# Ice Fishing Charles Mills Lake



## fire17 (Jan 30, 2015)

I'm from Lorain county and was wondering If anybody does well ice fishing on Mills Lake near Ashland and if so what fish are you targeting. Looking to find someplace closer to home to ice fish this year if Mother Nature allows. Thnx


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## puregreen (May 23, 2009)

Mainly crappie. But this year they are dropping the lake 5 ft below summer pool for shore line erosion projects. Try clearfork


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## HeaVyMeTaLFiSHinGFiEnD (Oct 2, 2010)

I only fished Charles Mill one time but i remember it being super shallow and muddy. Im not sure what pleasant hill is looking like but ive pulled hog crappie and saugeye out of their. Id try your luck there.


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## TDD11 (Aug 5, 2015)

puregreen said:


> Mainly crappie. But this year they are dropping the lake 5 ft below summer pool for shore line erosion projects. Try clearfork


They drop the lake level every winter for flood control.

Since the lake is used for flood control (as is Pleasant Hill), the water levels fluctuate a lot so they aren't always fishable in the winter. If we have warm ups that lead to snow melt & runoff, the lake levels fluctuate and damage the shore ice. We need a good cold stretch without warmups/rain/runoff to fish them. They seem more susceptible to run off than your typical body of water.

You can view the lake level, inflow and outflow here:


https://www.lrh-wc.usace.army.mil/wm/?basin/mus/cmb


See how the level has dropped steadily over a week? 









I checked the ice at Charles Mill at one of the deep pools 2 years ago but there wasn't much and I went somewhere with more ice.


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## fire17 (Jan 30, 2015)

Thanks guys for info, very helpful


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## threeten (Feb 5, 2014)

Wellington upground?
Got a 39” pike there a few years ago. There were a lot of small perch too. Had to grow by now


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## fire17 (Jan 30, 2015)

Have fished for Bass at Wellington in summer and done well but the couple times I have ice fished it was terrible. Moved a ton with no luck. Heard of Crappie but never Perch


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## FlyFishRich (Feb 3, 2016)

Charles Mill is a muddy and shallow lake. Deepest part is coming out of the marina and down by the dam. 28 foot in them spots, but most of the lake is from 8-12 foot deep. Some of the coves are 3foot or less. Charles Mill is known for having good numbers of channel catfish.....Rich


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