6-7hrs or 2 hrs...same results, wow, it was actually hot out there

A family trip today as the ice is still solid and the access dry and solid. A couple of soft spots walking out...there was a soft crust of ice over a couple of inches of water and then the solid main ice. SO walking was pretty good except for about 40-50m of this kind of water sandwich ice (can be a bit unnerving for some, like my wife, who haven't experienced this too much or don't fish a specific body of water often enough to know what is happening to the ice). Plenty of main lake ice still.
Camped out on one spot today because mobility and setting up and taking down with a family would just eat into fishing time so I decided to wait them out (not a fan of this but better this kind of fishing than no fishing). First 30-40min and maaaaybe one mark....itchin' to move and normally would have moved already. Then some real marks every 10 min. at first and then some that stayed around longer but none would do more than hug the bottom...must be those picky WF...not even the vibrato (worked to "absolute perfection" that even I would take a swipe ) could get them off the bottom. Then a couple of decent chasers at the same time so I thought this was going to be it....but nope and off they went...clearly interested but not in biting it seems (likely lakers). Then it was all bottom marks for at least 20min and rarely had the screen empty for more than about 2-3 min. My wife was kind enough to take the little one away from the holes a few metres to play a bit and I was able to get focused a little bit...and one of these bottom marks hit very lightly but I got her but didn't feel that well hooked and it was coming up fast too. Was able to get her out of the hole and out pops the hook, fish lying right across the top of the hole thrashing away, I just scooped it away from the hole with my hand and it was safely on the ice. Beautiful fish with a very goldish tinge to it...but that gold was gone when I got it home. Slightly bigger than the last time at almost 20"...two little (about 1-1.5") smelts in the stomachs so hopefully, that means the bite is getting better with minnow imitation lures or minnows? Coming back was worse with regards to the water under soft crusty ice, boot-dipping steps (much longer stretch with these kinds of conditions so slower walk back). One access point for me is done for the year - was told that the shore ice was too soft and one step went though and hit bottom in shallow water (there are bubblers nearby...interesting there was just a topic on this board about it...and likely some springs that bubble up from the bottom in that area). Not sure what tomorrow's rain and continuing warmth will do but hoping it will all hold well enough for the upcoming cold to make everything solid again and take us into April at least.

Nice whitefish! Could be that they’re starting to pick up a bit now.

Throw that on the BBQ.

I think (hope) so too... and hopefully, when they do get active, it won't be that horrible transition period when there is not enough ice to be safe for ice fishing and there is too much ice to be fishing out of a water craft safely.

I should try it someday. Been thinking about introducing my little one to different ways to cook fish (not always pan-fried with a crispy crust)...maybe poached, bbq as you said, baked, stir-fried with veggies, etc. BBQ - maybe when the warm weather is a bit longer lasting than a day or two.

Sounds like your day was similar to ours with the ice crust caving in.I too find this a bit scary,especially when you drop 10 inches.Nice catch John.

Nice whitefish John, and nice to have talked to you again on ice.... I landed one small laker (released after a photo), and lost a bigger one at hole (which you saw:-) which I think is a laker, too.

Then went on looking for whitefish, and I think I marked whitefish 4 or 5 times at bottom of water, but again like last couple of times none of them were interested in anything I offered.

And in the afternoon (before 4:00PM), the walking back to shore/access was really tough, with the slush on top of ice

That laker would have been a good one to eat! Yes, the WF are still hard to get to bite.
It was already hard to walk back earlier when we did so I can imagine the top when you guys walked back after a few hours of summer weather.

Nice catch….these certainly are beautiful days to ice fish. Hopefully the ice holds for a little longer although I’m looking forward tofishing out of a canoe soon too.

Same, I’m starting to hear the back lake brookies calling