle and high drags, big hooks and tough leaders.

A nice bluefin trevally.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

And finally a GT, not the behemoth that smoked him but a nice one.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

Mr. Maki who has fished before but never for Giant Trevally was ready to go.

Rosie gave him a few instructions before showing him how to cast. On her first demo cast, she fires out a monster cast towards a bommie and as she pulls up the slack and gives the lure a pop, it gets smashed. She sets the hook before handing Mr. Maki the rod.

He puts up a good fight and soon enough we have a nice Job fish in the boat.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

Mr. Maki then follows this up with a nice bluefin.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

Then he proceeds to land another Job fish.

From Yuki, Jose and Maki

Unfortunately for Jose it was not to be.

We had a great day out and Yuki got to pop amongst the bommies.

Tight lines

No Earthly Reason

four season angler - frabill's pro-thermal tip-up review

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Thank You Letter from Steve Britsch

My brother in-law Ray Sallee and myself fished with Enrique and Fernando aboard Adriana on 12/28. I'm sending along a couple photos of the 9ft - 180lb Striped Marlin that was brought aboard. It was Ray's birthday and he was blessed with catching a similar sized striped Marlin. We had a great time and want to thank you all for making our experience one we'll never forget.


Regards,


Steve Britsch

Marysville, WA

Latest Fish Report

December 24th to December 30th, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 85.75%

BILLFISH: The marlin action is getting better week by week, this time thirty seven percent of our boats caught billfish. One of the best days was on the 30th for the Keller family and friends from San Jose, CA with four striped marlin aboard “Fearless” with captain Benito Agundez; they also caught one 40 lbs yellow fin tuna. This same day, Gordon Love and family released two striped marlin aboard “Shambala” at fifteen miles out from the Old Lighthouse. “Tracy Ann” had a double marlin day too on the 29th for Michael Cerrito and friends from Los Angeles, CA; they went thirty two miles out from Cerro Blanco and were lucky to boat eight yellow fin tuna for dinner. A day earlier, Steve Britsch and Raymond Sallee were thrilled to release one striped marlin each aboard “Adriana”; the fish took live bait- caballito. “Fearless” did well on the 28th for Michael Narset from Houston, TX with two striped marlin released at six miles out from the Old Lighthouse. Early on in this report, “Cabolero” had two striped marlin for a group from New York. Pisces anglers had a total of 33 striped marlin this week.

OTHER SPECIES: Dorado catches are decreasing as the water is getting colder for them, only eighteen percent of our boats caught between one to three fish this week. On the 29th, Mitch and Sharon Gunter from Edmonton, Alberta boated three 25 lbs dorado aboard “Adriana”. They were a couple of good size dorado catches, such as aboard “Great Escape” for Steve Dick and family with a nice 40 pounder; they were fortunate to released one striped marlin as well. Jeff Satterlund from Washington was lucky to catch another 40 lbs dorado aboard “Adriana”. Tuna are still the favorite catch this week with forty three percent of our boats catching between one to sixteen fish. The best day was on the 29th for Rick Walsh from Cleveland, OH with a total of sixteen yellow fin tuna between 25 to 40 lbs aboard “Rebecca”; they went thirty two miles out from Cerro Blanco. At the beginning of this report, “Bill Collector” boated fifteen tuna for Lucy and Tim McCulloch from Oregon; the fish took cedar plugs. On the 30th, David Scott and friends from Illinois had a great day too with four yellow fin tuna aboard “Attitude Adjustment”. A day prior, Charles Lebel and friends from Tennessee also boated fourteen tuna aboard “Valerie”; they went thirty miles out of Chileno and had plenty fillets to take back home. The Rimsza family from Phoenix, AZ had an active day aboard “El Gallo” boating ten yellow fin tuna, mostly football size. Our total tuna count was two hundred and eight fish.

As to other species we had some rooster fish, Spanish mackerel, amberjack, jack crevalle, yellow tail, skipjacks

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear, sunny skies, some windy days, seas mostly calm to a few choppy days, cooler weather

LOCATION: Pacific Side - Golden Gate, Los Arcos, Migriño, Gaspareño, La Ballena, Old light house, San Jaime, 180 spot, 210 spot, Cerro Blanco,

AVERAGE WATER TEMP. 74 F

BEST LURES; Cedar plugs, tigrillo, green, red/black, green/yellow, red/orange, petrolero, rapalas, hoochis, guacamayo, white/blue

Live ballyhoo and caballito

Based on the catches of Pisces by Ale Almada & Tracy Ehrenberg.