Had about 1/2" of ice on the surface of a bucket with water in it and frost everywhere on the ground...bring on the ice But not so quick. It's getting warm again. And no ice on the lake of course...water is still too warm (I can wade in up to my knees without feeling too cold).
Head out a bit later today because it's hard getting up early and even harder to get up to head out in sub-zero temps. It was still just a tad under 0oC when I arrived at a boat "launch" even closer to where I live but the "launch" was more challenging...being not a launch but just an access point. 2 min. to launch, 15 min. to launch and get set up, 15 min. to first fishing spot (beautiful calm, sunny morning with lots of mist on the water and covering some small islands). Marked a bunch of fish on the way out (most were suspended in the middle of the water column....noted the locations, depths, etc.). First two spots had few good marks and one good one was a good chaser but no hit. Puttered around the third spot looking for a hole that was suppose to be the depth I was looking for but couldn't find it anywhere but had some marks so tried. Another couple of chasers before missing a short hit and then right after that, hooked and landed a WF (21"). Missing another even shorter bite. Also hooked someone's water intake line way out in 40' of water (thought I had a laker one with that weight - was able to pull it up high enough and shake the hook off so save my lure as well as no damage to the line). had to head home after that. But glad to find another spot where I can catch WF. Although, more work is still needed to find more consistent marks, no complaints with catching a fish in a new spot an only fishing for less than 2 hours. Another female with eggs and not spawned yet.