A Great Hardwater Season So Far
Locally fishing has been really good. Although word is out and the pressure is high. That means things are getting more challenging. We are past the period where showing up and popping down for the day is going to be productive. Pressure has pushed fish around and their attitude is different or maybe the dumb ones have just gotten caught?
Covering water and looking for the school is the name of the game now. Personally, I would rather spend all day drilling and catch 0 fish than sit in a spot I knew I could grind a few out. Because when I do find them, they’ll be unpressured and things will happen fast. That’s exactly what happened on my last outing. It made up for the grind it out outing when I took 9 people ice fishing. Although we did get some nice fish and it was a lot of fun.
The real story though is the class of fish present. Last year we had tons of up and comers, fish you could clean but really not what you wanted. Those fish should be solid “keepers” now but what we are seeing is far surpassing that. The number of 10” plus perch is really sort of crazy. The most interesting thing about all this is that these fish weren’t in the lake last year. I drilled all over looking for them so maybe I just never found them but I didn’t see any Facebook hero shots with them either. They also are too big to be last years up and comers. So, my theory is that for whatever reason, they just stayed out in Lake Michigan vs coming into Muskegon Lake to feed. What drives that decision? Why did they stay out in the Lake? How often does that happen? How many are still out in the Lake? I wish I knew the answers to those questions but it sure makes me think. I know one thing; I’m going to enjoy this season because between the great fishing and great ice conditions it is going to be one to remember.
The rest of the year looks promising. The big water up north with trout and burbot opportunities is frozen. There are even people out on Grand Traverse Bay. 2019 was the last time I could get up there and I am hoping it will keep building ice for me to get up that way in a few weeks. We had big plans to fish Crystal again this winter but if the bay conditions continue to improve then Crystal can wait for another year. I know one thing if I were closer there area already some adventures that would have happened. The perch we have locally aren’t going to be interesting too much longer. Bring on “trouts and pouts 2026”.
I also picked up a Razr Sythetic Lite at the Novi Show and I have been impressed so far. I have it attached to my Clam Plate and it has been light, compact, and great at burning through ice. I’ve found it really easy to drill side by side holes for putting a MEGA Live2 transducer in. I also found a reliable aftermarket battery. I drilled tons of holes through 10 inches of ice with a 5.0ah Vanon Battery off of Amazon. The aftermarket battery game is a tricky one and the last ones I bought were a total miss. These however have been stellar and if you are looking for cheap drill batteries for ice fishing, I would check them out.
That’s all I’ve got for now, see you on the ice!