January 27 Fishing Club Outing - Fowler Lake

It was -8 degrees outside when we woke up. I had texted the kids the night before hoping they would cancel. No one took me up on it so we went out ice fishing on Fowler Lake in Oconomowoc. We set up tipups mostly in about 8' of water and had pretty constant action all day. I am guessing we had somewhere between 12-15 flags pop and caught somewhere around 9 fish. I had a great time with these guys and look forward to our trip out in warmer temps next week.

Here are some of the highlights:

Not a huge fish, but it was Nick's first ever fish ice fishing. 

Aiden started the pike action off with this nice little fish. 

Big fish of the day goes to this pike. We wanted to return it to the lake so we didn't measure it due to the cold...I am guessing it at 28" and very fat. 

Bass in this photo looks smaller than it actually was. It measured at 18"

Lake Michigan Giants (and some smaller ones)

Tim may have waited all day for a good bite, but when it came, there was no messing around. He caught this 37" giant on a green and glow 3/4oz Kastmaster vertical jigging over the side of the boat. This is the biggest brown trout I have seen in person. 

Rachel made her first ever trip out on Lake Michigan with us, and while fishing was slow, she caught her first ever rainbow trout on a spawn sac. She caught another later in the day and lost on boat side. It was an unusually warm day and we had fun. 

John came up after Christmas for some winter weather and we ended up out on the lake in some pretty heavy winds. We had intentions of fishing in Oak Creek, but the wind required we stay in the harbor. We did catch more than a dozen nice trout though. Almost all of them were caught on a jig and Zoom fluke. 

Since we had caught so many lakers my last trip out, I thought we were a shoe in to catch a bunch more with John and Tim, but instead this was the only one. I hooked it on a 5/8oz bullet jig and a white tube. John had never caught a laker before, so I let him real it in and enjoy the intense fight they provide.