Advertise with us and see YOUR banner here

Reach more customers with the largest outdoor website group in the region

Hunting Fishing Discussions

Fishing Reports

Featured Outdoor Businesses

	Stadium Sports Bar and The Lodge Bismarck,
	Gibbons Fiberglass & Aluminum Boat Repair Bismarck, ND

All Outdoor Businesses

Forums Home > Perch Fishing Forum

Share on Facebook

feed

9 Replies | Page 1 of 11 | Top of Page | Bottom of Page

Fish directly beneath the ice

by beedoggs1 , Posted to Fishing Buddy on 01/19/2010 10:36 PM | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

beedoggs1
Joined: 12/11/2008
Location: ND

I was fishing Odland dam yesterday, and couldn't mark any fish with the vexilar on the bottom. I drilled about 100 holes, looking for fish with no luck. Finally after finding some great structure, I set up my camera to take a look around. I saw a northern cruising right below the ice, and then a few more. What threw me for a loop was the amount of perch directly beneath the ice. There must have been a couple hundred perch directly beneath the ice, moving slow, and completely uninterested in anything that I put down the hole. The really weird thing is that northerns would swim right up by the perch and do nothing. Is this a low oxygen level problem? Or are the fish all full from fresh water shrimp?

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by IntroC on 01/19/2010 11:08 PM | Reply #1 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

IntroC
Joined: 01/12/2008
Location: ND

Its gotta be low oxygen level. Seems a bit early for that though. Not a good sign.

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by Allen on 01/20/2010 05:51 AM | Reply #2 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

Allen
Joined: 01/09/2002
Location: ND

Yep, low oxygen. Fishing Epping/Springbrook Dam one time with a friend we had a nothern swim right up a hole.

T'was really funny as he was sitting over the hole and I saw it first. Had to ask him if he was going to grab that fish before it bit him in the arse. It ended up still getting away.

Only time I ever have seen one come up a hole without a hook in it.

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.” ~ Mark Twain

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by Tim Sandstrom on 01/20/2010 09:25 AM | Reply #3 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

Tim Sandstrom
Joined: 07/14/2003
Location: ND

Sounds definitely like low oxygen. Any minnows in the lake? Seen photos before where minnows bum rush the hole desperately looking for oxygen.

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by Captain Ahab on 01/20/2010 09:33 AM | Reply #4 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

Captain Ahab
Joined: 12/01/2008
Location: ND

I think Odland was on the winterkill report last year. Wierd that low oxygen would already be a problem. I have caught perch right below the ice years ago. For some reason, thats where the were in the water column. Iced 250 perch in one day doing that, you would just drop it down and yank one up. The fact that all fish seemed disinterested in any bait or each other can't be a good sign.

"Diligence is the mother of good luck."
Benjamin Franklin

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by dsuslimeballz on 01/22/2010 8:58 PM | Reply #5 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

dsuslimeballz
Joined: 01/22/2007
Location: ND

I fished there the other day and a game warden said he talked to some ppl that saw fish come up a hole and dead fish under the ice, so i think its low ox.

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by Sportsman on 01/22/2010 9:46 PM | Reply #6 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

Sportsman
Joined: 02/28/2002
Location: ND

Saw it happen a couple of years ago on the pipestem creek. Some fish were on the bottom, some suspended, and some (mostly northerns) were right beneath the ice. None were interested in the bait. The ones on the bottom would at least nudge the bait but the ones at the top wouldn't even do that. No winter kill and no oxygen problems on the James that year.

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by SHORTHAIRSRUS on 01/22/2010 10:57 PM | Reply #7 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

SHORTHAIRSRUS
Joined: 11/24/2004
Location: ND

I have seen plenty of northerns in MN at all depths. - dey act just like cudas do any depth works - big dogs!!!!

Stay thirsty my friends

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by fishmaster321 on 01/22/2010 11:32 PM | Reply #8 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

fishmaster321
Joined: 12/05/2002
Location: ND

I'm no biologist but I seen that exact same picture last year on a lake i was spear fishing and a month later they were all dead. It's sounds especially bad that the perch don't scatter being right below the ice when your drilling holes and making motion. Sounds like soon to be winter kill to me and i'm sure this new mound of snow isn't going to help.

Re: Fish directly beneath the ice

by beedoggs1 on 01/23/2010 08:02 AM | Reply #9 | "Quote" | "Quick Reply" |

beedoggs1
Joined: 12/11/2008
Location: ND

A buddy of mine and I were discussing this the other night. What do you guys think of running an air compressor with a diffuser made out of stainless steel pipe with 1/16" inch holes in it? Do you think running this on the bottom near your house for a few hours will help at least temporarily to catch some fish? Maybe even attract them? If we drill a hole over or near it for the big bubbles to escape, it shouldn't make the ice unsafe, should it? Maybe it's just a wild and crazy idea, but then again, so were a lot of things at one time.

9 Replies | Page 1 of 11 | Top of Page | Bottom of Page

Posted By: beedoggs1
Posted On: 01/19/2010 10:36 PM

1900 Views, 9 Comments

Tags: fish, ice, directly, beneath, 0, finally, odland, yesterday, drilled, dam
More Tags: Odland dam, Environment
Region: North Dakota

Categories: Fishing > Perch Fishing

Rate This ForumTopic

Currently 1/5
1
2
3
4
5

1/5 (1 votes cast)

Share and Save This ForumTopic

You must be signed in to comment on this topic

Forums Home > Perch Fishing Forum

Start a New Topic in "Perch Fishing Forum

submit feedback / bug report

report type		your email:
provide descriptive details of the issue the following debug data will be submitted with your report ident:fish_directly_beneath_the_ice<view actionClass="ForumsAction" action="ViewForumTopic" task="" orderBy="" orderDir=""></view><categories catLevel="2" channelId="2" channelName="Fishing" channelIdentifier="fishing" categoryId="105" categoryName="Perch Fishing" categoryIdentifier="the_perch_fishing_category_6" subCategoryId="0" subCategoryName="{none}" subCategoryIdentifier="" geoId="4" geoName="North Dakota" geoIdentifier="north_dakota"></categories><system server_name="MKS01" server_ip="216.235.167.45" dir_templates_rel="templates/" debug_mode="" stats_logstats=""></system><user userGuid="391a6a4c28ebb23507065875ef7b1daf" isLoggedIn="" userId="" emailAddress="" identifier="" screenName="" superAdmin=""></user>