South Central Lower Peninsula Area Fishing Report

February 22nd, 2021

Last week was a tough week pan fishing for most guys. I got a lot of messages and read a lot of post of guys really struggling to get on fish and trigger bites when fish would come in. Let's start off by saying if you got the near 10-12 inches of snow in your area and trudged out on your local lakes through that and the slush, my hats off to you because it was hard work! Next thing to think about your ice that had very little snow cover allowing light penetration into the water is now buried under all that snow, essentially turning the lights off on those fish. Last thing is most guys I talked to or read post from were saying they slowed their presentation way down and would often hold the bait still when fish would come in and still struggled. So what are some of the things to look at when experiencing these things? First when you're fishing in this now dark and murky water, try a jig or plastic that glows. Sending a glowing bait down there they can see and react to will often trigger a bite. Charge it often too. There are gadgets on the market a UV lights to charge but a simple flashlight will work as well. Next thing, you've heard the saying that a "watched pot never boils" same thing in my experience for a bait sitting still for the fish to examine. Keep the bait moving, even if it's a very slow bounce, keep it moving, try to get them chasing up. Vary your cadence until you find what those Negative Nellys are looking for! These are a few things that helped me be more successful this past week on the ice!