Sk8man

Quite a few guys out on the ice at the north end today out about 500 yds or more and a couple of huts way out on the east side (probably have access on east shore). Butler Road is still open water as is the east side pull off area.

Boards and riggers.... it is usually a time to try everything you have because it is before the fleas so you can use light lines as well although I'm not sure from the comment just what type of boards you have but light leaders (e.g.10 lb test). It is also a good time for lead cores and short copper rigs if you have them and perhaps even a top line in the shallower situations with a large split shot or two a few feet above the lure (helps keep off grass and gets some depth to the lure.

http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Software-Updates/Elite-40/

Hey Pap - Most "normal" people (I use that term loosely because we ice fishermen may not be normal ) use shelters and have portable propane heaters going in them and face their shelters so the least amount of surface area is facing the wind if they have the one or two man type and for severe wind the larger square units are often anchored with screw in ice anchors. I have a Clam 2 person shelter but I seldom use it these days and it now sits down cellar. I go with just a sled with all my stuff in it and I have an "old school" pop up tent that I can use if needed. I like being extremely mobile and instead of sitting in the shelter and maybe moving a few times during the day, I am constantly on the move and out in the open and I dress very warmly in many layers. For probably 30 or 40 years I merely took a bucket with jigging rods, and auger, and tip ups and or tip downs as the "old school" guys that I learned from did. You then always locate with your back to the wind so it is not in your face, you stay somewhat warmer, and you can detect even small movements in your line unrelated to the wind (i.e. fish) by "blocking" the wind. I also drill a bunch of holes around the area and let them "calm down" before making the circuit around them moving my stuff as I go. Yes I do look for dropoffs for some species or even small depressions in sand bottm sometimes or weed beds etc. and it depends on the body of water and the species of fish in part. I also like being out where I can see what is going on around me. I've witnessed coyotes and foxes crossing the ice and eagles flying overhead and many other wonderful things out there. In the old days being out in the open was key to learning about techniques and watching old timers but today it is virtually impossible because of the fact that 90 percent of the folks are in shelters of various types. Many of the old timers would try to disguise what they were doing and they even had covers on their buckets they sat on with a hole in it so that they could jig up fish and secretly put them in the bucket without others observing it and they crouched in positions so that you had a hard time seeing exactly what jigging motions they used. I can relate to your uncles situation....I once arrived at Keuka Lake by myself in the early AM and nobody was there (geez I have the place to myself ) and I had brought minnows as bait for my tip ups...I thought it felt a bit colder than usual but I hadn't checked the weather report the night before. I went to put a minnow on a tip up and it froze the moment I took it out of the bucket and my fingers started freezing to the minnow. I later found out it was 6 below zero Ice fishing is not for the faint of heart nor for entirely sane people

yes a lot better than the walk out at the north end

My son and I ice fished Keuka north end today for the second time this week and the fishing was spotty. A couple days ago we we had good success with the perch and ended up with 45-50 between us 11 of which were jumbos (13-14 inches. We worked for them though and kept on the move (over 70holes drilled between us). Most of them came in 15 -22 ft of water. The ice is 4 -6 inches of mostly good hard ice as of today with sections of broken and refrozen ice on the way out. Today we arrived at 8:30 AM which turned out was too late because some guys had action on the perch very early and it ended about the time we arrived. The previous time the action came in the afternoon so who knows what those little finicky dudes will do. Last time they hammered our bait but this time they were VERY tentative and we had a lot of lookers that just looked and left despite multiple changes of jigs and different bait. The tipups had three releases with nobody home and the minnows gone (probably perch). Minnows and waxies seem to be the preferred bait jigging. We ended up with 21 perch between us today with no real jumbos. The previous outings perch especially the jumbos were stuffed with 2 inch minnows and baby sunfish and a few perch were stuffed with freshwater shrimp. We saw a few snowmoblies way out south in the middle of the lake. Good luck to any of you that make it out there this weekend and stay safe....I hope this info helps.

Yesterday I saw folks with a red (Eskimo?) shelter there too. I've never had much luck in that particular section regardless of time of year.

Thanks Panfisher. I always enjoy your posts as well.

It is ALWAYS possible no matter how thick the general ice conditions are because there are pressure ridges as well as gas pockets out there and when you are using objects that weigh a lot it is something to seriously consider and caution is advised out there. I've seen guys on 4 wheelers and snowmobiles out there hauling a.. without regard to anything apparently thinking that because there is some safe ice that all of it is safe, Honeoye is particularly hazardous in that regard as there are numerous streams coming into it and it is a eutrophic lake with many gas pockets and upwellings so you can have 6 inches of safe ice someplace and a couple feet away it may be 2 inches. Two days ago on Keuka my son drilled a hole amidst many others that were solid 4 inches and it only took a couple revolutions of the auger and it was through despite all the surrounding area being 4 inches of solid ice. Some of this stuff has broken up and reformed and it is not uniform despite the cold temperatures we've had and snow coverage introduces another twist as it can cover just formed sections of ice and you can't accurately determine what is what out there. Nearly every year someone goes through the ice on Honeoye and some have drowned but it can happen anyplace if extreme care is not taken. Another factor is alcohol....the worst thing to be doing on the ice for many reasons....yet every year I see folks with 12 packs (or more) in hand on their way out there.

