Bluegills are not the only fish that can be caught through the ice, though. Lucky anglers can ice yellow perch, black and white crappies, largemouth bass, sunfish and even the occasional channel catfish. Northern pike were stocked many years ago, and muskies have been stocked for the past four years. Some of those muskies are now more than 40 inches long.

Bruce Lake was surveyed by the DNR in 2000 to analyze the fish populations and determine growth rates for individual species. A total of 23 species of fish were observed, and bluegills ranked first in abundance by number at 33 percent of the sample. Gizzard shad were second by number at 21 percent, followed by yellow perch and largemouth bass at 12 percent each.

Most of the fish collected in the survey showed average growth despite the presence of gizzard shad, but bluegill growth was above average. The bluegills that were sampled ranged in size from 3 to 9 inches long, and 41 percent were of harvestable size.

According to Phil Hurleurt, who runs Whitey's Bait Shop on the northwest side of Bruce Lake, icefishermen love this spot. "The icefishing is usually pretty good! Some guys fish for bass and northerns, but not as many as fish for panfish," Hurleurt said. "And now they've got muskies in here, too."

When asked about the size of the pike and muskies in the lake, Hurleurt reports that there are some big ones. "I've seen northerns up to 18 pounds," he said. "There are not very many of them, but they're in here. There are many more muskies now. The biggest muskie that I have seen so far was 14 pounds."

Jeremy Price, a District 1 assistant fisheries biologist, said Bruce Lake is scheduled to be surveyed again in the summer of 2005. "We surveyed prior to the first muskie stocking, and we are going to do another survey to see what the impacts are," Price said. "We are hoping there will be a reduction in the number of gizzard shad."

Price reports that the new muskie fishery here should draw more and more interest as time goes on. "We've heard numerous reports of muskies being caught," he said. "I talked to one fisherman who said he had caught one that was 37 inches long. I also heard that a man from Winamac caught a 41-inch fish in the spring of 2004."

One of the more popular places for ice-fishermen to gather is on the northwest side of the lake, where the water is about 5 feet deep. "They fish the weedlines right there," Hurleurt said. Most anglers use spikes, mousies, bee moths and small crappie minnows. The tip-up fishermen use larger minnows. For an up-to-date fishing report or to stock up on live bait, visit Whitey's Bait Shop at 1755 N. 675E in Kewanna. Or call Phil Hurleurt at (574) 946-3513.

Oliver Lake is the largest body of water in the 500-acre Oliver Lake Chain. It includes Oliver Lake (371 acres), Olin Lake (103 acres) and Martin Lake (26 acres). Biologist Neil Ledet said that most of the icefishermen on the chain these days are trying to figure out how to catch trout through the ice. "They do catch a handful of panfish in the channels during the winter," he said. "But the trout are the most sought-after species."

Some places are better than others when targeting trout. According to Ledet, deep holes and sharp dropoffs are the ticket. "There's a big hole on the other side of the channel leading into Olin," he said. "The channel is very shallow, but as soon as you enter Olin it drops right off. They fish similar breaks on Oliver, too.

"The access site is on the north side of Oliver Lake, probably closer to the northwest corner," continued Ledet. "There's even a deep hole right out in front of the access site. They used to catch a lot of trout there." Many anglers use live minnows for the trout, but bee moths are probably just as productive and just as popular.

Although most of the rainbows that are caught on the Oliver chain are recently stocked fish, there are quite a few holdovers, too. Holdover is the term given to trout that have remained in the lake for more than one year after being stocked. The water quality in this chain of lakes is good enough to support a year-round trout fishery. Many trout continue to grow from year to year until they are caught. Some rainbows reach a weight of 5 or 6 pounds.

"The catch is probably about 80 percent stockers and 20 percent holdovers," Ledet said. There are also some nice-sized brown trout in Oliver, which were stocked by NEITA - the Northeast Indiana Trout Association. According to Ledet, some of the browns stocked by NEITA are close to 18 inches long, which is the minimum size for brown trout at Oliver (bag limit is one). Rainbow trout must be 7 inches long to keep, and there is a five-fish bag limit.

Ice-fishermen find a wide variety of fish to catch here, including largemouth bass, walleyes, bluegills, redear sunfish, yellow perch and black crappies. The Fish Lake Conservation Club regularly stocks fish in the lake to increase angling opportunities for fishermen. Past stockings have included larger-sized walleyes, channel catfish and yellow perch.

There are extensive shallow, weedy areas around both basins that attract groups of ice-anglers. Steeper dropoffs exist in Upper Fish Lake where the water reaches a depth of about 24 feet. In Lower Fish Lake, the water does not get much deeper than 16 feet. Mud Lake has one deeper hole that is little more than 10 feet.

Bluegill and redear fishermen try their luck along weed edges throughout the chain, using bee moths, spikes and wigglers. The crappie and perch fishermen usually rely on small live minnows to ice their preferred fish. Bass and walleye fishermen set up tip-ups with golden roaches or larger bass minnows, mostly around weed edges and at the edges of some of the dropoffs.

The last DNR fish survey at this lake was several years ago, but it found bluegills up to 8.6 inches long, redear sunfish nearly 10 inches long, and walleyes up to 18 inches in length. Bluegills were the most abundant fish collected, representing 46 percent of the fish sampled. Redear sunfish were second at 15 percent and largemouth bass were third at 10 percent.

Regardless of where you decide to wet a line during this ice-fishing season, be sure to play it safe. Always fish with a buddy and always be sure the ice is thick enough to support your weight and the weight of your gear. Be especially careful in lakes with springs or in shallow channels where the ice may be thinner than at other spots on the same lake. When in doubt, don't go out!