First ice of the year. The last week+ of below freezing weather was just enough for a solid walking surface of ice, 3+ inches. I stopped by and picked up Andy at 5:30am. After filling up the gas can, driving to the pond, unloading etc… we were on the ice and totally setup before 6:30am. After dumping the old auger gas and topping it off with fresh gas and oil the auger started up and idled after one pull!. Not bad after sitting since last March. Once the sun was out and we could see across the pond we noticed 2 additional groups of guys already setup and standing around. Using medium Shinners with steel leaders (Pike?) we setup our traps in the typical 2 rows of 5 fashion. An hour in, Andy pulled up a nice Crappie (pic). After another hour we drilled 4 more holes and moved the four outside traps to other further locations. After four more flags, and no fish I pulled up this fat Pickerel (pic). By 10am we were packing up the gear. Even though the action was slow and a bit cold, it was nice to get a couple of fish this early in the season.
