icefisherman

I've just tried posting my report from up North for the last 18 days. It is full of pictures and the system does NOT allow me posting "so many pictures"?!? Not sure what the "limit" is but maybe the admins can allow me one time exception considering I haven't posted anything in last 20 days and am now simply using all my pictures allowed in one shot??? It is very detailed report with some great photos and I am sure many members will enjoy reading it. It wouldn't be right to start deleting pictures. So........please give me a break once Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Brian, either your fish was to big or you need a larger cooler ha ha ha ;-) Good report Bud. I've just washed my boat(in and out as it was stinking on fish everywhere), greased it up, fixed few things in getting ready for the trip North. Might do one more day of Lake O. between now and then, but will leave all the Erie fish to you until Labor day ;-) a Cheers, IceFisherman

Lady, just decide - Lake O. or Lake Erie and give me few days advance notice. Then drive your boat here and you could have lots of fish....real big fish too ;-) Short of that you could invite me up on Simcoe and go after few lakers and whities but we've done that before with you ...several times haven't we? ha ha ha Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Love those pictures of the Happy Chuck and the even happier kids. Congratulations again and lloking forward to try it with you.......mmmmmmm....maybe on January 13 2008? ;-) ha ha ha So I don't have to pull mine all the way there in the snow Cheers Guys, Ice Fisherman

Thanks Joey. I have one very similar to it if not the same. It's a good spoon. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Joey, You should have seen the waves on Erie last Friday ;-) So, what was that secret "get them all lure" ;-)? Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Glad you did make it yesterday Brian. I like the part you released it into the.....cooler ha ha ha,. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Started an hour later then last week (6am) and I am glad I did as I got rain on the way to Burwell. Better in the car then in the boat when raining ;-) Was nice trip though not same as last Saturday, but those 25 fish days don't happen every day;-) I am happy, as I got mixed bag of fish today.....4 walleye (lost 4 more), 2 bows( lost two more), one silver bass, 2 perch (yep downrigging ha ha ha), and one sheep head. The last two groups went back into water. Now I've being wandering last two trips...all that talk about getting fish 2'-10' down...I've tried it hard both times and no such fish...all fish I found both days was DEEP....35'-43' down in 53 fow. Now, I did get one big eye (28") by accident, as I was letting my line out ang getting ready to clip it to the release. But when trying for hours with dipsy, boards even the lead core - nothing shallow. Most fish on the rigger. Including the lost ones. It was very hard fishing the first 4 hours...5-6 feet waves...in my boat the feeling was like inside a nut shell....no fish until 10am...I got water damped on me 6 times...all wet...cold...brrrrr....then the sun came out and the bite/fun started...waves got down to 2-3 feel and were manageable. Me and one other boat only got out in the morning...wandering how they made it out. If I was not travelling from 200 km away I would have gone back... At the end it turn out to be great day but I need a bigger boat for that kind of weather. Most fish on watermelon again...including one perch and sheep head ;-) Lost my second watermelon lure as my dipsy got tangled into something huge/unmovable (underwater cable?!?) during the worst waves ...didn't bother trying to go around to unhook it as it would have become bigger mess in those waves and with my lead core line in the water as well. Just pulled hart and good thing I only lost the lure not the dipsy....so much for my dipsy/boards experiments... It may work for others but not for me.... Downrigger got 90% of the fish the other 10% on the lead core (5 colors) but that was also on the downrigger.... So the name of the game today was DEEP! Got rain on the way back too....good thing was no rain in the boat...just free waves shower (at least the water was warm - 68 degrees) Here are few pictures: One hungry deep water perch: And same silver bass: Biggest fish of the day at 29": And I guess his twin sister was following him because it hit my lure on the surface while trying to hook it to the release. This one 28": And the score for today 6 for 12, not counting the perch, bass, shiphead. Did I say I need a biger boat?;-)) No room for good fish pictures on this one: One thing I noticed and it explanes why I've lost so many fish (never had such bad score before)....the waves were so bad especially the eyes while floating on the surface been reeled in got hit very hard by the water thorn apart. I keep lossing them right at the net....lost two bows the same way...and two I got got released second after getting into the net.So fish is there, just that the weather doesn't always cooperate. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Doug, Any time my firnd. Just let me know and it's done. But do it before August 16-th because I am leaving for my trip North at that date. If not we can do it after Labor day. Ha ha ha Brian, Mornings like this make for VERY long afternoons at the office after that Bud ;-) You know how there is no free lunch right? ;-) Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Well, during my Lake O. trip this morning (Oakville area) the surface was 63-64 degres from 6:30am to Noon when I left. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Started at 6:30 finished at Noon. Tried meat and flies - no luck. All fish came in on spoons and on one spoon/on rigger in particular. Nothing on the lead core either. The winning spoon was green/black/silver Stinger. Trolled from 40 to 110 fow but got the first fish at 55 fow down 40' and all the rest at 82 fow down 35'. Largest fish 22 Lbs...the rest in the teens...6 for 7 was the score today when all was done. Much wormer temps today...finally... Might try Erie again tomorrow... Here are few cell phone images for your viewing pleasure: You can see the hitchhiker that came in with this fish: Here is this guy again but that was his last free trip...smashed him with my pliers... Fish was not hurt too bad by the hitchhiker so here it is swimming away: And the last few fish: Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Sure enough Rick. The coastwatch site just got updated and if you look at it now with all the clouds gone the temps almost doubled compared to what they were before ;-) This makes me trust the NOAA site much more. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Well I am not sure about those temperature reading as you can see here they are much higher: http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/glcfs/glcfs....ype=N&hr=00 I may go to check them tomorrow myself;-) Cheers, Ice Fisherman

