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Everything posted by Big Cliff
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Jim was actually laughing at me, after we got it on the ice I was so excited I was shaking like a guy that had just shot his first deer lol. I am amazed at how much the meat does resemble lobster tails! I did find a recipe that calls for it to be fried in garlic butter. Might give that a try tomorrow night. When did you go out with him? I know lots of guys use jigs and things but I have always done really well with a simple dropshot rig. Sinker on the bottom, two hooks, with the hook a hook about 6" off the bottom, the second hook about 18" off the bottom. Hook your minnows by the head or tail (just depends what is working that day). Only use light line, 4 to 6# test max. Anything heavier and you won't have enough sensitivity to see a bite. I usually use a #6 hook but a #4 works just fine too. Everyone has their preference in types of lines but I just use mono, works for me. If you ever wanted to to drop by, bring your rod with you and I will set it all up. 60 fish with Tim is a very slow day!
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Tim Hales, kids under twelve are free with a paying adult (one child per adult). They also have floor boards that you can drop in so that you have 7" holes in the floor which makes it a lot safer for really young (and old LOL). You will have to call and make a reservation though, they are super busy.
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Found out Monday evening I didn't have to work yesterday, a quick call to my buddy JIm (he'll go fishing anytime he doesn't have to work) yup good to go; a quick call to Tim Hales, they are really busy but they will fit us in. We're going fishing! Now with the recent drop in temperatures and a storm front moving in I wasn't expecting to see record numbers like we have in the past three trips, I find perch react very similar to walleye when it comes to changes in the weather. Didn't matter, any day fishing is better than a day working. My last trip out I found I was missing a lot of fish, I'd get a hook set and have the fish on for a few seconds only to have it get off, I couldn't understand why, my hooks were brand new #6 snelled hooks, same as I had used on previous trips (I thought). Oh wait, I'd just bought these hooks this winter these were a brand I had never used before. On closer inspection I noticed that the very tip of the hook actually curved in back toward the shank. Instead of pressure embedding the hook deeper, it would actually pull the hook out. Needless to say I wasn't going to continue fishing with these hooks like that, I tried bending the tip of the barb but it just broke off. A quick check of my tackle box, I found a package of #4 Mustad hooks. A few minutes work to turn them into snelled hooks and outfit my rods and I was good to go, Slow start, we were catching a few, a couple of 11-12" thrown into the mix but it was sporadic, there didn't seem to be any real runs,at least I wasn't loosing any fish like the last trip (what a difference a hook makes)! Then it happened, tap, tap, hook set and HOLY COW line started to peal out (I'm only using 4# test mono so my drag is set a little light) Jim realizes this isn't a perch and quickly pulls his line out of the water. The fight is on, we are both speculating, is it a white fish, is it a trout, whatever it is I sure don't want to loose it. three minutes, five minutes we still haven't been able to see it yet. My heart is pounding, I gain a bit of line then it runs again. Slowly I start gaining ground on it, then we can see a shadow, it's still a long way down but it looks huge, we still can't tell what it is. Suddenly it just gives up, here it comes! It's a huge ling, I get it up to the hole, Jim goes to net it and it makes another run but it's a short one, on the second trip to the hole Jim manages to get it into the net. We didn't have a scale to weigh it but it measured 33.5" and we both figure it's somewhere in the 6-7lb range. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, around noon Tim came along to check on us and asked if we wanted to move to some new huts they had just relocated, we decided to give it a try. It didn't make much difference, the bite was still slow but we were catching a few larger fish. We didn't keep count today, an estimate would be somewhere around 60 or so perch, we only kept 10 between us. A check with the rest of the guys yielded similar results, it was a pretty slow day by comparison to previous trips but still a wonderful day. I did ask Chris (one of Tim's guys) about huts out on the trout/white fish grounds; he told me that it wouldn't be for a few more weeks yet as they didn't think there was enough safe ice yet to get out there. Safety before money is cool with me! Anyway, another stellar day with a good friend and a new PB (Thanks to Jim and his handy work with the net, I couldn't have done it without him).
