Southern Indiana Ice Fishing

A couple of friends and I fished a small watershed lake (4 acres) in southern Indiana on Saturday. Ice was 4 inches. Caught 35 bluegill and redear on 1/16 ounce teardrop jigs tipped with a bee moth. Fish were caught in 10 to 12 feet of water fishing just off the bottom.

Fished Sunday on a private 3 acre lake. Same baits and techniques worked again. Caught about 60 on Sunday mostly gills. All fish caught both days were just decent eating sized (7-8 inches) with only 3-4 really nice ones (9-11 inches).

Just at quick question, and it may be a dumb one, but I have never ice fished. How do you know that there is saft ice, before you walk out on it.

I will usually wait for a period of several days with temps below freezing like we just experienced before attempting to get on the ice. I will then take my auger and bore 3-4 holes in various parts of the lake that I know is fairly shallow, say 2-3 feet deep. If I get safe ice of 3.5 to 4 inches in those holes then I feel safe to venture out on deeper water. If I bust through then I am just wet to my knees and I can walk out. Nothing is fool proof when on the ice so I would reccommend not ice fishing alone, stay spaced apart from your companion to spread the load on the ice and have rescue gear such as rope, dry clothing and a cell phone to call for help if needed. Hope this helps if you decide to give it a try. Oh yeah. Fried up a bunch of the bluegill fillets last night and they were excellant.