I'd love to read your report when you come back. I'll be there and will try the eyes but 3 weeks after you. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Brian, I almost came to Simcoe on Sunday but was too tired and missing more then few hours of sleep,so I've decided to give you the chance getting all the Simcoe fish in my absence ;-) Well, best thing is to follow someone local as the channel could use a lot of improvement. I almost got stuck thinking I am out of the woods and pressing on the trottle to find out a second later I am touching bottom (mud) in about 2-3 fow. It is tricky navigation until you get out in the open lake. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Last minute decision at 3am this morning was to head to Port Burwell and I am glad I did. Finally the weather man was mostly right. Was the second boat on the water at 5am. Had my limit of walleye by 6:45am. Now what to do.....didn't drive 200km to head back home after fishing only hour and a half. Decided to go after the rainbows. I thought I'll get some since I did well at Nanticoke only a week ago. Yes but NO. Spent the next 5 hours throwing everything I had at them. Changed the speed, went deep and shallow, tried up and down the water column, different colors and presentations.....NOT A SINGLE RAINBOW to be seen?!? But I kept getting walleye after walleye, after 10 walleyes, after 20 walleyes. It was freaking unbelievable. I've never caught so many walleye in my life. What a day.....Ended up 25 for 29. Pretty good score. My problem was no matter what I did, where I went I couldn’t catch anything else but walleye....... I was thinking to stay until dark in hope to get at least one rainbow. But then decided to quit at Noon thinking how ticked off I would have been if I burn the whole thank of gas and spend 16 hours on the water and not catch a single rainbow...so I called the day. At the ramp a guy who got couple rainbows told me he went DEEP...40'+ in 50+ fow. I went down to 35' ...should have tried 45' knowing I got them at Nanticoke that deep last week. Even considered for a moment re-launching my boat again and try deeper but gave up on that creasy idea. I thought someone is hiding on the bottom and hooking eye after eye on my line and keeping the bows away ;-) Anyhow...it was not my rainbow day today I guess. Curious to see who else got rainbows today? Watermelon again did 90% of the damage. Got a few on orange and purple but mostly watermelon. My watermelon spoons are hardly recognizable from all the fish chewing but they still went after them. Fished 45 to 62 fow...anywhere from 15 to 35' down. I've been wandering on the way back why did I go to BOQ last November if Burwell has all that top eyes fishery.... Anyhow... I am super motivated now to find out where those bows are hiding from me on the next trip ;-) Here are few cell phone shoots from today. This was the biggest one at 29" And the ones I've kept. What a day! I’ll remember it for a loooong time ;-) Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Went with my 2 year old son for just 1:30 hour tonight to Oakville. Would have been more but took me for ever to get around the closed streets in downtown Oakville. Water still cold - 51-52 degrees in 35 to 100 feet. Tons of fish and bait fish in 30 to 60 fow. But tough bite. Gote one small salmon so my son was happy and that was it. Tried all colors nothing. This just confirmed my opinion not to go fishing in the PM...never seem to do well at that time of the day. I guess the tough fishing on the North Shore will go on for a while longer....until water gets warmer. Anyhow...hope for much better day tomorrow on Erie ;-) Here is my happy captain: Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Lady and Chuck, Now this is one nice boat guys. Congratulations and enjoy it. Now I know the big guy has no more excuses to come and fish the big water ;-) Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Hey Doug, I was waiting for this report. In fact I thought I've missed it. Great story, even better pictures and...I recognize that folding knife Bud ha ha...looks the same as the one in fron of me right now ;-) even the stripe ;-)) Thanks for sharing! Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Joey, I am always looking for fishing partners to come with me. Better split the gas cost and have a good company. Just that it's hard to combine everyone's schedule on the same day/time. But if you are free sure be my guest ;-) Chuck, Any time Bud. Just let me know and we'll do it. I am sure you'll enjoy it ;-) Tackle Buster, Yes the eye also came off the riggers. Infact everything yesterday came off the riggers. Including one sheaphead and ....one bass?!? Brian, looks like opinions are split on this one. I've asked on few other forums and most people say it's Scamania and some say it's a bow/salmon. The meat is about the same color as the white fish meat though. Not the pink color the rexst of my bows yesterday had. So it must be somewhat different I'd say. Thanks all for the kind words. Erie fishing at Burwell/LPB should only get better for the next month or so. Planning few more trips that way. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Drove to Nanticoke bright and early today. Have never seen so many truck gas tankers before. Pretty much it was me and....them on the road at 3am. Arrived at the ramp at 5am and launched by 5:30. Fishing by 6am near EA8. At 6:30 first bow in the boat: Took some pictures but being alone and with the cell phone... Than 30 min a big eye follow him into the boat: Then missed 3 on the row.... It was very hard to keep the wheel straight, keep the right speed, fighting fish and taking pictures. At times I almost got thrown overboard by the huge waves. Lots of white caps. Bit later this guy came in: Kept miving arround that area. Was planning to get to the Elbow but had no reason to....fishing was great where I was... Few more boats show up by 7:30am... Here is the next guy: Now...I've read somewhere recently other talking about this ....kind of fish....sort of bow...sort of salmon...here are few more pictures I took of it including some at home with better camera: The head: And next to my last fish of the day: Anyone can tell me what fish was this? Half rainbow/half salmon? ;-)) Looks very pretty. Hope it tastes the same ;-) Here is the same bow in the boat: Yep you guessed it....watermelon was the name of the game today...and downriggers... Started with lead core and rigger and ALL fish came in on the leadcore...I was very surprised as the lead core has done very well for me before. The moment I put the lead core on the other rigger and set it up with my second watermelon spoon bammm....fish on... Tried shallow...but no takers...all fish went deep last two days...must be that wind and rapid water temperature change. All my fish came 40 feet down in 42 to 60 fow. Speed was 2.2-3.0 mph. At the end let me say few more "good words" about the weather man....those guys are really getting on my nervs recently...they NEVER seem to get it right....last week every time they said "small craft warning with 30 km/h winds on Lake O. water was like a glass....today they were saying 3-5 km/h winds at LPB....guess what...I almost got blown away...must have been more then 20 km/h from about 8am to 11am when I left. Just checked the past 24 hrs on the weather network,.... http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php...cecode=caon0461 Sure enough now they say it was 20 km/h.... They really have NO idea what they are talking about!!!! And I did check 4-5 different sites...Canadian and US...same story...they were ALL WRONG AGAIN!!! I am going to stop even looking at the weather sites from now on. On the way out I stopped by the outflow to see where is that famous bass/perch fishing and saw 4-5 boats pulling a lot of small bass and perch mainly on minnows. Didn't waste time there and headed to the ramp. On the road back there were bikes EVERYWHERE….THOUSANDS of them for their regular Friday the 13-th at Port Dover thing…It was hard not to run over some of them ;-) It was great day with tons of action and I'll do it again soon. Maybe to Burwell. So here is my Erie report and it is big fish/beer BBQ party coming up tonight. Who said something about luck and Friday the 13-th in the same sentance? Cheers to all. Ice Fisherman