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Been fishing. A blooper and playing around
Big Cliff replied to misfish's topic in General Discussion
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Just waiting for him to get the huts out there John
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Good choice, they seem to be a solid truck! Congrats!
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Wow, very generous of you, thanks! I am away next weekend but we'll hook up.
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Ok, I know, this is a really stupid question coming from me but I honestly have CRS (hey, at 71 it's not only allowed, it's expected). Where can I get some of these meegs jigs? My son would love to get out for some white fish and lake trout and as strange as this might seem, I've only fished them once and that was with Sly (bless him) and Joey and Paul. Beans and I managed to get the opportunity and while we didn't catch any fish we couldn't have had better company or been better taken care of. There is a couple of factors; I can't walk very far anymore (well I can but by the time I get there you'll probably be on your way home LOL). I sold or gave away most of my stuff, portable ice hut, ATV, sled..... Now my son is no slouch, hunts, fishes, spent most of his life in the bush, he can fend for himself but experience is the key and when it comes to white fish and lake trout, neither of us have a lot of experience. So, I am willing to rent a hut from Tim, and pay for three people if someone that Knows what they are doing will kind of act as our guide for a day and help me put my son on some fish! Any takers?
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Didn't that come under new management about three years ago? I'd heard that new owners were taking over (nothing bad to say) , just wondering when you stayed there?
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Oh I wouldn't have liked that, had an oil space heater explode and burn my house to the ground when I was about 24, we got out with nothing but the clothes on our backs (and I mean literally)! No fire insurance, lost everything we had except for our lives and some good friends. I have hated oil ever since. Tim's huts all have 2 burner propane stoves in them and propane lights. Nothing nicer than sitting in the hut on a cold day and enjoying a hot cup of soup or some Bushes beans (mama adds a few little extras to them ). I have a soft sided cooler dedicated just to ice fishing: tea bags, sugar, cup-o-soups,.... all the things you might want if you were stranded in the bush somewhere, (no, no booze, not even for snake bite LOL). The only problem I have when fishing at Tim's is trying to eat anything and hanging on to my rod at the same time. (Ok I guess that doesn't qualify as a problem )
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Well it was sort of short notice, I found out Saturday that I was going to have today off. Beagle dad (well according to his wife) wanted to get out ice fishing and she'd mentioned a couple of times that he was waiting for me to invite him so I did. Unfortunately I didn't find out until Sunday that he wasn't comfortable out on the ice so it was a no go. Called my buddy Jim, he had a dental appointment, called my friend Bob, he was waiting for someone to come and pick up a van he had sold, By now it was 9:00 Sunday and I'm ready for bed. Got up this morning and decided to take a chance and drive up to Beaverton and see if Tim Hale had a hut available, turned out he did so out I went. I ended up in the same hut as Jim and I'd had last week but fishing today was a lot slower, I kind of expected that with the cold front that had come in. By about 1:00 pm I only had 37 perch and a lot of those were small most fish were about 8-9" (I'd only kept 10 fish at that point). Tim came by to see how I was doing and asked if I'd like to try one of the huts they had just relocated so I decided I might as well. Turned out to be a good choice, within minutes a double header, both fish around 11", in the next two and a half hours I managed to land another 44 fish most of which were 12+" and came home with 20 very nice perch. Another wonderful day on the ice and some more perch fillets for the freezer
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And you can't drag a dead horse down Young Street on a Sunday (any other day of the week is fine). Yup last I heard it was still on the books!
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Totally agree! We have to have a tag on our minnow traps, a license on our ice huts, why not on nets?
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Moe it's been way too long, If he still has huts out in March it's a date
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Just let me know when works for you, Now I only have a Nissan Rogue so with the seats folded down and the pails stacked I figure we might be able to get 50 of them in there. I only need 4 or 5 so Shane can have all the rest! I am out of town Feb. 2 and 3 and Feb.11 and 12 and 14 and 15. Any other date, just let me know a day or two in advance and I'll book off work and do a road trip.
