J.C. Murphy Lake, Newton County (all postings)

Well today was not as good as expected, high winds and blue bird skies made for a tough outing for most including myself. Ended the day with only 9 keepers in 8 hours. Only talked to 2 people that had a limit, talked to many others that didn't even have a hit all day. Giving it a break tomorrow, will be out again Friday. Think some new water will be checked out in Illinois, probably Mazonia. I'll post on the weekend, hopefully with better news.

Just an update on Willow Slough. Fished the front just to the right of the main group of other anglers. The bite was on almost all day but deadsticking didn't do much. Had to lightly jig about 1 1/2 ft off the bottom. Best colors were orange, chart., purple and black. My best jigs were 2 spots from Custom Jigs & Spins with 1 or 2 spikes or 1 beemoth. Limited out with 25 and plan on going back in the morning. Will post in the pm when I return.

Went to the slough today 4" of ice, fished on the south end by the ranger station a lot of people getting limits of bluegills all over caught 2 bass in the first 30 min. then it was all bluegill after that the bite was good between 7AM and 10AM then it slowed until 1PM and stayed strong until 4. The better areas seemed to be past the island by the weeds that are sticking out of the ice proximately 100 yards past the island on the right side if you are walking from the ranger station.

The hot colors were chartreuse tear drop jigs, black rat finkys and purple rat finkys

Hope this helps

Big fil

Planning on fishing the Slough on Weds.Haven`t seen any recent post on ice conditions/fishing reports for over a week.Was out on Mormon Hill last week during the Artic blast & fishing was very sporadic to say the least. Any recent reports from the weekend would be appreciated.Thanks in advance!

went out sat 17. Wind was gusting. temp mid 20's weather was fair otherwise. Got out about 9 am several guys were on their way home as we got there reports were bad. most guys said they had been limiting out by this time of the day. we got skunked. I only saw 1 fish on the finder in 4 hours. There were guys all over the lake. We put in on the east side by the service/patrol road. Ice was solid 6 plus inches every where I drilled. I may try out there again in a few weeks. A guy said his buddy was at mormon hill and the fishing was bad there too, but he didn't mention the roads. Good luck.

tony

please i need a fishing report for 1/18/09 at morman hill /how are the roads by area 3

please remember the daily bag limit for panfish is 25, i dont want to see anymore dead ones piled up on the ice

Thanks for the report! Just wondering how big the gills are? over 8" ? pm me if you want. thanks

Hey People

I was out yesterday at the lake (J.C. Murphy) Bluegills are still hitting , wax worms,mouses,and even on gulp products, it just doesent matter,We were using Dot jigs in chartruse orange/white and purple. The fish are about 10" off the bottom in 4' to 5' foot of water the most important thing to do is move around from brush pile to brush pile

Now the important part, We were fishing at the far east end of the lake off of Patrol Rd. past parking section 3 and 3 A

My friends were on the lake by the ranger station and were also successfull

good luck hope this helps

Hello,

I'll be out on Saturday. a few of us will be there. I'm hoping to find some pike on rod and reel but I'll be using a tip ups too. I've seen some awesome gills from an april 08 trip.... Any ice info would be appreciated and does anyone know where I can find a Topo map. I've done a search and couldn't find one.

good luck

tony

I fished there Wed. 12-17 for the opener maybe 25/30 people out on ice, conditions were safe 4 plus inches and I took home 17 fish. I cleaned all those "Big Gills" and had some for lunch I think they tasted Great. I only kept 2 under 8 inches and the rest were between 8/8.5 inches, I was only able to catch 1 Crappie almost 10 inches. Most were caught with size 10 Ratso(black) after the tail was destroyed I put a white Glow tail on and caught few more, also used size 10 Rat Finkie (white glow head with green body) that also took fish. Put all of the smaller fish back to grow. We were fishing in 5/6 FOW. Didn't have to jig all the time a few came on a dead stick while I was looking for something or eating.

thank you, i'll be home for christmas and my dad and myself have been itching to get out there, his first time in at least 7 years, will be nice....i live in southeast wisconsin currently and been on the ice since thanksgiving

It will be opened on the 17th as promised. Report is that ice thickness is 0-3 inches so maybe by this weekend it will be safe. Also the only parking will be at the headquarters until the muzzll loader season is over.

The lake is not open until 12-17 closed for duck hunters. They will not let fishing happen until ice is 5 inches thick, when I know more I will post

Hello,

Just looking for the good word on the slough. Is JC open to ice fishing? From what I read pn the IN DNR site it would appear not. I'm hoping to head that way Friday or Saturday. I'm meeting up with a friend in Hammond/Whiting and I'm an hour north away from him. It would be great to know what I'm heading into.. I was going to head out to Wolf Lake but was told it's still open water!

Thanks in advance.

tony