In the past few years dozens of food processing factories burned to the ground, waterways poisoned, chickens erased and fed poisons to render egg production, egg prices are like buying premium gasoline, inflation of food prices are ridiculously expensive for less quantity, reports of the government paying off farmers to destroy crops, cows dead by the 10's of thousands, rumors of chicken and other winged table pheasants contracting bird flu, bill gates is now the single biggest farm land owner. I could go on but I'm getting frustrated. Something is upon us, this ain no coincidence 🤔
davedumont wrote:
I used to use a 6" auger but upgraded to q0" years ago for that reason. My son-in-law recently bought an 8" electric auger which is MUCH lighter than my 10" gas auger. It seems to work fine so far. P. S. I do keep an extra couple spools of line with me just in case!
Great to know I'm receiving good tips and advice. Lord's will I get the chance to use this ice gear one of these days. I bought and sold my equipment 4X b4 finally committing to keep the last purchases thanks to a co-worker giving me a deal on a two person shanty with a floor.
davedumont wrote:
I use Suffix Ice Braid as well and shove the tip of my rod in the hole to get it under the ice whenever I hook a bigger fish that goes on a run. I don't bother drilling on an angle but I know others that do. I just play them out until I can ease their head into that hole.
Dave you got skills sir, I neglected to mention how my buddy uses I believe is a six inch diameter auger or maybe smaller. I also think he targets panfish mostly, and he will get a bonus bite while working um. I never imagined the lost fins due to ice rubbing. One should probably keep a spool of line in case those small 500/1000 size reels get a workout like that.
Ryp Hankins wrote:
Back in the 1970’s when Lake Erie was declared dead. I remember those days.
Wow! So we've been under attack for decades.
Lord above, please protect us 🙏🏿
fishyaker wrote:
It was hard "not to fish" being in the UP...I know what you mean! I did purchase a few lures when we made stops to buy fuel. Those places always have some good local and unique tackle to browse!
The lakes are pretty safe now and guys were hitting them hard. The owner of one place we stayed has been ice fishing on South Manistique Lake and done well on yellow perch, some walleye and lost a monster pike right at the hole recently. The lower edge of the fishing hole cut his spider wire line!
I'd like to get back up there and just fish...nothing else!
Good luck in the fishing derby!
It was hard "not to fish" being in the U... (
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Yank dual purposed a getaway like a professional. Reading the severed braid is a popular song when the ice gets in good. A buddy of mine pretty much is married to his suffix braid on the hard water, he advises to drill at an angle and/or several angles after the first strait down hole. Not in shallow but double digited depths and preferably an electric auger. Sometimes he still will plunge his rod tip below the hole but even then is no guarantee of making contact. What an experience that must be.
DC wrote:
last time I caught a couple nice size blue gills I fileted and skinned them but thought what I ended up with wasn't worth the effort so next time just let them go. I was wondering if I'd be better off just scaleing, cleaning them and frying them up whole and picking the meat off the bones like you would a small trout.
I recommend it DC. I used to know people that requested the gill eggs for their delight. When I'd clean them, observers questioned my salvaging the roe and to my suprise they also were fans of eating the roe and felt somewhat ashamed to keep them until they saw that I was keeping them. I tried them once and it wasn't for me but perhaps I should have let an experienced cook prepare them. I even leave the fins on. The dorsal I pull away afterwards and put the hot sause in it's place. The tails are a crunchy treat. Crappie are equally good eating that way but they grow big enough to fillet.
Mmmmmm mmmmmmm mm fresh caught gills! Pre-seasoned by nature, not much is needed to enhance the flavor. Blugill along with their cousins the Redear, and shell cracker and the like are the only sunfish I absolutely leave the skin on.
fishyaker wrote:
Thank you Ryp! I'm thinking about investing in a larger cylinder too! The one pounders are nice and tiny for transport, but a bit pricey unless you start re-filling them from a larger unit. I hope you struck paydirt on the ice fishing today!
I went this morning to fish for a couple of hours before family was arriving and only caught one measly perch...and too small too keep. I was in the same spot...but accompanied by over 50 other groups! Inside the shanty all I could hear was the sound of gas, drill and hand augers making swiss cheese out of the lake ice. The frequent sounds of Jet Sleds being towed by stampeding elephants were filling in the remaining dead spaces with enough echoes to bring an East Coast whale up the St. Lawrence Seaway!
That is Saturday fishing traffic for yah! The word must have gotten out from how folks did a few days ago! No worries though...it's a free world and nobody owns the lake! It was more fun to see all the commotion than it was to fish!
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Is it just me, Yank still made that sound poetic. I guess a bad day fishing does beat a good day of working...unless you fish for a living.
Anglers, check your local regulations with the DNR for any changes to the fish consumption. I posted a video on the subject under the Advisory banner that all need to watch. This PFAS/PFOS thing is spreading across the country.
davedumont wrote:
It's all thanks to you. The link didn't work when I typed it in but it inspired me to search again and I found the link. It was active so all I had to do is click on it and it brought it right up to the new page. I thought it was odd that they would stop a popular program. I was going to email the dnr to inquire about it. Thanks to you I didn't need to. Btw... the application is really simple to fill out if you ever are fortunate enough to catch a master angler qualifier. It took about 2 minutes.
It's all thanks to you. The link didn't work when ... (
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Way to be persistence driven. Now that you mention, I've entered identicle keywords into different search engines and was taken to different relating places.
HenryG wrote:
Wow Captain had I known I would've quit work ages ago and sold fresh frozen gill and retired with a big chunk of change. Ya got me thinking maybe there's still time any of you gill fishing folks out there want in? 🎣🇺🇸🤪👍
Aaaaaa Yea-ah!
I saw that advertisement on this forum. Maybe from my cookie crumbs. A site called walleyedirect.com says they remove the haeds, scale, fillet, and ship. Probably safe to assume they weighed them prior to preparation for FedEx.
Ryp Hankins wrote:
Good job ‘Yaker, that’s a busy day catching perch. Nice pics, too.
I just picked up that same heater and with the refill adapter to use the RV 30#ers as a refill station.
Headed out to Saint Clair in a few hours, God willing. Going to be a fun day.
Report please, I heard of thin ice to no ice so practice safety always.
Randog113 wrote:
When you know they are there the weather is nice and ice on the water and you know chances to get out are limited. It haunts making you feel you got to get out there. especially when you have left over live minnows you don't want to go to waste. Went yesterday for a couple of hours caught a meals worth of perch. Problem is I still have live minnows. I guess I have to go again today.
I h8 it when that doesn't happen!
https://youtu.be/4Gbnx18kREkNot just Michigan Anglers, this PFAS problem has reached biblical proportions. Hope this link is viewable, if not copy and paste it in YouTube.
FourchonLa. wrote:
Never been ice fishing before but with that setup, I'd have to agree with Fred's sentiments. Looks like fun. Is that board on the ice for you to keep your feet on? Somewhat of an insulator for your shoes?
I share your experience Fourchon. I bought and sold ice gear 4X for lack of adventuring out with experienced co-angler(s). On my last buying, I decided to hang onto the gear & get on the hard water. I did go on one occasion, but it doesn't count until I have a successful lip rippin'. As I've added to the arsenal, the only thing left for the "icing" on the cake is an atv of some sort to get around and make the outing easier for a heart repair survivor. I would LOVE a Wilcraft!