Platte/Sullivan Area Ice Fishing Reports

I finally got my ice fishing stuff together and got out on an area lake on 12/8. A few guys have been going out on Platte since the end of November. The lake I was on had 4.5-6″ of ice. I started in the weeds, which were lifeless. A guy showed up who has been fishing the area lakes that have safe ice. He said everywhere has been tough other than small pike and little perch in Platte Lake. I eventually found some life in 13-15′. Little perch and one 11″ pike. The other guy covered a lot of area and was constantly on the move. Not a great first trip, but I didn’t get skunked. Hopefully, I’ll be back out on the same lake on Monday.

I finally got back out on Wed’s the 13th. Same lake as before. Ice was 6-7″. Two other groups on the lake when I got there. Based on location I think one group was spearing. I didn’t think through a plan, so I was inefficient. I drilled six holes in a circle in 15 to 17′ of water. I put the Aqua Vu down in the first hole, saw some sunfish, and set up shop without looking for life in the other holes. I caught a couple of small sunfish and saw one pike on the camera and caught a couple of smallish crappies after I pulled the camera up due to lack of visibility. By the time I checked the the other holes for life it was dark the fish were shut down. Next time, I will check all my holes before setting up shop. If I can get out Friday evening I think I’ll go to a different lake.

I went out on Sunday night and didn’t get holes drilled until sunset. I got one crappie fairly quickly, then it went dead. I left the Fish Trap and checked some of the other holes. I caught a couple crappie then the wind came up and blew my Fish Trap to the east side of the lake. I was not a happy camper, but I’m grateful the walk was only a 1/8th of a mile or so and no rods got broken.

I went out again on Monday night, same lake. I caught a perch quickly. I quickly went to another set of holes and put the Aqua Vu down as the sun was setting. Too much sediment in the water. I think I had a pike try to attack the Cubby Mini-Mite, but it missed. I pulled the camera up and these holes went dead. I tried another set of holes and fished them the rest of the night. I got a 6″ gill, 18 crappies for 8-10″, and my last bite of the night was a bullhead. I quit fishing at 8 PM. Medium-sized crappie minnows were the deal. I did get a few on the glow Mini-Mite as well.

Well you got an A for effort. And crappies was a great reward!

I went to the same lake on Tuesday and only got one 8″ crappie and a 5.5″ sunfish. Went to a different lake on Wednesday and got 5 crappies. Here is my video recap of the trip.

Thanks for the reports.

My latest trip recap video from the 21st. I didn’t fish yesterday. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get out today for a bit.

And for those who may be wondering about my quip about making it back to the car is about. My hips and legs are in sorry shape. My gate is all screwed up. I limp rather than walk most of the time.

My Christmas gift to IDO

I wonder when I am going to be able to get back on the ice. All the rain raised the lake levels, now the shorelines are suspect like at late ice. I went and looked at the access where I had been fishing out of on Wednesday and there was a couple yards of pure slushy before ice of questionable thickness started. It is supposed to get down to 15 degrees on Monday morning so New Year’s Day at the earliest?

I was too lazy to get out on the 2nd. The shorelines have firmed up again. I had an OK trip on the 3rd. I was a bit rusty missing bites left and right. I also got bit off 3 times and had the hook break on the pike I did land. I am glad I got out.

How is the pike population on Platte? Growing up we’d catch pike by the dozens, and I tip up fished it a few times after college with good success as well. There was quite a while they had a larger limit to try and get the hammer handles under control.

It had a major winterkill last year. Pike were the only species to come out of it somewhat intact. I only caught pike 5lbs and under this year.

I may give Sullivan a try on Thursday.

if you go to Sulivan please report back on ice conditions. would love to get up there soon. thanks

crappie55369 wrote:

if you go to Sulivan please report back on ice conditions. would love to get up there soon. thanks

I went to the West Access on Thursday. I couldn’t find my ice picks anywhere and ended up aborting the trip because it looked like there was a crack/ice heave right where I wanted to fish a little to the North of the access. I think that area was possibly the last open water on the lake. A guy who lives on the lake made it out to a spot on his four-wheeler to the South, returned, got his stuff, and went back out. I don’t think anybody is using the East access yet, but I didn’t pay attention, so I could be wrong. There was also somebody in a hub straight out from the access about 75 yards. He said he had about 5″ of ice there.

Bass Pundit wrote:

I went to the West Access on Thursday. I couldn’t find my ice picks anywhere and ended up aborting the trip because it looked like there was a crack/ice heave right where I wanted to fish a little to the North of the access. I think that area was possibly the last open water on the lake. A guy who lives on the lake made it out to a spot on his four-wheeler to the South, returned, got his stuff, and went back out. I don’t think anybody is using the East access yet, but I didn’t pay attention, so I could be wrong. There was also somebody in a hub straight out from the access about 75 yards. He said he had about 5″ of ice there.

Thanks! when you say west access are you talking about the dirt drop in off of Logan all the way on the west end of the lake? Im only familiar with the boat access on the north end off of 263rd and the east end off of sullivan drive.

I was at the NW Access on 263rd.

Bass Pundit wrote:

I was at the NW Access on 263rd.

This video is from my last trip on 11th.

I braved the cold and went out on the 17th. Same lake I’ve been fishing this month. Ice depth is noticeably thicker than my last trip, but I didn’t think to measure it. I would guess 12 to 14″. It was a little different script for how things went, but about the same results.

I fished the same lake the past 5 days and will be headed out there again in a little over an hour. Unfortunately, the ice is only 12″ so I haven’t been driving to my spot; It is not that far a walk, but I move like a turtle. If I see somebody drive out today I’ll probably start doing that as well. A Chevy Equinox isn’t the heaviest SUV. Fishing has been typical for this lake with crappies over 10 inches being quite rare. I think maybe I’ve gotten 2 out of more than a hundred that I’ve caught this week. Most are 8″/9″ish. Lots of little sunfish around as well. Here is my report from last night.

I went out on Saturday 27th and Monday 29th to the same lake. Starting at 7:30 AM on Saturday and 6:30 AM on Monday. I did much better on crappies on Monday because I was there before the primetime morning bite started and it lasted about a 45 minutes longer. I only got in on the tail end of it on Saturday. Saturday had a lot more sunfish and perch around and I figured out a fun pike pattern, mostly hammer handles but I did get a 27.75″ pike. The pike pattern continued to play on Monday. I didn’t do a recap video either day. I fished until the Aqua-Vu battery died on Saturday and was pretty tired at that point. On Monday, the wind came up and I just wanted to go. I have yet to see bass or walleye this year.

Here is the pike pattern. I was fishing in 16′ of water on a silt/sand flat with perch and sunfish all over. I’d lure those panfish up off the bottom. When they would disappear usually a pike was prowling around. Sometimes the pike would go for the minnow; sometimes for what I was jigging. If a pike hit neither I would quickly switch to something else until it either attacked or left.

Fun to see those on the Vex nice bright red mark shows up move up sharply followed by a hard hit.

I caught my first open-water fish of 2024 on the 20th. A 17″ Gator Bullhead on a spinnerbait at The Grumpy Old Man Hole. Lots of swans flying around. I’m pretty sure there is some open water on the SE side of Platte Lake. Those white things in the distance to the East have to be swans a swimming. I’m pretty sure the area lakes other than ML will be open before St. Patrick’s Day.

I finally got back out on the ice again on Wed’s the 21st. I was rusty and the fish were skittish due to ice rumbling until 9 AM. I think I’m done for this ice season. The ice at the access was getting pretty soft when I came in.