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Glad to hear Lori did well but a good woman knows how to clean fish JK, that one is a keeper for sure!
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And he isn't kidding, he catches fish even when the osprey can't!
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Had the bushes beans but not the fried taters lol As soon as Tim lets me know he has huts on the Trout/white fish grounds, I'll give you a shout Actually Jim put his rod away about 4:15, he'd never caught so many fish in a day. Don't worry I made sure they got put to good use! When you start to go "oh crap another one" You know it's time to think about heading home LOL. No need to feel bad my friend, nothing wasted, they all got put to good use. If it works for you, it looks like I might have tomorrow off and I would be willing to do a road trip and bring some back, Sinker could just pick them up here or if he is pressed for time I'd even deliver them to him. Let me know if this works for you. Email me [email protected] with your address and a time that is convenient for you. My cell # is 705-928-8899 if you need to talk to me. (but you'll always be welcome to come here for a visit too when there is some fishing to be had). Sinker, how many pails do you need (I only need about 4), email me your address and time permitting I just might be able to drop them off for you tomorrow.
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You know, I could use a few more, no rush! One trick I've learned is that when stacking them I drill a small hole in the bottom of the upper buckets so it makes them easier to separate. Then I just put a clear garbage bag in the ones with a hole in them when I need to keep them from leaking!
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Oh man, I'd take her fishing in a heart beat (it's ok, I'm 71 she's safe LOL) She is one very nice young lady! Seriously if she ever needs a "Tag-A- Long" I would make sure she got home safe and sound! C
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Or June LOL
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hey, I'm just curious, only 7 people willing to help this guy? Come on guys, we have someone here, isn't asking for specifics and the best we can come up with is 7 replies?
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Now there is an excellent example of logic! Thanks my friend!
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last week it was John and I and we had a stellar day on Simco. Plenty of fish and fantastic company, how can you improve on that? Well this week it was a long time buddy Jim. Slow start just like John and I, not a bite until about 9:30 then I landed a real beauty. We jigged , we drop shotted, I was getting a little worried after telling Jim how good the fishing was the week before. (I could see the OH SURE look n his eyes) Then it happened; a hit, whoops, another hit, oh cripes, we've got fish on and our lines are tangled, two beautiful perch, BUT WAIT, THERE's MORE! I've got a double header, two decent fish, Jim has a real beauty, only problem he is in one hole, I'm in another . Ok, I pay out line so Jim can bring them up (I hate tangles anyway ). Jim does his thing, his fish in the bucket, mine back to swim another day .Oh no, Jim has to cut some line to get the birds nest undone! Being the true gentleman he is, Jim cuts HIS line (OH YA, I'D have done that too, cut his line I mean ) From that moment on it was fish on, fish on, fish on! We stopped using two lines each, we couldn't get a line down without getting another hit and they were big ones and running wide. I would say the average fish we caught was in the 11" range with several exceeding 13+" and lots of double headers. There were a few times when they were pulling drag off the reels! We only kept about 30 fish between us, a few of the smaller ones were badly hooked and wouldn't have survived so into the bucket they went and we kept a few of the bigger ones; well just because we could! Met up with a couple or really nice fellows from Costa Rica and they did really well too, they even managed a nice herring, it was fun talking with them (although my Spanish is nowhere as good as their English). Anyway, to sum it up; We lost count at 247 perch, had another fantastic day out with Tim Hales, and I'm looking forward to doing it again in the next few days. BTW, Tim has a really good video on Face Book regarding ice conditions. Looks like there is still a solid 11" of ice where he has his huts. (I'm not saying it's safe!!!!!!!) And no! I am not getting a discount or anything other than great customer service and fantastic fishing from Tim! And there my friends is why I like fishing!
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Ya, you are right Lew!