Essential Equipment for the Fly Fisherman

Essential Equipment for the Fly Fisherman

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Choosing Your Ice Fishing Lake

Choosing Your Ice Fishing Lake

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Extreme Weather Clothing, Jackets

Extreme Weather Clothing, Jackets

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The Kankakee River Back Water

Today I finally went ice fishing. My husband worked all week so I had to wait until his day off. We decided to go to that back water on the Kankakee River in Indiana. We only live about 10 miles from the Indiana border and often fish in Indiana. I live in Illinois. This back water on the Kankakee is on Route 41 north of Route 10, and across the street from the LaSalle Fish and Wild Life Area. We have been going to this area for over 20 years.  A few months ago before the back water and other area lakes froze we had had a lot of rain. This particular back water has very low banks and floods quite often. This was the case when the water froze. The surrounding land was flooded. As the water receded back into the banks the ice was left behind and cracked right at the bank. It was an awesome sight to see sheets of ice left after the water receded. You could see the sheets  ice a foot or two up the tree trunk and the ground under the ice. This was the way it looked all the way down the channel of the back water. Thankfully I had my camera with me and took pictures like crazy. This back water is about a half mile long and it took me quite a while to get to our fishing spot. This as it turned out was the best part of our fishing excursion. The ice was awesome. We fished for about 3 hours and caught 3 bluegill, 1 crappie, and 1 nice rock bass. We did have several other hits but we were fishing a very woody area and the fish put us on the wood a few times resulting in a lost fish. All in all the reason for us being out there was to fish but I ended up having a better time looking at and taking pictures of the ice. Will have more soon. Happy Fishing.

A New Ice Fishing Spot

Yesterday my husband went ice fishing, I didn't go because I had dinner to prepare, and frankly I was a bit apprehensive about the spot he had decided to go to. A back water of the Kankakee River. We have fished this spot in the warm weather but never on the ice. Ice on a river is never never a good place to go ice fishing, but this was a huge back water with just a tiny bit of flow. I told him that if he wasn't home by a certain time I would come looking for him. What a relief when he pulled into the driveway at the appointed time. He told me that the ice was very safe and thick. This relieved some of my anxiety about the safeness of the ice. Because this is a big backwater the flow at the back end of the area is very small. Now was it worth the possible risk of unsafe ice to go out there. I would say yes. He only fished for about an hour but did pretty good. He ended up catching a really big rock bass and 2 crappie. His first crappie of the ice fishing season and he was very encouraged. He also had what he believe to be 2 nice sized bass that broke off due to his 4 pound test line we usually use for ice fishing. So he relined 2 of our ice fishing poles with Stren Magnathin 10 pound test. I do believe we will be going back out there this afternoon when he wakes up ( he works nights and sleeps in the day). I am excited as well because I love to crappie fish. And a bass or two doesn't hurt either. So I will post again as to how we did. Happy Fishing All.

Awesome Day on the Ice

A few days ago my husband and I went ice fishing. We went to a place that years ago produced a lot of bluegills and an occasional bass. The past few years the Indiana Conservation Department has stopped putting weed kill in this particular area due to cost. Weeds and such are good for the fish but this area was positively over run with weeds making it next to impossible to fish in the summer time. The fishing and the ice fishing has been declining in recent years. I'm not sure if it's because of the weeds or not. It had been a couple of years since we fished here so we decided to give it a try as it's only 10 minutes from home. Much to our surprise we caught 33 bluegill and one rock bass. It was a good day. The thing that I found most exciting was the clarity of the water. I could see my bait down about 4 feet and could see the bluegills come up and take the bait. It was an awesome sight to see. While I was hovering over the hole watching my bait a bass about 14 or 15 inches swam past my ice hole at about 1 foot. It was the coolest thing to see. I can't wait to go ice fishing again, maybe today. Happy fishing all.

Warm Boots A Must For Ice Fishing

Warm Boots A Must For Ice Fishing

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