Welcome to LOU Isabelle. Best of luck fishing and stay safe if you fish Lake Ontario.....it can be a challenging place for a kayak. Hopefully you won't be in the "middle of the water" with it out there

In the Finger Lakes toplining in winter is a little different "animal" than Spring or Fall. First of all the fish are distributed very differently (for the most part) in the lakes and bait and primary food sources are as well. It is important to understand this relationship. The alewives go very deep in winter and are bottom oriented rather than suspended. The trout for the most part locate near them and near bottom where it is the "warmest" (often 39 degrees in the densest water on bottom) The lake trout that come into the shallows tend to be fewer but often bigger in size which is understandable because they are competing there for scarce resources with the pike and pickerel and feeding on whatever is available (small perch, sunfish, small bass, shiners, and minnows. Many warm weather food sources like crayfish are hibernating in the mud, and bugs are gone (rainbows and landlocks feed heavily on them during early summer months). Once in a while big lakers are caught through the ice by folks fishing for perch and bass with fathead minnows or small shiners but for the most part they are in deep water and need to be fished with bottom tactics as mentioned by Frogger. The rainbows, browns and landlocks are more responsive to water temperature differences and will actively seek out and explore even small differences in water temps (i.e. warmer water sources) in search of food and these are usually actively feeding fish. Depending on water flow and stream temps rainbows may be entering the streams whenever conditions permit during the winter months and some stay there until they spawn so what this means isthat they aren't usually "cruising" the lakes like in the Spring , Summer, and Fall months and you have to fish them near stream mouths for best results. The browns on the other hand may also be at or near stream mouths searching for food such as fish eggs and small fish or small items discharged by the streams and they are often found near ANY warmer water being discharged or located near potential food sources because some bait(minnows and shiners for example) also seek out warmer water sources. Landlocks seem to range more and may be more surface oriented than the others in the lakes where they are found. I have caught them through the ice on Keuka while perch fishing for example cruising just under the ice. In short, if toplining in winter months and your targets are rainbows and browns do your toplining near stream outlets, power plant outlets, other potential warmer water sources, or in the case of the south end of Seneca near the salt plant. For lakers toplining will probably not have a high success rate until about the first or second week of March in the Finger Lakes when there will be some large lakers in the shallows (8-20 ft range) competing for available food with the pike which you may catch right along with the lakers on the same spoons or sticks. I've had good luck over the years with fairly large "floppy" spoons such as medium to large size red and while Daredevils, Cleos or KO Wobblers or jointed Rapalas or similar sticks. I keep a bunch of these old spoons just for this purpose. Usually the lakers and the pike are very large ones then. For the landlocks fishing them where they habitually range like on Seneca at the south end around the edges of the lake or around Milliken or Taughanock and at the south end of Cayuga is the best bet if you are only toplining them.

Jeff there is a good 7-8 inches and 10 inches or more in some places. Fishing has been slow though...a lot of "lookers" but not a whole lot of "takers"

John, I'd give Larry Japp at Roy's a call at (315) 789-3094

When buying electronics whether computers, phones, or depth finders etc. the same principle applies.....you will NEVER get ahead of the game because the research and development is always about 2 years or more ahead of the marketplace. I'm certain that CHIRP technology is already obsolete and was before it was introduced in the marketplace. I'm sure the military has more advanced stuff that will be "watered down" and "commercialized" too. Unfortunately, it is the global reality we now live with. As far as the depth finder issue it probably is wise to buy something of good quality and learn its strengths and weaknesses as far as fishing with it, use it frequently and get your money out of it and ignore the marketing hype etc.....usually leads to a happier life

X2 on the Diawas (Bazooka Joe) and the line counter in the awkward position ( can dig into your wrist) of the Saltist steered me away from them despite them being great reels with excellent retrieval rates and good drags. I've had a dozen Diawa 47H's (non line counters) for 30 plus years (without servicing and many salmon and trout) and they still work great. I had a Okuma Convector right out of the box that didn't work but some Magda Pro 45's that work very well despite being a less "expensive" real. I don't think you can go wrong with Diawas.

Possibly going in the AM and wondering how much ice etc. anyone have info?

For the old Yellowbirds I don't even bother with the offshore releases anymore I just changed the split ring to a larger stronger one and hook the swivel snap to that because I only use them for spoons or sticks and the resistance of the boards isn't real great even with a good sized fish and the larger split ring always slides to the front of the bracket rather than staying in the bend when it hooks up with a fish.

10 days from purchase