I know I said we'd talk dropshot fishing next...but before I dive into the nuances of open water fishing techniques, we've still got some ice fishing to discuss, and show off! The second trip to the ice this season yielded even better results than the first, thanks to careful attention to bottom contour details provided by my friend, who brought his flasher along for the day. More below the video link...
This pond holds a special place in my heart. I've bass fished one hundred (or more) different ponds & lakes in the great state of New Hampshire. But this little spot has been at the top of my list for some time, because it's down the street from my house, and I've never been able to fish it. It's a very small pond, surrounded by private land, and carefully maintained & looked after by those that live around it. Unless you know one of these fine people, or one of their close friends, you're not getting in. Through some wonderful luck and connections, my friend was able to provide us access this past weekend! And this place did not disappoint.
Now, when I say it's small, I mean it's SMALL. About 10 acres in size, this pond was going to be easy to cover quickly and effectively. We assumed it was going to essentially be a featureless bowl. After drilling roughly 50 holes and marking the depth on them all, my friend confirmed that it indeed was...except for one very interesting spot. See, the thing about bass fishing is you have to remember that bass are apex predators. They are always on the hunt. So with that in mind, you want to always be looking for areas that provide cover for them, or for their prey, to be hiding in. And this goes beyond the obvious tree that is laying down in the water. Even something as minor as what we found, which happened to be a hump that came up about 2 feet higher than the rest of the pond, about 20 feet in diameter, will provide sufficient cover for bass to attack from.
We pulled up about 30 bass throughout the day from every hole we had a tip-up in, and only moved a few throughout the day. But that one specific area in particular was the money spot. That small difference in the bottom contour of this pond proved to be the difference maker in producing QUALITY largemouth bass, over the rest of the pond which produced the bulk quantity of our catches. It's the little details that matter when finding better quality bass in any body of water, regardless of the time of the year.
I hope you enjoyed this little tidbit on the methods of our madness while we're out drilling holes searching for bass. I hope it sheds some light into the skill levels of ice fishing. The floor to getting into it is very low, but the skill ceiling is very, very high, and we're just scratching the surface here.