South Central Lower Peninsula Area Fishing Report

February 3rd, 2021

2-1-21 Central Lower Mich. This was another exceptional week of Ice Fishing around Barry and Ionia County. This week did try to throw a few curve balls with some Barometric pressure changes. A lot of guys go out fishing everyday and always say "they were biting better yesterday" but don't understand why. High and low pressures can greatly influence your fishing in both the bite and location of the fish. High pressure will negatively effect the mood of the fish and usually change their location. This past week we had plenty of high pressure days and what that meant was, the fish I was having success finding in the shallow weeds, moved. Now where would they go? Well we've talked about this before, 3 key areas to look for panfish. Shallow weeds, Edges and drops, and mucky/marl, basins.
When high pressure is lurking, usually the first place to look when you've been on fish in the weeds, is check the weed edges on the drop off. The transition between the edge of the weeds and deeper water, typically suspended. I went from 12fow of weeds to 18fow with no weeds. Like it has been all season, Judge's Jaw Jackers micro plastics on 4mm Fatboy Jigs tungsten have been hot!!! I also had a couple great opportunities to take my 8yr old out this week and had a great time teaching him and watching him catch some great fish as well as my wife. A couple tips for fishing with the youngsters, Keep your trips shorter. If you try to do all day adventures, sometimes enough is enough and they're not gonna want to go again. Try and use a shanty when you can so they stay warm and comfortable. Invest in some quality gear where they can detect bites easier and hook the fish when they get a bite. I put an Ice Strong Outdoors titanium spring bobber on his rod. He can really see the lightest bites and set the hook.  Keep it fun and exciting and they'll be hooked for life!