Enter the Picture This! photo contest to win a Jason Mitchell Meatstick Combo and the latest release from Vexilar's line of Ice Fishing Apparel. I'm also including one of my promotional spools of Vicious Line, a family four pack of Columbus Fishing Expo Tickets and a Vexilar Ice Camo Hat.

Just post a great picture and include a winning story on the Soft Water Photos Thread and be present at the December 2nd Alum Creek Dock Tournament to win.

Full contest details are included on the thread!

Good luck to all of you!

A couple of places on Cheshire have pizza and Tv's. Dave and I are going to hang out for a while after weigh in. We'd like as many as possible to come and hang out for the game to support local businesses.

     I'm going to assume that we've all fried a bunch of fish. I for one, employ a variety of different batters and seasonings. It all depends on the people I'm cooking for, and what type of fish I've got. My two mainstays are seasoned cornmeal for catfish and beer batter for walleye. Beyond these, I'm pretty flexible.

     My question is simple. What is your favorite? I don't mean an itemized list of your favorites for every fish you catch. I mean your favorite. Assuming that all you have is a fryer and some oil. What would you bread with, and what fish would you use?

     This summer on a fishing trip I had to come up with a shore lunch for 17. The nearest town, Havelock, Ontario was an hour south. On a trip to town the second day, there were three things on my list. Rapalas, beer and fish breading. After getting the first two we made our way to a very small grocery store. They had one choice in breading, Rocky Madsen's Original Fish Crisp. I'd seen it at Cabela's before, but it wasn't Drake's or Andy's so I had seen no reason to buy it.

     The next day, dinner was as silent as a church. 17 people obliterated 12 pounds of perch and sunfish. I might never have a better fry than I had that day.

     From now on, for me, it's Rocky Madsen's Original on panfish.

We invite all IFO members to participate in our pre-season dock tournament series at Alum Creek Marina.

Tournament Director: David Hoheisel 614-361-5548






Saturday Tournaments will be hosted in November and December.
(January dates to follow if we have unsafe ice.)
Stay current on the schedule as dates may be subject to change on short notice.

*New this year will be the addition of a Photo and fish story contest. The prizes for this contest will be awarded at the first tournament held during the month of December. Please review rules and post your entries in Soft Water Pictures


You must be a registered Ice Fish Ohio member.

Individual entry fee is $15 per event.

Per Ohio DNR regulations, 2 poles may be fished at any one time.

Live bait approved.

Check-in starts at 7:30 am

No lines or sonar may enter the water before 8:00 am

Each individual will weigh in their best catches in one of two pots.
Pot #1- 5 crappie (9” inch minimum)
Pot #2- 1 Saugeye (15” minimum)

*If a Saugeye is not caught the Saugeye pot will go to second place crappie finisher from Pot #1.

An optional big fish pot will be awarded to the heaviest fish to cross the scales at the weigh-in. (This fish may be any species.)


In addition to the cash payout, each individual will receive one ticket at each tournament that you participate in for a chance of winning various sponsor products at that tournament.

We will also keep these tickets throughout the pre-season events and have a final season drawing for Grand Prizes from our sponsors.

Any team who fishes at least 6 events will receive an additional 5 tickets for the final season grand prize drawing.

Finalized sponsor prizes will be updated before the first event.

It is the winner’s responsibility to pick up grand prizes in Columbus.

More Products and updates to come!

See you at the Docks!

The ice fishing event scheduled to be held at Blackhawk will now be held at Lakeside Pro Bass due to unsafe ice conditions.

I have been checking the ice over the past few days, and though I could walk on it yesterday (Tuesday, January 3, 2017), the same area at Blackhawk was open water today (Wednesday, January 4, 2017).
 
Again, this is now an in-store event that was previously scheduled to be held at Blackhawk from 9am-1pm.

Come out for Seminars from some of our region's top presenters, as we share insights into modern ice fishing and demonstrate the latest in ice fishing gear from top brands. This will be a great opportunity to do your part in introducing your friends to our sport!

Prizes and free gear will be available for participation during in-store seminars, and workshops. All members of the family are invited to try their hand at fish identification, knot tying, map reading and the safety quiz.

I will be saving the food that I have for our next on ice event, but Lakeside have plenty of snacks and refreshments available for purchase at a very good price in the store.

We at Ice Fish Ohio, and the representatives of many great brands look forward to seeing all of you at Lakeside Pro Bass for the demonstrations!

I didn't get up today. Can anyone confirm first hand that we lost our ice at Moundwood, or is this false information? I'm going to check tomorrow after work if the ice is still on at the channel mouth.

I will be checking the ice Thursday at 3:45pm on various locations at the north end of the lake. The ice is not ready, or even worth your drive yet. Please be patient and wait for word from our staff who are putting their good name on the report.

I have been keeping an eye on the lake, and it looks as though a few of our veteran members are doing the same. I don't recommend making the drive at this time, even with the sub zero overnight temperatures.

I am allowing for one more evening, night and day of low surface temps before I try again based on what I saw on Monday.

Anson and I will be there checking together in order to confirm safety and we'll issue a report following our check.

As always, be sure to check your own ice. Never trust someone else's report with your life. Have a spud bar/chisel, picks and a throw rope handy for the person you check with. Remember that only one person at a time should be on the sheet at the first check. Do not (under any circumstances)check alone.

At this time of year most of us are anxious to get on the ice. Many people quietly come and go from the site as they check for reports. With this in mind, please make absolutely certain that any reports on conditions which you post are accurate and complete. Try to include the following:

1. Consider taking pictures to document your check.

2. Be sure to include a measurement of ice thicknesses at different locations.

3. Only report your own personal checks.

4. Don't speculate on conditions at nearby bodies of water in a report.

5. Post in the correct thread for that lake on the IFO Forums Home.

I will make a report on the ice conditions around Indian Lake, Kiser Lake and possibly the Marina at C.J. Brown tomorrow evening.