11-28-2010, 04:33 PM
Headed down to Shelly Pond Friday morning to try some early season ice fishing. The ice was there and right about 4 inches everywhere we went. It did make us a little nervous though being the first day out so we wore life jackets and took the throw rope just in case and drilled plenty of test holes on the way out to make sure it didn't get thin. We ended up seeing some periodic fish on the Marcum, usually around the 10 ft depth. We did finally find a hole where one was staying consistently on the bottom and would come up and check our bait, steal it then drop back down. But since he stayed on the flasher I kept working him. Finally changed to a chartreuse paddle bug and after some more teasing was able to hook a good size brown. A few minutes later I landed a white fish that was a little smaller, about 14 inches. Around 1pm the ice was noted to be getting some water on it around the edges in spots and was making some unnerving popping noises including one that shot a crack right through the middle of our holes. We took that as a hint that we were done and started working our way back. Over all a good day for only being about 10 minutes from home. Still would have liked to have made it to Henry's.
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