Thanks Bud. I know it's a good map....or so every one says, just that I am not sure how often I'll be able to make it all the way to Temagami and use the map. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

I hear the Temagami shoal map is useful tool to have while on my 6 nights fishing/camping trip in August. Unfortunately it seems to be priced very high at $25. All the other maps for the area were in the $6-$7 and I got the camping map from the Temagami Chamber of Commerce. Wandering if anyone has the shoal map scanned or maybe an old copy I can borrow for a week? Thanks in advance. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Yes pikehunter I was amazed at the sharp change in water temperature. And was looking for an explanation of why did is happen. Bucktail, Appreciate the detailed answer and even more the solutions you've offered. Next time I observe this same phenomenon I'll try your advise going 5-10 k out to see if I can find the warmer temps there. And thanks for the great site. Curious to see what temperatures will they show for the Oakville area tomorrow morning. Cheers, Ice Fisherman

Hmmm Brian...nice report, good pictures and yes, seems similar strange temperature fluctuations as Lake O. today resulting in fishin being all over the map. Will be intersting to read some more reports tonight from both Lake O. and Erie and see what some of the Pro's have observed today on the water. It was just one of those days....right time and right place = full limit Or miss the above two and go home skunked or nearly skunked.... And it is July, mind you....surface temperatures should have been wayyyyy higher in Lake O. then 47.... They were in that range I remember in late March on the south side. Not much progress since then I'd say... Maybe they'll get into 60-70 by January next year Cheers, Ice Fisherman