trapshooter

Question: were you fishing with an ultra light rod at some point??

I was... with 8lb test. makes those white fish a lot of fun on the light gear. We were fishing pretty shallow so you can get away with it. Probably wouldn't recommend it, but it was fun.

Banner day on the white fish Simon. Had a lot of fun. Great to see you again and make up for last time we fished that lake together. We'll do it again soon.

Oh yeah, the bloodbath on the ice. Makes it look like we landed that one with a lawnmower!

Out of all the fish caught today I think only 3 whities didn't get released.

Great recap Tyler. Some awesome fish, pics and vids you got. Cool tunes too!

Sounds normal to me... just the same as any Jiffy I've ever seen out on the ice.

Bernie, your old pictures are priceless!! Thanks for posting.

And what to do about it?

Ah, stop keeping large walleye?!?!

Yours must have been built on a friday afternoon or a monday morning

I did get an ice rod once from them where the reel seat and the line guides weren't even close to lined up right. Just brought it back where it came from and they replaced it.

Anyways, hope you find some new stuff that works for ya.

Have had 3 St. Croix Legend Ice Rods for 3 seasons now and not an issue. The only thing I don't like about them is that they are short. This season I went to Thorne Bro's custom ice rods and absolutely love them.

I have a theory... I don't fish with crap equipment in the summer, so why would I fish with crap equipment in the winter? I'm targeting the same trophy fish both season's. I decided this when I got spooled by a big trout using a crappy Canadian Tire ice combo with a junk reel that had a poor drag system. Now I use my Shimano Stradics 12 months a year and put them on nice graphite rods.

But hey, whatever works for you!

Congrats on a true pig!! Nice to see you let it swim too. Hope you've got plans for a replica mount.

I a big shimano fan. I have a couple 1000 size stradics that do double duty on the ice and summer too. I put a lot of miles on those reels year in and year out and they take it well.

what was goin on with your auger buddy?

No, that's how jiffy's are supposed to run.

Good stuff Jay, that's a beauty laker your GF got. Awesome info too, making them chase is everything.

If I remember right, you have a 02-03 Skidoo Grand Touring? Nearly the same as mine. I had the same issues last year and it was the voltage regulator. Not a cheap part either. Good luck.

Good stuff Drew!! Enjoy the boat and best of luck in 2011.

So does Ontario.

Nice work Simon. Gotta love suspended walleye - they're almost always active fish.

BTW - nice gloves, pink is your colour!!

Thanks guys. I still have to get my hands on some of the new larger size of Lindy Darters. They should still be good for walleye but I'm really looking forward to using them for lake trout.

Thanks guys!!

Mike - yes, the darters are run clean. It was giving live-bait a run for its money too. The first morning I was getting set up and dropped the darter down to bottom... reeled up a foot and set my rod down to get my flasher set-up. It wasn't 15 seconds later and my rod was getting pulled down the hole. A walleye slammed the darter when it was sitting still.

Finally enough ice for safe snowmachine travel on Lac Seul. The first walleye ice expedition of the year is in the books. Two of us managed limits of smaller fish and even a couple worthy of pulling the camera out.

That Lindy Darter produced well. They were popping it good and it definitely took the bigger fish.

I bought one of these last year and the Eskimo's are by far the easiest starting auger I've ever seen on the ice.

I'm going on my 3rd season with the ICE45. I like it a lot. Does the exact same thing as a vex or markum but IMO the display is just so much better on the Humminbirds. Another thing you'll find is that flasher owners are fiercely brand loyal. The reason being that they all work... and work well!

Hope your auger blades don't find those rocks!!

I use the Lindy Darter a lot for walleye and lake trout up here in NW Ontario. Jigging should bring fish in.... they usually hit on the pause. When I mark one on the flasher I'll hold still and wait for the hit. Another technique to get hits is to slooowly raise the bait up, up and up trying to invoke a chase from the fish. They are great for aggressive fish, more difficult to entice a strike from a neutral/negative fish. Hard to beat live bait for those situations.

Bottom line is confidence.... get confidence and the bait spends a lot more time in the water and consequently catches more fish.

Hey Gang, been too long and I wanted to check in with an update from Lac Seul. Winter is here in a big way now - we gotta have close to 3 feet of the white stuff on the ground! Before the snow came though I was fortunate to spent some time this fall chasing esox on Lac Seul. I'll cut to the chase and get to the pictures!

First trolling fish of the fall. Great start for my buddy Greg!

Now, I know these pics have been posted here already. Mike is a good friend of mine and a fellow OFNer but I think they deserve another look!

Mike's first muskie, a real beauty!

The next day he stepped it up and slammed this giant!!

That fish is one of my fondest memories from the entire season. Something that I know both of us will never forget.

Next up, fishing with my buddy Kyle. Kyle is straight up good luck! Earlier this season I took him out for his first day of muskie fishing ever and he boated two. Fast forward to the fall and Kyle's 2nd day of muskie fishing ever - what do you know - 2 more muskie hit the Beckman for Kyle!!

We had a good weekend and I managed a couple myself.

My buddy Jocko was next up. We moose hunt together but squeezed in some trolling before the hunt. Lucky for Jocko, he gets his PB muskie and we harvested a bull moose the following week.

Late season trip with my buddy Chris and he gets this gorgeous pike. Thought it was going to be a muskie but when a 44" pike hits the Beckman we weren't complaining!

After that fish we went on a bit of a roll to finish off our season.

And a fatty for yours truly!

One more each before the season was over....

Good times had by all Time to load the sled up in the truck and hit the ice

Great pics Justin, thanks for the re-cap of your season. Some great fish and I always look forward to your articles in OOD.