A-Jay's Inaugural Ice Out / Open Water Countdown Thread ~

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, J Francho said:

It sounds illegal.  From the DNR guide:

 

Doesn't matter if it's a large lake or a farm pond on your private property...the season is the season.

[Fishingmickey]

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Doesn't matter if it's a large lake or a farm pond on your private property...the season is the season.

Well in Texas it does matter. If it is your farm pond/stock tank on your private property you can do whatever you want.

FM

[TnRiver46]

30 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

Well in Texas it does matter. If it is your farm pond/stock tank on your private property you can do whatever you want.

FM

You don’t even have to have a license in TN if it’s your pond or your family’s pond 

[Largies4Life]

I should have been more specific, I'm in Wisconsin and according to our laws it is illegal as far as I can tell! Oh well, not much one can do besides warn others if it keeps happening. And it could quite possibly be that the kids don't know any better and just want to go out and catch fish like the rest of us. You can still fish for panfish in Wisconsin, but I do know the bass are off limits until May. I found it hard to believe that they were fishing for panfish when they were using 5" swimbaits, unless fishing for panfish requires 5" swimbaits, in that case, I think I need to go get myself a swimbait setup.  

[J Francho]

17 minutes ago, Largies4Life said:

Oh well, not much one can do besides warn others if it keeps happening.

Call the DNR tip line.

[Glaucus]

Temperatures took another dip into the 30s and 40s. It was supposed to snow today but it never did. Tomorrow it will be in the 60s, which begins a 5 day streak of 60s with 1 day in the 70s. Been a terrible spring so far. I've been skunked 4 out of 5 trips recently. I'm going tomorrow to enjoy the warm day. I've got a Trick Worm on a Wacky Rig, a 7in ribbon tail worm Texas Rigged with a 1/16oz bullet weight, a Texas Rigged 5in weightless Senko, a Texas Rigged Havoc Pit Boss with a 1/8oz bullet weight, and a 3/8oz double willow leaf spinnerbait in bluegill ready to go tomorrow. All plastics in Green Pumpkin. Let us pray...

[Glaucus]

I caught a 1 pounder on the wacky Trick Worm and a 3 pounder pitching the Pit Boss into shoreline cover. Missed one that might have gone 3 or 4 while I was reeling the Pit Boss back to me too - it was skidding across the top of the water and one tried to nail it and missed - had a decent sized head/mouth on it - confirms to me that while the water is still pretty cold they are eating those dang frogs.

[slonezp]

@A-Jay Forecast on the west side of the big pond has the potential for a major snow event 4/11-4/12. Don't shoot the messenger ?

[A-Jay]

9 minutes ago, slonezp said:

@A-Jay Forecast on the west side of the big pond has the potential for a major snow event 4/11-4/12. Don't shoot the messenger ?

Yea - I'm watching this as it unfolds - 

50-60's for the weekend but who knows what after that.

Got two feet last year about this time.

Drove by Lake Menderchuck again today.

Still very Iced in, but the ramp is accessible and with 10 days left till my predicted open water date - It could happen.

Doubtful, but it could happen.

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Yea - I'm watching this as it unfolds - 

50-60's for the weekend but who knows what after that.

Got two feet last year about this time.

Drove by Lake Menderchuck again today.

Still very Iced in, but the ramp is accessible and with 10 days left till my predicted open water date - It could happen.

Doubtful, but it could happen.

A-Jay

Here’s hoping for ya. Will the maiden voyage have to be old town or is the Lund already pulling the chain tight?

[slonezp]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Yea - I'm watching this as it unfolds - 

50-60's for the weekend but who knows what after that.

Got two feet last year about this time.

Drove by Lake Menderchuck again today.

Still very Iced in, but the ramp is accessible and with 10 days left till my predicted open water date - It could happen.

Doubtful, but it could happen.

A-Jay

If it makes you feel any better, I will be fishing tomorrow and Sunday. Second time out and first time on my home water. Water levels have dropped from all the snow melt and the river system is now fully open.

[A-Jay]

31 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Here’s hoping for ya. Will the maiden voyage have to be old town or is the Lund already pulling the chain tight?

Thank you my friend - Vessel choice is directly related to the size of the water that opens up first.  If it's some of the smaller waters - The Old Town gets the nod.  Big waters will see me in the Pro-V Bass.

All things being equal I just want to float but if I could make the call, big waters have bigger brown bass - and the early season often offers a shot at some of the heftiest fish of the year - so The Lund it is.  I'm ready either way though.

21 minutes ago, slonezp said:

If it makes you feel any better, I will be fishing tomorrow and Sunday. Second time out and first time on my home water. Water levels have dropped from all the snow melt and the river system is now fully open.

It does make me feel better.

Thank you & Good Luck.

 

A-Jay

 

[Sphynx]

So crazy reading about a lot of the different rules/regs in various parts of the country, hope you northern fellas can get back to business soon, it's absolutely inconceivable to a guy who has lived down south for this long.

[MN Fisher]

10 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

So crazy reading about a lot of the different rules/regs in various parts of the country, hope you northern fellas can get back to business soon, it's absolutely inconceivable to a guy who has lived down south for this long.

36 days and counting before I can target the bass here.

[Sphynx]

8 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

36 days and counting before I can target the bass here.

