Whopper in the Winter

Usually, around this time of the year, I ask myself where the fish are, because I don't have good luck fishing on ice.  In 2014, I'm not just looking for fish under the hard water, I am catching them, too!

This ice season, we invested in a flip-over ice fishing shanty from Grand River Bait and Tackle in Lansing, my favorite bait shop.  The staff at Grand River Bait and Tackle are always very helpful and give me good information.  I encourage anyone in the Lansing area to give Grand River Bait and Tackle a try.  Our new shanty is a Shapell FX-200 and has a two-person bench and a built-in sled that makes it easy to travel with.

On January 25, we took the shanty on its second ice fishing expedition to Park Lake in Bath, Michigan.  We set up in a lot deeper water than we have in the past.  I picked my location by asking other ice fishermen if they knew of a good spot and if the fish were biting.  We got a lead from an angler who was just leaving, and, in a few minutes, I was catching bluegill.

Also this winter, I have been catching small perch, like the one below, at Park Lake.  I catch perch on a vertical tear drop with a wax worm, while I have been  using a double teardrop rig tipped with wax worms when I fish for bluegill.  I am very excited to have a shanty in my ice fishing arsenal and look forward to going out more this cold winter of 2014.

I sometimes like to share my nature pictures with Whopper in the Water readers.  During winter break, I was fortunate to be given permission to put up my trail camera at Fenner Nature Center in Lansing.  I was expecting to get pictures of deer, but this is what I got instead, a great big red fox!  My picture lead to a very interesting program on foxes put on by Fenner in late January.