3-1-14 Attica Res #1

[AtticaFish]

Fished the old res. of my hometown today with my son. Beautiful day with some sun and temps in the upper 30's.

Slow day, did not mark a ton of fish. After a few hours (and only a few bites to show for it) he decided he had enough. He asked if mom could come and pick him up. We had fun, but he missed out on the big fish of the day. A 26" channel cat!

Took about 15 minutes before i could wear it out and turn its head up through the hole. My gas auger cuts 8" holes.... but when i saw its head i was nervous it wasn't going to turn and make it up! Biggest fish through the ice for me.

Ended the day with only 5 keeper gills. Cleaned them and right into the oven for an appetizer before dinner.

Candy even got some of the scraps before i took them out to throw in the garden.

 

[Pup]

Very nice catfish! Looks like fun was had.

 

[Jig Man]

:icon14: :icon14:

 

[plateboater]

Sweet!

 

[Radtexan]

Heck of a fish Russ. Great pics,that actually made icefishin look like fun ! And the meal ain't too bad either

 

[AndyLane]

That is Awesome!! It tickles me to no end to see Ice fisherman like yourself pull big ol fish like that through that lil hole in the Ice. I'm sure i would Love Ice fishing if i .....well........If I Didn't have to actually be on the Ice. I have this fear of my big ass taking a polar plunge. How thick of Ice do you consider "Safe" Ice?

 

[Bucko]

we walk on sheets of 1/4 inch plywood with only 2 inches. but at the moment we still have 30 to 37 inches yet. gonna be a late spring here...

 

[Ron Don]

Funny lookin water yall got there! That's a nice cat!

 

[baitmaster]

Wow! That is awesome.

 

[Lost Pole]

How old is your son?
Looks painfully like beautiful fun. Don't know how y'all handle it......
That cat looks like an Op? Big and Purty fish. Waaaay Purtier than you.
Eats look likes smiles. Thx for the good story,

 

[AtticaFish]

Thanks all! Very enjoyable day. March 1st starts the season for new fishing license so sure is a fine way to kick off 2014-15. The baked fish was excellent also but not as fun when 10 (small) pieces had to be split between 4 of us. haha

AndyLane & Bucko - In Ohio, you often hear that NO ice is "safe" ice. Have to check each body of water. We had about 10" of ice here. New res half a mile away has almost 18". Both are enough to make me feel confident to take my boy out. I only had the pucker factor kick in once when we were walking to the opposite end and a pressure crack shot by us. Ice jumped and bucked a little. Had him move away from me and test drilled but all was good. If the ice is 4" of good clear ice with no bubbles, i will cautiously venture out. Milky or bubbled ice, i will wait till there is 6". Been out more this season alone than in the last 4 season combined. Loving it.

Lost Pole & Ron Don - I bet both you guys would adapt just fine to the weather here. If you set up a shanty and get out of the wind... gloves, coat, and hat can come off and stay pretty comfortable. Out in the wind sucks, not fun! You both are welcome in my shanty anytime to show me the way of the crappie.......... had a few suspended marks half way up on the flasher today that i am 90% sure were crappie but could not convince them to bite. :-/ Minnies might have helped. My son will be 9 in April. He loves watching the flasher, is pretty much a video game to him. Adam, Op fish? I'm lost, what you talking about?

 

[Lost Pole]

Ashamed I had tool ok up the word shanty....

Op is short for Opelousas cat or flathead. What'll y'all call em?

 

[AtticaFish]

Only ever seen 2 flatheads in person in my life, and they were both caught from tributaries close to Lake Erie. Some people call them shovelheads also. The state DNR stocks (or used to anyway) all the small reservoirs with channel cats. Have caught a few 30+ inch channels in the local lakes. Top of the food chain in many of the eco systems.

My shanty is a simple 2-man pop up. Pop the top and the 4 sides and it is set. Would like to save up to get a single man clam style shanty some day... easier set up and lighter weight. If my son keeps wanting to go with me tho, have to save for a second flasher.

 

[toadfrog]

That boy is tougher than me . Ain't gettin the toad on ice . Fell through twice in my life . Ice here is evil and tricky when we do have it . Nice cat . Come summer head back down there with some blood bait and chicken livers . Might come home with 8 or 10 like that . Especially at night .

 

[LedHed]

Hey - what's all that white stuff???? Very cool (cold) report!

 

[Bucko]

aww c'mon toadfrog! we jump in the frozen lakes for fun! I have a funny story of my uncle when he first moved up here.... he wanted me to take him ice fishing, he's originally from Indiana where they don't ice fish. he made it very clear that he did not want to drive on the ice with his truck though, he was still very nervous about ice fishing. so I told him to go drive down the little hill ( which was actually the boat landing) and drive closer to the other vehicles and we'd walk from there. so he did. when he parked I got out and grabbed my power auger and started drilling 5 feet from the truck. he freaked the heck out! cussed and swore at me and dropped his keys. dug through the snow, still cussing me, found them and drove off leaving me there. thought he would have been back for me but nope. luckily a buddy of mine was out and he drove me home. still gets him all riled up to this day and that was 15 years ago. oh how I love to mess with people... good times!

 

[quivira kid]

Nice work Russ!

 

[hookup]

Nice ... did you eat the catfish?

 

[AtticaFish]

C-P-R..... No, did not take it home with me, it was a bruiser and in great condition, just couldn't do it. Actually do not catch many channel cats in this reservoir either. Got read the riot act from my wife though when i showed her the picture. One of those... "you've been gone half the day and only come home with 5 little bluegill when we could have brought that???" moments.

 

[Hawnjigs]

I've done that too AF, sacrificed good eats for a respectful release. Ms. Whiskers was certainly deserving after a 15 minute spirited adrenaline rush.

Were you using a red bead jigging blade for all catches?