Lake conditions in our area have decreased over the last few weeks, and now that we are
starting to warm up quickly, I think the end is near for our season. On some lakes there is a foot
plus of slush and if you don’t have a tracked vehicle, you will be getting stuck sooner than later.
I have been able to do a few morning trips taking people tullibee fishing and it has been
fun introducing and teaching people who may be new to targeting tullibee’s and seeing
their face light up catching the fish. Too many people now days seem to be so
secretive about fishing and they won’t share what is working and I feel tullibee is the
opposite. I have made some of my best friendships from people that were total
strangers before we met on the ice tullibee fishing.
We had a church men’s outing where I was calling out depths of fish as they would
come in for the anglers to focus on an area in the water column. Another group heard
me and undenounced to me didn’t have a graph so adjusted accordingly and started
catching fish almost instantly. When I tullibee fish I use two rods rigged similar but with
different size spoons/flashers. The weekend before we were catching them 2 feet
below the ice with a small spoon, so I started my group on those but very quickly it
turned into a large spoon bite. As I informed the group, we needed to switch the other
group overheard us and they made the change at the same time resulting in fish for all.
Being neighborly to our group we asked how fishing was going and if they wanted any
fish which they quickly said YES. Many fish were caught that day and so memories
were made that will last a lifetime.
Fast forward one weekend and I run into the same group this time I have more time to
talk one on one and here they informed me they didn’t have a flasher, so I gave them
one to use for the day. I also worked with them on how I rig my lines to produce more
fish for me and my clients. There is a saying that 90% of anglers catch 10% of the fish
and the 10% of anglers that figure it out catch 90% of the fish. Little tips and tricks to
these anglers helped them produce more fish and hopefully made memories that will
last a lifetime.
Safety is the most important thing in my world and in the past day the ice conditions
went from solid to porous and that is a sign that the ice will be changing quickly. It was
also getting extremely soft on the shorelines where I sank up to my knee walking
through the ditch that held up a side-by-side hours earlier. This time of the year it is
important to think ice safety and start wearing your ice pics and bringing a throw in case
something bad happens.
This trip might be my last ice fishing trip of the season since I have lots of projects I
need to get done before the Lund can get in the water, but I can’t wait to get on the
water
Cody Hill
www.chillguideservice.com
218-443-3813