Finicky! Goggleye, 2 of us hit the north end of Clear Saturday. Same results as last few times before; Regularly saw action go through hole but most just mouthed bait. They were not in large schools either. Ended up with 20 keepers between us, but nothing above 10 1/2". We fished 9-10' of water. For the 1st time in a while, waxies were preferred. About 11:00 things went dead with no more coming through&I headed home. Friend stayed until 5:00 & only got 3 in that time frame. Weren't that many guys out, and all had the same story. Ice was a good 10-12" at the time BUT, as it has happened every week for a month, will the temp&rain destroy the ice before refreeze midweek???
If the ice is still good I might try it next weekend. A mess of perch sure would taste good.:corkysm55
HOT update on the Cold Ice Just talked to AJ's Bait out of Pioneer, Ohio, who had someone come in from Clear Lake fishing. Report is they only lost an inch or so of ice. Bottom 5 inches hard while remaining 5 on top is cloudy & softer. All in all it's very fishable and will be great yet for this weekend. Go get 'em!
Check those edges!!! Had to travel through northeast Indiana today on business& I checked lakes&ponds as I went for ice. DeKalb, Whitley, & going south - Forget it! Get out the boats. Most had open water or at best a thin, thin skim. Going north, Sylvan looked okay, but not a soul in sight. Otter had ice out but in the channels & along the shore edges it was open&looked weak. As I drove past Silver near Angola, two guys were walking in across the center of the lake. Detoured to Fox & again it looked okay out but here 3-5' off shore was either open or looked ouchy. Stopped at the Fremont bait shop & the guy said that if you got on off shore you'd find up to a foot of ice. Getting on was the trick. Went to Clear - One shanty was way out by the island & one was out in the northeast corner. That's all I saw. Again, shoreline was a little shaky but probably the best of any lakes I saw. On all, everything is melted down to bare ice. - Cleats are a must! Again, be careful of those edges!
Tippy, barbee chain and Webster all have areas of open water, sadly none by a ramp... Melltt ice....mmmmeeellttttt :bonk:
Ice Good / Perch On! Fished northeast corner of Clear Lake yesterday. Wind was a challenge but ice was a good 12". Edges weren't a problem & had refrozen. Hunted until we finally found a good spot in 10' of water. In 3 hrs. two of us came up with 30+ perch. Few throw backs - Most were hefty 8-11 inchers with one jumbo at 13+". Wigglers & small minnows were preferred with little action on waxies or spikes. The key really is to find a spot where you see or hit some good ones & then just stay & wait for schools to pass, usually every 20 minutes or so. Fish were from a few ft. under ice to bottom. Slide your bait up & down every so often. Once you hit 'em work quickly to get the bait back down.
