Mid-Winter Ice Blues!!!!

[ice phisher]

Considering it's mid-winter.....ice cover keeps growing on most lakes......we've only had one stint without snowcover (in 2 months)......on almost every lake ...... Which can and does lead to OD(Oxygen Deprivation)...and that can either slow fish down or turn them totally off... for long periods of time. Add 3 to 4 weather fronts ( with pressure changes) each and every week, then toss in lower metabolism rates and last but not least....as can be mentioned(THE LUNAR EFFECTS). One of the afore mentioned factors (singular or in combination with any of the other listed items is more that enough to to make for a finicky bite or change the rate and duration of peak feeding periods....I.E. " Morning and evening time frames. If we all fished totally by the existing negative factors alone .....one would be better off to visit the fish market and come home....sit in an easy chair (by the fire place) but your feet up and wait for winter to exit and the softwater bite to once more begin. This is what keeps true "ICER'S" headed out to their favorite lakes.... to bore their holes thru many inches of ice ......"CAUSE TODAY IS THE DAY THEY ARE GONNA TURN IT TOTALLY ON"................Good fishin and fish safe. PS. also remember!!!!!! the fish you want to catch may only may be only a couple of feet away from the last holes you drill (OUT OF VIEW OF YOUR "VEX") and just dont want to move over that short distance to take your offering.....Doubt that? Just remember those trips that you can't catch a fish out of one of your holes and tear them totally up in the other hole (only a couple of feet away) and your fishing identical rigs, in each hole......makes ya wonder!!!!

[HardWater Junkie]

GREAT POST ICE PHISHER

[MDBuckeye]

No doubt, great post.
I need a gas auger... my shoulder is starting to get sore from all of the drilling.

[slabslayer]

Great post an encouragment to us all.  Also MD you do need a gas auger, finally got one 2 years ago and don't know what I did without it.  Now that it's already almost Feb, if you wait another 2 weeks or so you can get one pretty cheap, that's what I did.  Paid only $249.99 for a new 8 inch gas Strikemaster auger, due to end of season sales.

[wapak ice dawg]

that was funny and true, is today the day and am I fishing in the right spot. It seems 1 person on the site is killing them and the rest of us can't find an eye if it was right in front of us! I still think mid feb. the switch will turn on and it wont matter what you drop in the hole something will eat it!

[icebucketjohn]

No wiser words of wisdom were ever posted  Thanks Ice Phiser for them.

[pig puncher]

brings back memories. when i first started fishing hard water, before we had flashers, shantys, and warm clothes, i often caught fish out of 1 hole and nothing out of a hole 2 feet away.

[megan66]

Great post, my husband routinely drills multiply holes before we ever start to fish.

I've seen him drill as many as a dozen holes or more before we drop the first line.

He continues to drill, drill, drill, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

But it pays off enough times to continue this practice.
God bless all the ice people!

[spoonchucker]

yeah from looking at my records, the eyes will be back on in a week or two, then it all goes south from there (ice conditions that is) guess we cant complain, its been a nice long season so far. im just hoping for march ice