A Day On The Ice With Friends

It has been a while since I've been able to get out on the frozen water, so i decided to call the Up North Journal team to muster them about. I managed to get Tim Ford and his three kids along with Jim Stephan out to hit the Seven Lakes state park. I decided to take them over to Little Seven to hit a spot that Little Mike and Chuck Parr like to fish. We spent about two hours there with no luck at all. Not even one little bite! There were 8 other people fishing the lake and not one of them had a single bite either.

Up North Journal Pro Staffer Tim Ford

Helping His Daughter With Her Ice Rod

Two hours of that was enough, so we packed it in and headed over to the bigger lake Seven Lakes. The temps were in the high 40's that day and the wind was howling. By the time we made it to the boat launch of Big Seven, the water was ponding on the ice. I knew that Tim's kids were going to get wet, but they ventured out any ways. We made our way onto the ice and found a couple of holes left by a couple of guys who had just left the ice.

There was atleast a foot of ice maybe even 15 inches. The water was running back into the holes with all the wind blowing it around and it being a couple of inches deep. It didn't take long until I pulled a crappie through the ice. This was actually the first crappie I have caught in over 10 years. The last one was with my grandfather in Alabama and he has been passed away now for 10 years. About 5 minutes later Jim Stephan pulled a nice large mouth bass through the ice! We were all excited about that one. That was it for the next 20 minutes or so and that is when the kids got wet! It was time for Tim to take them in unfortunately, so Jim and I hung out on the ice for another couple hours. Jim managed to pull about 15 small panfish out but none were keepers. I only hooked one small panfish myself after that crappie.

Up North Journal Pro Staffer Jim Stepha With A Nice Bass

We caught a few fish, but nothing to bring home. Bass season was over and the other fish were too small. We all had a good time getting out on the water and spending some time together. There was some sad news to report on this day though, it was the same day as the big Lake Erie ice floe incident where 131 fisherman got trapped on an ice floe. One died in the process and the rest were eventually rescued. You can read my article on that incident at my webblog Hooks and Bullets.