My ice fishing adventure that started this morning was a bust for the first part of the day, but it ended on a high note because I did catch a steelhead.

I began the day alone at Walnut Creek and found the channel ice was too dangerous.   The Basin ice was safe – 10 inches – so I poked a hole with my spud bar, jigged for an hour and got skunked.  The only good thing was chopping the hole solved my lack of circulation due to the near zero wind chill.

After my slow start, I decided to pack up and go looking for company.

I walked to the Manchester hole and found three guys from Latrobe.  They invited me to join them, had more holes than they could handle, and I had already decided that a spud bar is an evil tool that should be avoided, at least until my hands heal.

Tim, Eric and Aaron had one steelhead on the ice, missed several more and they had an Aqua Cam so we had a good time watching and catching fish.

I landed one fish, foul hooked a second, missed three more and got a great underwater video clip using the Aqua Cam. 

Tim, Eric and Aaron, if you want photo files, drop me an email.  The web shots are not high resolution.

After the Latrobe trio left Manchester for lunch, I walked back toward the lake to find three anglers were now fishing the upper channel.  The ice there was 4” thick. 

The channel produced a few fish, but noting to get excited about.  We caught just enough to keep us interested and willing to stay and endure the conditions.

Most fish today were caught on skein, pink eggs sacs and minnows.  I hooked one fish on a black jig/maggot, but the heavy line icing made jigging difficult.  You also had to tend each hole constantly because of re-freezing.

All in all, the day was fair.  Leaving before dark at 4 p.m. was fine with me.  I was anxious to get out of the wind.

The best part of the day was the Aqua Cam.  Seeing those fish holding in the current, under the ice and on the bottom let me know that to be successful, I had to get my bait down and keep it there.  When you see the video you will see what I am talking about.

I talked the owner of the home on the East side of the Manchester hole when he walked down to talk.  He has been fishing the Bay and doing well on Bluegills & some Crappies.  Several other anglers have said the same thing. 

We will see what tomorrow brings.