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Due to my family day weekend fishing plans falling through (my ice fishing buddy is a girl, she found a guy and fell for him invited him along for a weekend in a cabin, I'm now the 3rd wheel I told them to have fun......... long story). I'm now looking for a long weekend adventure. I've always wanted to fish Long Lake (or longlac) as people call it just off of highway 11 past Hearst. I was just wondering if anyone had fished it or not? Realisticly I'm probabally going regardless of what I hear, its just odd that after looking online I found zero reviews or info about it.

Haha 1000 thank you's for sharing your secrets misfish. I would have looked back at the old topic to see who specifically to thank but did I mention I'm lazy? Hence why I like ice fishing, find a spot, drill a hole, grab a seat, eat a sandwich.

Yeah, one of my co-workers told me ahead of time if I'm not hooking into perch every 2 minutes to change spots. I'm pretty lazy though. haha.

Can't believe I didn't chime in on this yet. Check out Bluffy Lake lodge just outside of Ear Falls. A few years ago I was working there with the MNR, after our stint the owner, Keith, asked us to come back for a weekend, he said if we pay for the minnows and gas he would take us out. The fishing was great, lots of good walleye, quite a few big Northern Pike and the lodging was just fantastic. Keith and his wife are some of the friendliest people I've ever met, always offering advice on fishing spots, lures, cooking recipes or just joking around. I know they have 3 day or week long packages and I've been trying to find a way to bring my dad up there for about 3 years now.

So, with all the advice on gear and lures from everyone on the forums this week I HAD to get out on the water...... er..... ice. Everyone kept saying how nice Guilford was for perch fishing so I figured I'd give it a try after 2 marginally successful back to back weeks on Scugog. I wish I could say I was out at the crack of dawn, but seeing as how one of my jobs is nights at a bar I got home the night before at 4 am. Leaving Mississauga at Noon I was on the ice at 1:30. I dropped my first line down and was about to set up my tip up but the perch had other ideas. After icing 3 in about 15 minutes I finally got settled in. The rest of the day slowed down a little bit with 9 fish in 3 hous but with my previous lack of success on Scugog I was extremly happy. At around 3:30 I hadn't had a hit in about 45 minutes so I decided to move deeper (I was in 22 feet of water, I moved to 25). In the next hour the action was non-stop. My final count at the end of the day was 24 with probabally a dozen of them 9-10 inches. I just wanted to thank everyone on the forums for all of the help and the advice. I really had a blast today and can't wait to go back. Special thanks to the guy who told me to use the micro tubes. I found that a white powerbait tipped with a minnow head was driving the fish crazy. After cooking up a perch n chips dinner for the girlfriend she wants to come with me next week...... this time I'll try to remember to bring the camera.

How durable are the hub/pop ups? I was looking at a few on sale today and they look like the far better deal then the all in one collapsable ones. Only thing I worry is if a strong breeze (like today) would take em out.

Even dinks I'm ok with. I'm just stoked to get out there and have some productive fishing action. For whatever reason I've never had tons of success through the ice. But a day of action with a few good eaters sounds like the perfect way to spend many a weekend over the winter.

Thanks for all the advice guys, went to lebaron today to switch my reel. I accidently picked up a Shimano 1000 for my new St. Croix ice fishing rod which was way too big. When I exchanged it for a Rapala R-type they told me I had $15 left over so I picked up some buckshot, some white and pink micro tubes and a few spinner jigs. I'll let everyone know how sunday goes. I'm so stoaked to ice some jumbo perch.

So this sunday I'm thinking of hitting up Cooks bay at Gilford, I asked a buddy of mine where to get bait and he said there are a few bait shops near the water but they might have shut down due to some Emerald Shiner issue he had heard of. I don't really know the area well, can anyone recommend a good bait shop for some perchin size minnows?

If these last another month I'll pick one up. Just started my new job and funds are tight right now.

With how high my car insurance is I doubt I'd have the stones to take a risk of my car on the ice regardless how thick it is. I'll just deal with the long walk. Plus I drive a hyundai Elentra.

So, as luck would have it, one of my co-workers pulled into the office yesterday with a ton of newly purchased ice fishing gear from Radio World in Woodbridge. After showing me his new ML St-Croix rod with an ultralite spring bobber tip (I think that's what its called) I'm sold on the whole idea. It looks like it will give me the sensitivity to feel even the dinkiest perch with the backbone necessary to set the hook if I happen to get the occasional walleye. Problem is he came back with a bunch of other toys I want now too. Has anyone seen the hand held depth finders that are out there? This will defiantly either be an impulse buy or a short term saving's plan.

Out of curiosity how thick is the ice where you were? I keep hearing good things about Gilford and would love to check it out. But I keep hearing on the radio that the ice conditions are considered unsafe to be out on.

