Large Group of Members on the Ice

[rsfrail]

I better see pics from you guys...NO ******** pics from last year neither...lol

[SexiVexiFlx28]

Planning on heading up Friday and Saturday. More than happy to share some info good or bad!
-Is anyone else going out Friday morning the 6th?

Looking to go out of Catawba with a quad. Bad idea with snow? Need some advise as I'm 2 hrs away and don't want to waste a trip.

[Madd Matt]

Hey guys! What a great weekend... Would have been better to catch a ton of fish, but other than not catching much it was good.

A lot of guys did well on Friday out of Catawba and seemed like the reports coming out of Camp Perry where a bit more sporadic.

We switched Saturday and went out of Catawba (lot was full by 5:45 and some had to go to Camp Perry after pulling in at Catawba). We went about 6.5 miles out and fishes about 1 mile East (slightly NE) of "E" can. You could actually get their just as quick from Camp Perry too.

Tent City would be an understatement. There where probably 500 tents in a 1/2 mile radius. We marked a ton of fish right off the bat. We caught 1 in th4 first 20 min... then nothing for an hour. We never moved. We had about 20 guys that met up, many of them from this forum, and we had about 8 Shanties and one true fisherman who stood outside all day. We didn't move because we never got a good report from anywhere on the ice. Thanks to ALL the walleye.com forum members for communicating. I had to have 2 group text streams because my phone only let me text 10 people at a time. In addition to our group of 18 we had 17 phone numbers that we kept in touch with and many of them had 3-5 guys in their groups.

The ice was decent, but a LOT! of stuck ATV, including a lot of side by sides, and a couple Polaris Ranger 6x6's. When you get into a sluch field the size of a football field ATVs just don't go.

We sent a couple guys off in different directions after 1:00pm to check out a few spots. They came back around 3:30 and said that they moved a couple times a piece and never got the marks that we had on our spot, we just couldn't get them to bite.

We had 5 fish for our whole group.

We did see some limits at the take-out. Everyone we saw that had fish where 2.5-3.5 miles out of Catawba, and I got 3 good reports from "F" can too. Later last night I had a friend tell me that he got a lot of good reports from "F" can. Apparently no one in our network was over there, or else they kept quite and never told the rest of us.

It was great to meet people that I have only talked to in these forums and never in person. THe fellowship between fishermen was worth not worrying about the number of fish. However, we went out to catch fish.

If we had done it right, we would have moved after the first hour, and then moved 3-4 more time and split up the group and gone in packs of 5-8 guys. But, it's tough to move such a large group that had never fished together and we all left saying the same thing. "It would have been nice to catch more fish, but it was great meeting each other."

I wish I could give you better reports, but there weren't many on Saturday.


There are always some who catch, and even on a dead day someone will limit with nice fish. As a whole though, Saturday was REALLY tough.

I got a report this morning (Sunday) from 1.7 miles North of "E" can and they limited by 11:45. Another guy went out at noon today 2 miles North of "E" and caught 5.

They are coming in, but the large group seems to be at "F" and headed West. If you can find that school and follow it West for a couple weeks the fishing should be good. THose who hit that school yesterday and went out again today did well again.

-Matt

[Madd Matt]

Forgot to mention. Blue / Silver Cleos and Green / Silver Cleos seem to be the most consistent right now.

-Matt

[trappernorth]

I was in 24 ftw. Came in groups of three to five. Straight out of Perry near the islands. sight fishing was the key for me.

[Jawbreaker]

I was in 24 ftw. Came in groups of three to five. Straight out of Perry near the islands. sight fishing was the key for me.

Sight fishing? What do you mean by that? Were you close to Rattlesnake?

[trappernorth]

With under water camera. Fish would just kiss the bait if you can't see it happen you missed your shot