I arrived at 7:30am. I followed a group of 2 out onto the ice as i did not have a good idea about were to fish. I followed them out about 200yds. and stopped there to fish, the 2 guys kept going? Made wonder what they knew and I did not. Anyway, I started with a Slender Spoon tipped with maggots. It was about 45 feet deep so it took a while for the spoon to get down. When I did start jigging the spoon, the fish were there and showed interest. But no bites. I tried aggresive jigging and slow jigging and intermediate jigging. I tried everything I could think of but no bites. I then tried a Swedish Pimple tipped with maggots. Same result, lots of interest but not takers. Then I tried the go to set up, jig with a Gulp. I caught 4, 2 of which were too small and 2 keepers. I moved closer to shore looking for bigger fish. Did not find them. I then moved back out a ways and parked myself there for the rest of the day. I stayed with the jig but switched to maggots. I took home a dozen and let loose about 7. I had lots of interest and found that the only way to catch them was to jig a little, like 3-5 inches and then stop dead. They would not bite if it was moving. And when they did bite, it was like they were breathing on it. My Fabril stick came with a spring bobber and it would move about 1/16th to 1/8th inch. That was it. Rarely did I feel the take but rather saw a little movement of the spring bobber. I missed a lot of hits and went through a lot of maggots. A nice day on the ice as the weather was decent, I left the ice at 3:45.

Oh I almost forgot, the Blue Herron sitting on the ice, he is looking for you to catch a fish and then walk away. He then flyies in and eats the fish. He got 2 of mine. I would say he had a good day also.

Jay K

1/22/2013 9:47:00 PM

That heron's used to having fish thrown to him. Thanks for the report on Silver.

perchboy

1/22/2013 10:13:00 PM

I see you met Harry the heron and or his extended family. If you are fishing in about 30ft or more water the chances of those fish surviving are slim. If you look close, most of them will have their eyes bugging out and some of their guts ballooned up and coming out their mouth. Before the snow covered the ice, I could see the fish quite well as they came up though ice. unfortunately I also saw some small perch unable to return to the bottom. They were stuck like bobbers under the ice. Because of this, I will not throw back perch that look like they have undergone de-compression. Personally, I will leave the small ones on the ice and allow Harry to have his way with them. If he leaves a few, I will turn them into fish tacos because there fillets are small. Anyway I know it is probably not the best thing let Harry sneak a fish or two but for me he has become an Icon at Silver that I look forward to seeing.

fowl_language

1/22/2013 11:28:00 PM

I used to fish silver a lot when I lived in medical lake about 2 years ago, I'm thinking about taking the drive out there again one of these days soon (in moscow now). Just checking for the ice reports and I here that the perch are getting a little bigger, I remember when 5 inches was a big fish out there. The heron and his kin are a icon of that lake, he's gotten a lot of the fish i've brought up to fast, when the puke out daphnia (zooplankton) I know they're probably not going to make it and do what perchboy does and either take them and filet or let the heron get it.

On slow bite days I had my best luck with size 16 or 14 chartreuse and orange marmooska's with a chartreuse finesse trailer, jigging just enough to move your spring slightly, they usually take that harder than the maggots. I use wedgee's they work pretty well. http://www.customjigsandspins.com/icefishing/softbody/wedgee.html

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save