I used to do a lot of runs for Menards up in the WI/MN area, maybe one of these summers I'll get back out that way and wet a line for some smallies, headed out this morning because I'm supposed to get a few hours between t-storms, I'll try to catch one for ya.

[Glaucus]

18 hours ago, slonezp said:

@A-Jay Forecast on the west side of the big pond has the potential for a major snow event 4/11-4/12. Don't shoot the messenger ?

They've now taken the snow away from us in the Kankakee to Bloomington area.

[CrankFate]

Gave it a shot in a smaller shallower pond. I did see what looked like a brood scatter into deeper water when I first approached the water. And they were way bigger than I would expect at close to three inches. Saw some sunny activity on bread thrown in the water. Only fish I saw caught were eels. On worms. They don’t count. They can feed in 30 degree water. No one said they’ve seen any bass yet when talking to a few people that looked like they knew what they were doing. Had my dark sleeper snagged several times and almost shot my eye out a few times when it snapped free. It also shot itself off of branches in the water right into a few trees, but it was safely retrieved. The catch of the day was a log that was about 9 feet long and about 8 inches in diameter. I pulled it in a good 100 feet to save my rig which broke free a few feet from the bank, again almost shooting my eye out. Not bad for 20lb braid.

 

finally switched to a crankbait and woke this guy up. Somehow, no one else even noticed. He walked right by an old man on a folding chair, right out in the open, he didn’t even see it.

 

 

[A-Jay]

49 minutes ago, CrankFate said:

Gave it a shot in a smaller shallower pond. I did see what looked like a brood scatter into deeper water when I first approached the water. And they were way bigger than I would expect at close to three inches. Saw some sunny activity on bread thrown in the water. Only fish I saw caught were eels. On worms. They don’t count. They can feed in 30 degree water. No one said they’ve seen any bass yet when talking to a few people that looked like they knew what they were doing. Had my dark sleeper snagged several times and almost shot my eye out a few times when it snapped free. It also shot itself off of branches in the water right into a few trees, but it was safely retrieved. The catch of the day was a log that was about 9 feet long and about 8 inches in diameter. I pulled it in a good 100 feet to save my rig which broke free a few feet from the bank, again almost shooting my eye out. Not bad for 20lb braid.

 

finally switched to a crankbait and woke this guy up. Somehow, no one else even noticed. He walked right by an old man on a folding chair, right out in the open, he didn’t even see it.

 

 

Well that's something.

A-Jay

[A-Jay]

Like I said - we are trending in the right direction.

Hoping it will last long enough to do some real damage  . . 

A-Jay

[12poundbass]

Finally got the boat launched about an hour ago. Going fishing in the morning. 6poundbass was throwing a line out while I was trolling around getting acclimated to the boat and.......

 

[Smelter96]

Small lake near my house is open! Northwest Wisconsin. Everything else still has ice, albeit thinning quickly. But man, seeing this sure made me smile!

[A-Jay]

16 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Finally got the boat launched about an hour ago. Going fishing in the morning. 6poundbass was throwing a line out while I was trolling around getting acclimated to the boat and.......

 

Now THAT's   A W E S O M E ! ! !  

Congrats to you both  . . . .

How'd it go ?

A-Jay 

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Now THAT's   A W E S O M E ! ! !  

Congrats to you both  . . . .

How'd it go ?

A-Jay 

It went pretty well. Unfortunately we didn’t launch until shortly after 6 and on our lake the no wake time is 6. We idled around for a while, once we got to the main part of the lake I couldn’t resist I opened it up for a few seconds. I didn’t want to press my luck so it was brief, no big deal I’ll run her good tomorrow. I’ll probably do a lot of idling tomorrow looking at the Helix trying to find fishy spots. I was surprised to see the water temp was 52. I’m a little skeptical on that reading, it is a small very shallow lake so maybe. 

[superkamikazee]

Finally got the skunk off, and found some fish. The key was finding the warm water, the north and east side of the pond were 55-57 F, and the west side and south side were 50-52 F. I caught the fish in 55 degree+ water, up very shallow 2-3 ft of water. Also, I was originally at another lake, but water temps were only 50 degrees, so I packed up after a few hours, and drove over to this pond. So glad I did, it was incredibly satisfying to catch these fish even though it was nothing big, but no complaints from me lol. So I'm officially on the board for 2019.

 

2lb Pickerel

 

1.5lb bass

[MIbassyaker]

16 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Finally got the boat launched about an hour ago. Going fishing in the morning. 6poundbass was throwing a line out while I was trolling around getting acclimated to the boat and.......

 

 

Nice!

14 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

It went pretty well. Unfortunately we didn’t launch until shortly after 6 and on our lake the no wake time is 6. We idled around for a while, once we got to the main part of the lake I couldn’t resist I opened it up for a few seconds. I didn’t want to press my luck so it was brief, no big deal I’ll run her good tomorrow. I’ll probably do a lot of idling tomorrow looking at the Helix trying to find fishy spots. I was surprised to see the water temp was 52. I’m a little skeptical on that reading, it is a small very shallow lake so maybe. 

 

Surface temp of 52 in the evening of a warm-ish day, on a small shallow lake does seem plausible.

 

At this point I'm just waiting for free time. My schedule is absolutely slammed for the next two weeks. Crossing my fingers that water temps at my usual spots don't get too high too quickly now...