Well this morning I woke up at a modest time with my heart set on one thing: getting to Fleet Farm. For those that don’t know, I work at Mill’s Fleet Farm these days in Winona, MN in the sporting goods department. No, I don’t get a discount on anything what-soever, unfortunately. However, I do keep a close eye on high ticket items of interest and this deal was hard for me to pass up. Another item on the ice fishing wish list was crossed out today, and a very important one: the power auger. I’d love to have a strike master solo as I have used one and can attest that they actually are every bit as great as this website will lead you to believe. The only problem is that they are way above and beyond my price range. Instead I went with the Eskimo Mako, which was on sale for $254.99. 
After I got home and assembled my new toy, I headed out into the brisk mid morning air in search of whatever might slack-line a Swedish pimple. Despite the road leading to the area I wanted to fish not being plowed, I was able to get close enough to walk to the ice through the 24″ of powder. Arriving at the ice’s edge, I was stunned to learn that the snow was almost a non-factor out there. It looked like a lot of it sunk down and slushed up, freezing solid while some of the snow was blown off. The only areas that were problematic were areas where the snow had drifted on top of the ice. Here you’d find a layer of about 3-4″ of fairly compacted (thats a good thing) snow and 5-6″ of slush underneath (should freeze tonight). The non-problematic areas were pretty much glare ice and with the new addition of all that slush, the ice thickness was a foot or more!
On to the fishing:
I started out fishing some deep wood in about 17′. I drilled a number of holes spanning a pretty decent sized area that is littered with different lumber piles. Sitting in close proximity to the wood I didn’t have a lot of success. The best hole that I fished actually was out away from the trees in 20 feet, where I found some fish coming in a little higher up then they were last week. Rather than the 10 foot zone being home to the “high fish” of last week, this time that same zone was the deeper zone (also where I caught all the fish), and I marked countless fish at 3,4,5,6, and 7 foot depths. Though none of those fish from way up there made it to the hole, one of them did bite, only before a miserable whiff. Perhaps a lack of light penetration caused those fish to come closer to the surface and more into the open, feeling less vulnerable to predator fish and more keen on scooping lifeless matter from just below the bottom of the ice?
After icing 4 keeper crappies, all coming on a diamond jig with a small plastic, and a number of dinks, what little bit of a bite that I did have going fizzled out. I packed my bags and took a long walk through the maze of backwater in this expansive little gem that I’ve been fishing. I settled in on an area I found this fall through bass fishing. There is a nice flat with green weeds on top that comes up to 3-5 ft. On either side it dips into 12-15 ft with what I’m guessing is a sand/silt mix bottom void of weed growth. I caught one small perch up on the flat and that was enough for me to instantly come alive. I drilled a total of over 25 holes on multiple levels of the drop. the very next hole over from where I caught the small perch I found myself in 9 feet and instantly had marks flying to my bait. The first one was a nice perch in the 11″ range Just when I was thinking I landed on the mother load of perch, my hopes were destroyed as bluegills invaded my holes. Still, the fish were very aggressive and I was able to weed out a couple of decent eaters for tonight’s meal. As dusk settled in, I also picked off 3 suspending crappies at 10 feet down over 14 feet in very short order. I was very impressed with the area, the quantity of the fish, the “Tri-Fecta” 
and especially the green weeds in the area, keeping the water oxygenated and sustaining the population of this little gem with thousands of micro-organisms that will keep those big gills and perch happy and thick bellied! I am anxious to put in some more time on the ice tomorrow when the temperatures are a little kinder. I’ll report back with results. Good things are coming. 
December 15, 2010 at 3:24 am
#1301877
I’m sure that auger will get a workout!
sometime while I am in there – which my wife says is far too often. 
by the way, the white stuff isn’t all tarter sauce, it was noodles with a butter & herb sauce that went well with the fish. Also, Went back today. I played catch and release. Had a friend out and we caught a lot of fish and had a good time. We didn’t catch any nice perch or crappies but a lot of 7″ gills made it to the hole along with a bunch of bass. One of them took my diamond jig and ultra light for a test run…turned out to be a nice 17-1/2″ largemouth 