January 28th 2014

Well we are into 2014 and ice fishing is in full swing!  I have made it out a few times and have found some mixed results.  We have had some good days and some slow days.  The weather has been the same, some really cold and other really nice!  I did hear of some pressure ridges opening up last weekend so please use caution when out on the ice. Remember there is no such thing as 100% safe ice.

Last weekend was the Tobacco Gardens Catch for a Cure Ice Fishing Tournament.  My brother Nick and I took part along with 52 other teams.  It was a great turnout and the weather cooperated pretty well for January in North Dakota.  The fishing was slow for us only managing 7 keeper saugers, and we weighed 6 for a total of 7.30 pounds. The fish were in a really neutral or even negative mood as they would rarely hit a jigging rod.  Most fish came on dead sticks and there was no real pattern for us.  It took 16 pounds to win the even and 10.5 to cash a check.  So we didn't finish where we had hoped but out pre fishing hadn't yielded much better results so it wasn't a big surprise.

Coming up in a few weeks we have the Rooster Run Ice Fishing tournament so i will be heading to the skunk bay area to prefish.  I will give an update on the tourney as the time approaches.