Sunday Post-Snow Pike 1/24/16

[JDTuna]

After yesterday's snowpacolypse, I was ready to get out on the water on Sunday. Chrisper and I had been planning to ice fish if it was doable. I spoke to Chrisper and we decided meet up on the hardwater for my first ice fishing trip. After digging out my car, shoveling the parking space, cleaning off my car and finding an open bait store I finally made it out significantly behind schedule.

We fished in one area for a while with not much going on. After seeing a bunch of flags fly and fellow njfisher Skunk City pull some fish through the ice, we relocated and got set up at the last spot of the day. Not much happened for me for a little while.

Finally, I saw my flag go and I immediately began sprinting toward the tip up, eager to catch my first fish through the ice. Unfortunately, after a few steps in the deep snow, I managed to stumble and faceplant ed in an epic fashion in the powder. Not wanting to lose my only bite of the day, I scrambled to my feet and got to the tip up and quickly landed a pike. Felt great to catch my first fish through the ice on my first hardwater trip. Had a blast and I'm definitely planning to go again.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k320/JL1981/20160124_170141_zpsvvxth5hh.jpg

[njflyfisher]

Nice fish!!!

[bigboy5522]

Nice catch! Congrats on your first, How much snow was on the lake?

[FASTEDDIE29]

Yea buddy! Feels good to pull a Pike out of an Icy hole, doesn't it? Pretty fish! Congrats on pulling your first Esox through a hole! YEA BUDDY!!! :D

[Skunk City]

Not bad for a ROOKIE! The faceplant was epic, but the recovery was even better! Nice fish dude and welcome to the ice family!

[JDTuna]

Thanks guys! I definitely had a blast and can't wait to get out on the hardwater again!

[Esox Luciano]

Definitely sounds like a good day! Nice pike man, and congrats on your ice breaker!!

[Mikey topaz]

Way to go man,👍🏻

[joeya78]

How does that auger hold up all day out there? It looks like a battery not engine? I have a gas and drill bit auger which I love but the batteries don't last of its really cold

[JDTuna]

How does that auger hold up all day out there? It looks like a battery not engine? I have a gas and drill bit auger which I love but the batteries don't last of its really cold

Chrisper should comment on that because it is his drill. However, I can say it's battery powered and ran all day.

[Chrisper4694]

I don't think enough emphasis is being put on the face plant! I mean we were out there all day with nothing to show for it. I was expecting it for me I was only using big bait, but jdtuna had picked up some shiners and he deserved to catch his first ice fish! He took off running like a kid on Christmas and his legs just couldn't keep up with his upper body! Bam face Plant! Awesome! And congrats again!

I went out again today with robs leftover normal sized bait (thanks again) just to catch something, totally exhausted from stomping around in the snow yesterday. It was a mob scene so I just left the area and did some exploring. Ice was good everywhere I checked but got significantly thinner about 100 yards to the fresh ice in the middle. Only managed 1 pike which joined me for a terrible selfie.

Still sucks to walk through but not as bad as Sunday.

[Andrushkin33]

JD,

Congratulations on your first ice torpedo. That's a great looking fish there.

And Chris, man good to see you finally landing on some hard water. And landing a fish. Awesome buddy.

Andre

[bigboy5522]

Chrisper nice seeing you yesterday!. Glad to hear you got some pike, all we got was pickerel

[Chrisper4694]

Yeah good to see you man, I had to go way out for just average sized but what can you do!?

As far as the electric drill, with the current ice 4-7" you can do 25-30 holes no problem on a fully charged healthy 9ah battery. I carry a spare battery in case. Once the ice gets thick 10" plus with crap snow on top the efficiently goes way down. But I just bring a small marine battery with me if I'm going to be swisscheesing a place mid season and run it directly off that all day. It does the job, but they make much better ones now than the one I have.