[John S]

Well, free weekend for this guy.

I'll be heading to my deer hunting grounds (a buddy's property) up in the thumb to ice fish his 20 acre pond. Always nice bluegill there in the summer so hopefully they're feisty in the winter. The pond's topography is simple, only 3 major holes at 12 feet and the rest is shallow so I'll fish the deeper holes. My other buddy (msuguy09) is coming with me so if the ice is trash we'll do some small game hunting.

There aren't any bait shops around so I want to grab something down here before I go to enhance my odds. Whats the best overall panfish live-bait?

[hunt-n-nut]

Grubs

[Calico]

Spikes last longer after each catch and work well. When u catch a keeper, use it's eye, even better.

[John S]

Thanks for the tips!

I ended up using spikes and caught a nice mess of gills and large mouth throughout the day. Its a 20 acre pond and only 50'x50' was ice. the rest was open water.

I didn't keep any gills, they all had that black spot parasite on them. I know they are safe but I guess something about the visible presence of a parasite that makes them less appetizing. Fun fishing though, those large mouth were lively and one was a few feet from spooling out my line.

That's my last hardwater outing for the season. It wasn't what I expected but I did get my personal best perch this year so it was still good.