Bassin on the Ice...

[Rollin with Rolland]

Sorry, this forum has got me excited.

so, check this out....







winter can be VERY effective for bass if you got the technique down. Want a challenge?? try getting a 20" LMB through the ice!!!

[delyakguy]

NICE fish. Where did ya catch it at? Almost looks like taxidermy bass What was your technique? Congrats again!!

[kevinb]

The background looks "Minnesotaish"
Either way,great bass.Rolland,you have my attention...I'm used to seeing people pull perch and walleye through the ice but I can honestly say I've never seen a bass through. Nice work,I'll PM you shortly. I've often made lame jokes about pulling a tiger muskie as well

[Rollin with Rolland]

Ok, you guys got me.....that one was from the flat land. (midwest). BUT....what a great place to learn and hone your skills on the ice. NOW, if i can just share and apply some of those techniques in WA, we might have a new fishery!!!

Ok, technique. As one might suspect, big bass go deep in the winter. (this one was in 22ft). And understand, yes, bass metabolism slows down in the winter, BUT DOES NOT STOP. A bass (or any fish) still has to eat sometime. The bait of choice....WORMS. Large night crawlers i'm talkin. Lively too. Movement is imperative. That is what triggers the bass' natural instinct to strike.

Location: this is the tough part. understanding lake ecology will greatly increase your chances of locating bass on the ice. I will caution you, lake ecology is different in the winter for open water and hard water (ice). Main Difference-SUNLIGHT. Open water will still support plenty of weeds much shallower in the winter, which is a great hideout for forage. Well, on the hard water, no such luck. yeah, there will be weeds, but fewer, and believe it or not, DEEPER. Now one may ask, that doesn't sound right....there is less sunlight deeper, so there should be less weeds. well, that is true, except one factor...TEMP. Water is most dense around 4* C (40* F). This is why Ice floats. 32* F water is LESS DENSE than 40* F water. SO....what does all of this mean??? The water on the bottom in 20ft will be 40* F, and the water in 8 ft on the bottom will be say...36* F. Plants (weeds) like the 40* water better.....and so do the forage.....and so do the bass. REMEMBER....this is for HARD WATER, not open water. The Basics on location: deep weeds near the bottom. sounds simple, i know.

Take it all with a grain of salt, because every lake is different and there are always exceptions to the rules....but this will help to get started on those ice bass....

Almost looks like taxidermy bass

looks great huh delyakguy?? the cold water really brings out the color......

[kzoo]

We never target bass through the ice, just ran into them when pan fishing. Here's my buddy with a bass in the middle of winter.

[Rollin with Rolland]

Nice one, kzoo. yup, i have had quite a few "accidental" bass through the ice while panfishing also. Glad to see your post.....I KNOW you have some experience through the ice....

[Kfedka]

The biggest bass I've ever seen ice fishing or summer fishing was 23.5" in length. It came out of a small lake/pond in WA. Dunno the weight but it was HUGE, caught on a 4 pound fishing line with an ice fishing pole.

[delyakguy]

West Wash really dont get cold enough for lakes to freeze, right? I live in Yakima and when we have normal winter smaller lakes freeze over. Not sure if enough to walk onto or fish. But have always wanted to ice fish, ever since Grumpy Old Men. The "Mallard Rod" was awesome. Kinda off the topic(people ice fish for perch though) but I ran into some Perch well over 10'' this last weekend. I'd say biggest was 13''. This is big right?? I have never seen perch that big. Let me know. I do have some pics. They looked more like bass. Bit 5'' Senkos and 6.5'' lizards, pretty big to eat 6'' plastics.

[Rollin with Rolland]

13" is a HUGE perch delyakguy. I'd love to see a pic!! Even 10" is big....definitely keepers if you are so inclined. Biggest i ever saw was 12", and i was amazed!!

As far as ice on the westside, yes it does happen. I was ice fishing four times this past winter. There is a trick though....ELEVATION!! The last two or three winters there has been fishable ice starting around 1500-2000 ft., give or take. If you really want to try, you can find it. The problem is, there are only trout in these lakes. (i know one lake that gets ice near me that has bass, but it isn't a year round lake) That's why i'm thinking the Eastside, there must be some bass lakes with decent ice over there.....

[kzoo]

For some reason perch get huge here. A 13" perch is definitely big. I filleted anything above 8" back in Michigan. Here the standards are 10" for me.

I definitely miss ice fishing. It's a blast, we just pan fished. Best thing about ice fishing is that fish tastes so much better through the ice.

[Rollin with Rolland]

Just found this one.

This was a nice spring day bass...1/16 oz. jig in about 14 ft.

[travislikesfishing]

i caught a five pound large ice fishing eloika lake and lots smaller than that one time got one so big wouldnt fit through the hole i just caught them with swedish pimple and maggots while goin for perch

[Fish-or-man?]

I lived in Yakima two winters ago and ice fished at North Elton Pond a couple of times, delyakguy. It's off of the freeway on the way up to Ellensurg. I think it's only about six or seven miles north of Yakima. Fish it with cation, but once it freezes over, and you get a week or so of days where the temp doesn't surpass 32 degrees it gets pretty solid. It was between 6-8 inches thick when I fished it (4 is the minimum safe amount I believe). The westside of the lake freezes harder and thicker than the east. I never caught any bass out of it, but did catch a few sunfish.

[BassFanatic]

the funniest thing about this is that I never heard of anyone catching bass through ice until now. I learn something new everyday. nice fish guys!!!!