Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Getting the itch.......

It's getting hard to walk by the boat out in the garage and not think about spring. A winter's worth of accumulation needs to be moved away from the boat so I can start working on it. Lots of little projects-nothing major, except for replacing all the rollers on the trailer. Spring just can't come fast enough. We're down to two packs of fish left in the the freezer, so I've got some work to do once the ice breaks up. Winter's been around long enough. Bring on the higher temps and let the good times, and good fishing roll.

Yes indeed Gunner, I'd still I to get some through ice.

I feel your pain Gunner...

I awoke yesterday morning to mild temperatures, and an American Robin singing. First one I've seen since Fall. Today it's even warmer, and earlier the sun was shining. I know it's still February, but we are on the downhill slide.

I like bunks; seems a full length support works better than a pressure point.

Not to rub it in but it got up to 84 here today. My 2 year old landed 19 bass and one monster bluegill. Bluegill was over a pound and three of the bass were right around 3 pounds, not bad for a little guy who only weighs 24lb himself. Spring is a coming and the walleye, crappie, and big bass are right behind it. Hang in there, or come down here. Won’t be long.

TheKId 84 degrees holy cripes, we wont see that till what maybe June. Was 35 yesterday and now -1.

I still got two ice fishing trips left.

It’s not normal, we set the record yesterday I believe. It was nice out and he was casting his pole in the yard and kept telling me he wanted to go fishing so we loaded up and went, was a pleasant surprise to catch them like we did.

I miss ice fishing but prefer the liquid water if given the choice.

I'm with "the Kid'.Here on the gulf coast of Florida you can go fishing nearly every day. Barring of course, the occasional hurricane. The lakes around here, [ Homosassa Area] have been producing right through winter as has the gulf. Born and raised in the Chicago area , I'd be chomping at the bit right about now too.

We had ice this year! I'm ready as well. I need some time on the water desperately.

Lake Erie yesterday, about 250 X 50 miles of ice....



A guy got a 14+ pound walleye through the ice west of Buffalo. Another guy got a 10.

The ice is a little to “iffy” for my taste. A little South East wind, and your on a ride towards Canada !

Did they have to go out and rescue any guys off the ice when they suddenly went trolling yet?

We had a few warm spells this winter. One weekend about a month ago they helicoptered 6 guys off the ice at Sturgeon point, which is about 25 or 30 miles west of Buffalo.

ONLY the ice fisherman gets in the chopper, all gear is left out on the ice, including snowmobiles, and ATV’s.
The guys almost always get their gear back one way or another.
In Ohio a year or so ago, some guys (under U S Admiralty law) recovered a bunch of snowmobiles, and atv’s, and demanded high rewards for their return. I believe the court sided with them.
I like my stuff, so I stay off questionable ice.

I was looking to go ice fishing on Lake Erie awhile back. Seen some outfitters use like a hover boat. Thought that could get interesting. Would love to pull a huge eye out of the ice..

Noduck-my brother fishes Erie a lot during the spring/summer/fall. He's on his third "Eric boat" now and has one big enough to handle most of what that dangerous lake dishes out. He mainly targets perch, but they routinely take walleyes in the 10 lbs. range every year, some bigger. He says virtually every year they'll hook up with something big on the perch rigs and never even get a look at it. Probably a big walleye or ????

Very big fish in Erie. Lakers to 40#'s, big Muskies (They have to be 54" to keep near the Niagara River!!), 20 to 40 pound catfish, Salmon, and Steelhead to 25 or 30#'s. There's a lot more than Walleyes in Erie.
A lot of guys get pissed if they catch a 6+ pound smallmouth, when their after Perch or Walleyes.



You never know what'll be on your line next !!

Every time Lake Erie comes up like this i get the itch to want to go...

I mainly just ice fish, with Devils lake, Lake of the Woods,Red Lake all within 5-7 hour drive. It's hard to justify the drive to Erie. But we do not get over 10+ eyes like Erie does. So i would go in a heartbeat but will need to wait now. Got kids in sports i can barely make it out as it is... Finding it harder and harder to get a weekend free to run up somewhere.

2 years ago on presidents day my kids were swimming in a little reservoir outside of town. this year we have 5" of ice still on that same body of water. I'm itching to get out in the boat and do some fishing big time. it might be a while since they are still driving ATV's on the big lake here that has walleyes. I need to make and install a livewell in the boat this spring before the tournaments start.

I'm seriously thinking about just buying a replacement trailer, and if I do, it'll be bunks.

I'm going to be restoring my livewell this spring. I think I'm just taking the easy way out and using a replacement portable system to fill/empty/and aerate the well. I don't want to tear up the floor to re-run the lines to the back of the boat. Lots of livewell kits like this in the $30.00 to $50.00 range. Looks like little more than a 15 minute job.

I don't have that luxury. at some point someone removed the livewell (or maybe there wasn't one) so I have nothing. should make for an interesting project.