I've been on the hunt for eyes the past couple of weeks without any success... but today it sure was another story.... the window of opportunity opened for a very short time this morning and I was there, ready for it
I went 2 for 3, with a decent 17 3/4" and caught another 17"er... I just couldn't be any happier
Last night I was prepping the gear and the weather man was calling for some snow overnight and heavy winds.... didn't think much of it at that time and went to bed early....
Got about 6 hours of sleep, woke up around 4:00am and look outside Man, snow was fallen really hard and thick I was having second thoughts
But 5:30am came around and I got up, got the gear out to the car and the way I go The drive up was somewhat kind of slow, couldn't see the road much, it was all white, so I limit the speed to 60Km/H
A long ride to say the least but got there before sunrise
Once I had the gear setup, wasn't long before the bite started but no takers at this point It was snowing pretty steady then and was anxious The first fish to make it's way onto the ice was a 10" perch on the set line, which I thought I could update Team 8 but it went back down the hole
I was thinking at that point, that it was going to be a perch outing.... Once the wind blew the heavy clouds and the sun came out, I get a good hit on my jigging rod, setup with a Mr. Champ type spoon, tipped with a Gulp fish fry.... another specie to make the board for Team 8
Not long after I get another nice wally on my tipup... this time on a salty
Was I ever happy to see this I miss one on a tipup that got my minnow when I set the hook
At around noonish I packed up and went home..... bite had turned off the drive was much faster with the roads cleared
Made a little video for your peruse... it's got additional pics and some bloopers Enjoy!!!
ps. For those that don't like / enjoy the tunes, just turn down the volume
Leechman
<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid732.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fww321%2Fleechman1%2F2011%2FOFNTourneyFeb122011.mp4">