Even during the dead of winter, the open-water fishing action has been Awesome! We haven't been ice fishing yet at all this winter, unbelievable! In fact we don't even have any ice right now. Cold weather is expected soon, and I think we will be on the ice by the end of this month. Doesn't matter how cold it gets, the trout ponds don't freeze over and the trout stay active all winter long.

• January 10 - Ed from Valparaiso, Indiana came down for an afternoon of trout fishing. He started off using a bright green jig and picked up a huge trout on his first cast. I think he landed 4 trout in his first 7 casts. We then switched gears to try for some other species, but finally gave in and ended up the trip targeting trout to finish the day. We experimented with my new super bait for trout and couldn't keep the fish off the hook! This new bait is going to be dynamite! We are experimenting with different versions of the bait for most species of fish.
  
  
• January 12 - Billy and Lummy from Tremont came down on Saturday. Billy started off the trip catching the first 6 fish before Lummy finally decided to try the new super bait! This was by far the most successful trout trip to date! We caught a total of 34 trout and 1 big carp. They kept 20 trout and the average fish was pushing 2 pounds. Billy hooked into a lunker on the first cast, and it broke the line after battling it for a few minutes. I still cannot believe how much the trout are growing over the winter!
  
  
• January 17 - We fished with Doug Harper with Superior Sea Walls and also Don Fraim with MVP Outdoors. It was cold, but we caught some monster Central Illinois trout!
  
  
• January 19 - We fished with the Sauder boys from Hanna City. It was the coldest day of the year, but the trout were still eating! We braved the frigid temperatures and caught some beautiful fish. Our new super bait was the only bait we could catch the trout with today.
  
  
• January 20 - We finally got out ice fishing for the first time of the year! We were catching bluegills, perch and crappie all suspended 4' below the ice in 11 foot of water. Fishing over porcupine fish attractors really helps congregate the fish and the Vexilar unit shows us exactly what depth the fish are suspended at. We will never ice fish without a Vexilar!
  
  
• January 23 - We went out trout fishing and then ice fishing with Colt W. from Gander Mountain . He pulled in some awesome trout, but he had to work for them. The hardest day of trout fishing yet. Then we headed over to Peoria to do some ice fishing. The panfish were biting pretty steadily, but they were running a little smaller than average for the most part. Then the cold front came through and we couldn't get them to bite anything. We caught 60+ panfish in the first hour, and about 5 fish the last hour after the front moved through.
  
  
• January 30 - Justin and I went out to do some experimental open water fishing with some new bait and a fly rod. Justin was able to land a 2.25 lb rainbow with the fly rod, thanks to some casting instructions from Duane Serck (www.illinoismuskies.com). I was trying a new technique with an experimental bait and landed a 9 lb and 7 lb carp. ABSOLUTE BLAST!! on light tackle.