Thanks for the good advice everyone. Lots of good tips here. Its hard not to immediately set the hook when ice fishing, especially if its been an hour or two between hits. The last 2 times I went out ice fishing I figured using a crummy rod and some of my summer stuff would be sufficient with minnows tipping the lures. I'm slowly starting to learn. That being said after coming out twice this year I'm totally hooked. I'll keep everyone posted when I go out again how things go. Thanks again.

So, just back from my second trip to Scugog and I must say we were met with much more success. All perch through the ice but there were some eaters and lots of hits. I noticed though I was losing a lot of fish due to soft hits. I was using a 1/8th chartruse ball jig with small emerald shiners on it so that may be part of the reason, but I also have this clunker of an old ice fishing rod, I think its medium but I'm not sure. Seeing as how I'm not married any excuse to buy new gear is a good one so I'm off to bass pro this week. Now, before I drop $50 on a rod I was hoping you guys could help me out. I love my 5 foot summer ultra lite ugly stick and can feel almost anything on it, will an ultra lite ice fishing pole yeild the same results and help me ice more perch? Realisticly I don't see myself going for 20 pound northerns or lakers in the neer future so I feel like the lighter the rod and line the better, was just wondering if anyone had any reccomedations.

Well, round 2 on Scugog went down today and I have to say it went much better then round 1. Stiles was all booked up so we got the number for al's huts and gave them a try. First off, Al is a class act all the way. Very nice hut, good location, al even helped us pick what to use for lures as to what the fish were hitting and lent us a pre-set up tip up. Smaller minnows and a longer day on the ice lead to tons of hits and a good number of perch, even a few keepers. Sadly no crappie or Walleye. All in all a great day but I am starting to realize that ice fishing is a whole different ball game from summer lake fishing. I feel like I'm trying to learn a new language trying to figure out the best way to pull some nice fish through the ice.

Haha thanks for the info and tips guys. Its something I have to try at least once, if it goes horribly wrong then at least I'll know. Its just tough when my best friend is a girl from Lindsay who asked me to go ice fishing with her last saturday and when we got skunked after 5 hours of fishing turned to me and said "You up for trying again next week?" Why arn't there more women like that?

Thanks for the advice everyone. My girlfriend is one of those girls who likes boat fishing in the summer but I know for a fact that unless the fish are biting really well (unlikly with the weather we've been having) she'll get bored around the 2 hour mark. Hence the "girl friendly" huts. Thanks for the offer tapout. I would come but I'm heading back to scugog for round 2 this weekend. The "Bring the girls fishing weekend" isn't for another 2 weeks or so.

Ok, I realize this idea is perposterous but my buddy and I are from Mississauga and we wanted to bring our girlfriends out for a day of ice fishing. We had planned on renting a hut on Guelph lake, but much to my dismay I learned the Grand River conservation Authority no longer puts the huts out. We're looking for a lake that is within 45 minutes from Northwest Mississsauga (401 and Winston Chruchill) that is city girl friendly, (IE heated huts, they can get cell phone access, bring their tablets etc etc). Any reccomendations from anyone? Does Island Lake Conservation rent huts? I've heard good things about that lake.

Looks like round 2 is this saturday. Time to see if I've learned anything.

So my friend and I went with Stiles ice rental huts today, I have nothing but good things to say. The huts were tosty warm, a drive to the hut and back to the boat launch at the end of the day, friendly service, even gave us some tips on how to catch the fish that day. Sadly we both got skunked today but I find that the days I catch nothing I learn a lot more then the days I catch fish. Important lessons learned. 1) When they guy at the baitshop asks if I want Crappie minnows or Walleye minnows go for the Crappie ones. We got 2 dozen walleye ones and I feel like I could have choked out a 30 pound Northern with one of these guys. In all serious though they were about 6-8 inches each. Waaay to big for my liking. 2) Bring snacks for the lady friend so she doesn't get hungry and want to go right as the fish start hitting. We were getting a few good hits right at sundown but by that time we had been fishing for 5 hours and both were feeling a little hungry..... ok a lot hungry because we didn't plan. A big change for next time for sure. All in all I still loved the peacefulness and the beautiful weather that scugog had to offer today. I will be providing buisness for Stiles in the future for sure.

I'll check al's tomorow. I had called pauls huts, I was supposed to go last Sunday with a friend of mine, we set a raincheck for this sunday. Biggest problem for me is I'm from Mississauga so I have to go off of hearsay for ice conditions and daily tempratures.

I've got all of that stuff but I don't know Scugog that well. I feel like I'd be fishin in the dark the first couple of times. I'm hoping the hut placements will kinda give me a bit of a heads up where is decent on the lake.

Still no companies feel safe enough to put out huts. All I want to do this winter is ice fish and snowboard. Is that so much to ask?

Hi there everyone. I'm stoaked to get out on Scugog but as I don't know the lake well I'm thinking of going the hut option. I called up Pauls ice huts yesterday and they laughed and said they don't feel comfortable putting huts out. I was planning for sunday if weather permits. Anyone know how thick the ice has to be for them to be comfortable to put huts out?