February 21, 22

My brother Tim and I went fishing at a private sandpit (open water) in the afternoon and we caught good numbers of bluegill up to 10 inches and crappies up to 12 inches. They were caught on a dropshot rig using the new Berkley Gulp! bait and a waxworm along the drop-off near deep water, and on a float 'n' fly (a tiny jig below a bobber) with a waxworm and Berkley Gulp! suspended over deep water next to the drop-off near the shoreline.

February 13

I went ice fishing at Red Willow Lake in the afternoon and caught good numbers of crappies up to 13 inches and a few bluegill up to 9 inches. I was using a dropshot rig with a 1.50-inch Tiny Shad Assassin and a small spoon as a weight on the tag end of the line. These fish were caught along the drop-off near the creek channel that swings next to a point in depth of 16 to 20 feet. The ice is about 12 inches thick.

February 12

I went ice fishing in the afternoon at a friend's pond. I caught a Master angler largemouth bass at 22 inches and good numbers of crappies up to 11 inches and bluegill up to 9 inches. I caught these fish on a dropshot rig using a Tiny Shad Assassin with a small spoon as a weight on the tag end of the line. They were caught around underwater brush piles in the middle of the pond.

February 7, 8

My brother Tim and I went ice fishing at a private sandpit. We caught largemouth bass between 12 and 16 inches, crappies up to 12 inches, bluegills up to 9 inches, and a few small perch. These fish were caught along the drop-off near the edges of deep weed beds and underwater brush piles in depths of 10 to 20 feet using small spoons and dropshot rigs with a Tiny Shad Assassin. The ice is averaging between 5 to 6 inches thick

February 6

A friend and I went ice fishing at Red Willow Lake in the afternoon. We caught good numbers of crappies up to 11 inches and a few bluegills up to 9 inches using a small spoons and dropshot rigs with a 1.50-inch Tiny Shad Assassin. The fish were caught on a main lake point next to a creek channel in depths of 12 to 20 feet. The ice is about 10 inches thick.

January 30

A friend and I went ice fishing at Red Willow Lake and we caught good numbers of crappies up to 11 inches, a few bluegills up to 8 inches, one 22-inch channel catfish, and a 14-inch largemouth bass. These fish were caught on small spoons and a dropshot rig using 1.50-inch Tiny Shad Assassin fishing on a main lake point next to a creek channel in depths of 12 to 20 feet. The ice is about seven inches thick on the main lake.

January 29

A friend and I went ice fishing at Swanson Lake and we caught good numbers of smaller wipers between 14 and 17 inches, and white bass up to 11 inches. These fish were caught along a ridge next to a river channel in depths of 16 to 24 feet on small spoons and dropshot rigs using a Tiny Shad Assassin. The ice is about 4.5 inches thick.

January 21-23

I went fishing at a private sandpit (open water) in the afternoon and caught good numbers of bluegills up to 10 inches, crappies at 13 inches, and one walleye at 22 inches. The crappies and walleye were caught on a dropshot rig using a small plastic grub along the drop-off near deep water. The bluegill were caught on the float 'n' fly ( a tiny hair jig below a bobber) suspend over deepwater next to the drop off near the shoreline.

January 15, 16

A friend and I went ice fishing at Swanson Lake. We caught good numbers of channel catfish between 12 and 28 inches, including one Master Angler at 32 inches. We also caught wipers between 12 and 17 inches, white bass up to 11 inches, and crappies up to 10 inches. These fish were caught in depths of 15 to 26 feet along a ridge next to a creek channel, and near the dam area. They were caught on spoons and dropshot rigs using a Tiny Shad Assassin, dead gizzard shad, and wax worms. The ice is averaging about seven inches on the main lake and is melting due to the warmer weather we had the last few days.

January 12

A friend and I went ice fishing at Swanson Lake in the afternoon. We caught wipers between 12 and 16 inches, white bass up to 10 inches, and a channel catfish around 20 inches. The fish were caught on dropshot rigs using a 1.50-inch Tiny Shad Assassin, and a Berkley Gulp! Earthworm with a small jigging spoon on the tag end of the line. These fish were caught in depths of 15 to 20 feet along a ridge next to a creek channel. The ice is about nine inches thick on the main lake.

January 11

My brother Tim and I went ice fishing at Red Willow Lake. We caught good numbers of crappies up to 13 inches, white bass up to 11 inches, and two channel catfish at 26 and 22 inches. These fish were caught along the creek channel that swings next to the main lake points in depths of 18 to 28 feet. The ice is approximately six inches thick on the main lake.

In the late afternoon we fished at a private sand pit and caught four largemouth bass between 16 and 19 inches, two channel catfish around 24 and 21 inches, and a few small bluegill around underwater brush piles in depths of 15 to 18 feet. We caught these fish using small jigging spoons and dropshot rigs with wax worms.

January 9

I took two friends ice fishing in the afternoon at Red Willow Lake. We caught good numbers of crappies up to 12 inches using dropshot rigs with wax worms and a small jigging spoon on the tag end of the line. These fish were caught along the creek channel that swings next to a point in a depth of 15 to 20 feet. The ice is averaging about six inches thick on the main lake.

January 8

I went ice fishing at a private sand pit in the afternoon and caught six largemouth bass between 10 and 12 inches, crappies between 8 and 12 inches, and bluegills up to 8 inches. I caught these fish on a dropshot rig using a Berkley PowerBait Grub with a small homemade jigging spoon on the tag end of the line. The fish were caught around underwater brush piles in depth of 15 to 20 feet.

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