Subfreezing temperatures during early December closed in most of the lakes with up to an inch of ice. The first weekend’s bitter cold winds had hard water anglers streaming into bait shops and sporting goods stores to get the latest in equipment. Seminars on new techniques by pros had everyone getting “Ice Fever”, and then the snow started. Heavy snow insulates and slowed the formation of ice. Some areas south of Grand Rapids even had the snow load breaking through and opening lakes back up. A brief warm up with a couple days with daytime temperatures above freezing converted much of that snow into heavy pack that would freeze overnight. The result is safe ice.
Early bluegill over the weed beds and shallow flats with bottom cover were slow to start but has picked up on the lakes that got their early ice. The weed beds that you spotted during those last chilly trips onto the lakes in the fall are still there and should be producing into mid-to-late January. Locating deadfalls in 8-15 feet of water, stumps, humps and other structures, we found bluegills scattered around the outer edges of these medium size features. Moderate catches when safe ice could be found. With the smaller lakes being some of the first to freeze up, the sizes of the fish were in the 6-9 inch range. Early morning bites are producing much better than the afternoons.
Early tip ups produced the occasional hammer handle pike that made for good practice of selecting the areas that these predators will continue to patrol as winter continues. Sometimes reminiscent of the patrol paths of rutting bucks in the fall, predators hunt the outside edges of weed beds and other features taking advantage of the baitfish that dart in out and around these structures. Campau Lake was one of the first on the south east of Grand Rapids to be safe. Several of the private lakes and the Rockford area lakes with heavy tree lines on the western shore were also very productive.
Smartphone in hand we have been marking points and putting notes in the name of the waypoint, utilizing one of the many apps available to the modern ice fisherman. You can use Navionics for just under ten bucks or use one of the many free apps to map the structures and sweet spots that you find on the lakes. Comparing notes later over a great Michigan-made beer at one of the many spots around Grand Rapids, the stories may be just as much fun as cutting holes with your new auger or trying the newest collection of jigs.
Wishing you a safe New Year of fishing and those wonderful meals of fresh caught Michigan bounty, please remember to share ice conditions on http:// www.miiceguys.com/report-ice and observe limits and rules. Be a great Michigan sportsman!
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