By: Chas Thompson
MI Ice Guys
(616) 953-0423
www.MIIceGuys.com
January rain/snow mix with nights in the teens should make hard ice. The lack of snow will help strengthen the ice away from Lake Michigan. Lake effect areas should use extra caution as the insulating effect and added weight might make things dangerous.
Remember where you found the weed beds in late fall will still be the oxygen rich locations that provide food sources for the panfish around Grand Rapids. December afforded us a few more days in the boat to do some research fishing around the mouths of creeks and the deep side of weed beds. We found that the panfish continued to bite on the cold fall tactics. Just for the fun of it, we started using the new ice jigs under slip bobbers, to do a little distance jigging. Reading the side scan instead of the flasher took a bit of adjustment, but we got it.
Move carefully as you venture out and start jigging the new tackle Santa brought. You can expect to entice the gills in a bit more since they have been feeding in the oxygen rich open water. We are hoping it will translate to some larger fish this year. I plan to target the shallow flats on the protected sides of some of our smaller lakes. Some tight bays and open water off of points and corners may yield the crappie before they go suspended mid month.
The forecasts for January should have ice suitable for tip ups soon. I plan to place them along the edges of the weed beds that yielded early ice catches. Some even out over the shallow sides to take advantage of the natural patrol of predatory fish.
Use your flasher to find any dips or cuts in the bottom. A camera can really make the difference finding a feeding school. Use any nose weighted pike decoy to fool perch into believing there is feeding in an area. Simply bang it on the bottom every few minutes in a secondary hole. Disturbing the bottom not only fills the water column with debris for perch to munch on but also simulates a school working the bottom.
Wishing you a safe New Year of fishing and those wonderful meals of fresh caught Michigan bounty, please remember to observe limits and rules. Be a Great Michigan Sportsman and take a kid fishing! As always, share your ice report on MiIceGuys.com.