Forum | Is Anyone Ice-Fishing Yet?

Ah Ive got to admit was expecting to see a pic of a big one,I did,a little different than envisioned.

The angel is good I never could get them quite right must have been the devil in me.

As for the big one ya got me beat,never had one quite that large or a camera handy.

Nice article,nice fish,and Steve seldom do two snowflakes rub together here as seldom here at the same time.

In my opinion one scares the local drivers,two makes most pull off the road,three and none can handle it.

I dont miss the snow and ice,we get covered once a year and thats enough.

Did I say nice pike?

Well, I crafted a response last night, but after reffing I was beat, so I can't claim to know what happened to the post. 

Anyhow, Tuesday my nephew Cameron came up from Toronto, he's been listening to my tales of ice fishing for several years, yet he'd never taken the opportunity to give it a try.  He showed up about noon, dragged me out the door kicking and screaming about two, and even brought a supply of minnows…did I mention he was a great kid?  Anyhow we took off to a lake about an hour north of home on the Bruce Peninsula where I've managed some dandy smallies and walleye through the ice over the past several years, and though the day was beautiful and he took lots of pics of this unblemished piece of heaven, I had one hit….I think.

Later that night I got into my old photos, checked "properties," and discovered that for the past three years the best times on this body of water have been the last week of Feb, and the first two weeks of March.  Needless to say I wasn't burning gas to head up there again unitl that time period, and instead chose an area closer to home.  The temp was minus 15, the winds at 30-35 mph, sustained, with blowing snow…horizontal snow.  My umping partner, Raunchy Ronnie joined us, as did son Michael.

We arrive about 1:30, had holes drilled and we were settled by 1:45.  This particular lake is inhabited by some dandy smallies, largemouth, voracious northern pike, and a ton of perch that usually bite non-stop, with a catch to keep ratio over the years of 1:3.  We set up on the edge of the channel, and after fifteen minutes we hadn't had a bite.  Had the high pressure, low temps, and wind across the frozen tundra put the perch down?  I figured I'd give it five more minutes, and jigged the minnow on my perch rod twice, and set the rod down.  It no sooner cleared my hand when the rod bent double, and it tried to head down the hole.  I grabbed it, set the hook, and all I got for my efforts was a severe bend in the rod.  I was in trouble and knew it, six pound line, and a bend like that usually mean the fish is going to try to head to the other end of the lake, and that's exactly what happened.  Line began to peel off the spool, so I shoved most of the rod under the water to keep the line off the edges of the ice hole.  A few seconds went by before I was able to turn the fish and get it heade back in my direction.

Finally the fish reversed direction and I was able to get some line back, then the fish passed under the hole…pike.  Then it made another run.  When the fish came back to the hole it was rather docile…I tried to lever it up the hole, but all I got was tail.  What the…?  I tried to grab the tail and pull it out, but my warm hands seemed to really make the fish a little "tense," and it took off again. had I hooked it in a fin or the tail?  I wasn't sure, but three more times it came to the hole tail first.  On the fifth attempt I was able to get my hands around the tail far enough forward to get it out of the hole.  It was a dandy 31″ northern, but kind of skinny.

That fish had more wraps of line around it than the guides on my ice rod.  During the fight it had basically hog tied itself, but the good news is that it wasn't foul hooked. I finally got the "gift" unwrapped, got a minnow on the line, and got the line back down the hole, but I needed a few minutes to get the hands warm.

I sat on my bucket, plunged my hands into my pouch, and no sooner did I sit, when Raunchy Ronnie hooked up with another pike.  In the space of three minutes we had two pike iced. Ronnie and I were going to have dinner, but Michael and Cameron were still smelling of skunk.

Twenty minutes later with no further action I decided to move further into the channel.  I drilled in and was instantly into numbers of perch.  After about an hour and a half I had eighteen keeper perch.  Ron, Michael and Cam had taken a page from my book and spread out across the channel, but my holes were the only ones active.  Finally they moved right in and drilled in close proximity hoping to get in on the perch action….then the action stopped entirely.  Hmmm, is there another pike in the are?

I'd taught Cam how to jig spoons for walleye the day before, and one of the spare rods was already rigged, so he put away the perch gear and opted to jig a spoon.  I think that spoon bounced off the bottom twice, when he added a triplet pike to the frying pan.  Only one skunker left, and that was son Michael.

YO dude, howza bout passing me one o' dem minnoz?

TWINS

31″ and skinny (No, the fish, not me)

CAMERON's FIRST FISH THRU THE ICE

Well, we had 8 inches of ice last thursday when we started and had 12″ by saturday…it's formed rather quickly and very safe.  There are pick up trucks driving all over on the lakes.

Caught all fish way up north in Bayfield County.  Panfish and northern were caught on Basswood Lake which is where my cabin is and the walleye was caught on the Pike Lake Chain, Twin Bear Lake.

Caught a couple of limits of bluegills over the weekend…

Caught a monster pike as is witnessed by the picture of it laying next to my size 48″ shoes.

Walleyes were biting too…

Still, a couple of fishfries are on their way!

Last picture is of me angry that I had to go to some New Year's Eve party when the fish were biting so well!!

Nothing like a little self humiliation with the hat.

what ice it's snow snow and more snow.