limeyangler

Hi all, Finally got out for some Lakers this morning for a couple of hours. I'm lucky enough to have a buddy who has his shack out on a lake that is a direct , 15 minute sled ride from my house. Got there at around 9am and left at 11:30am. The shack is set up in 28'FOW on a flat muddy area of the lake. Bite was non existent for the first hour, but we busied ourselves playing around with his new LX9. Its an ok piece of gear but it does not have a boat transducer available, no GPS and my cheap as chips Lowrance graph does the same job his graph does for $1000 less. The camera is so-so. Overall a disappointing piece of gear for the price you pay. The bite turned on in style for an hour at 10am. The trout preferring my offering of a medium minnow on a 1/8oz brown jig over my buddy Carmon's offering of double twister tail on a whistler jig. I did use a Rapala Rattlin' Rap lipless crank to 'call them in' then quickly swapped to the live bait once the fish arrived on screen. They wanted to chase, if you stopped reeling they would call off their attack. I was getting them to chase it 20' feet of the bottom before they would hit, fun to watch on screen. My buddy hooked into what he thought was going to be the biggest trout he has ever had on this lake, turned out to be a nice 35" pike, he was not impressed, it went back without even a picture….lol. I kept my limit of trout, donating the darker one to my buddy for his smoker, the darker ones on this lake have the orange/pink meat. Here is a short video of the mornings action.

Holy! Chris! I know it sucks but that is the best bad luck story I've ever read on here.

Great stuff, those are some chunky whities, the kids must have had a blast watching on screen!

Thanks DB. I'm heading out the door for a quick morning fish on the ice….Antigua seems a million miles away!!!!

It was amazing, loved all the different species of plant and animal you bump into out and about there. Yeah , I loved your report, if i'd had access to a kayak in Antigua, holy man, that would have been cool. Did you eat the snapper? They are one tasty fish!

You read my mind re: the float tube.

Always good to hear from members!

Hi all, Final instalment of my holiday adventures. I booked a half day in the float tubes with a local guide. I had watched his videos here https://www.youtube.com/user/captainantiguanick and figured he was into the same kind of fishing (albeit predominantly a flyfisherman) as me and his float tubing for Tarpon deals looked worth a shot. At $350US with the exchange rate as it was in early January it was a little painful to my wallet, even more so when we did not even get a bite all morning!!! Nick graciously offered to take me to some coral flats to cast for different species that same morning, but despite amazing surroundings the fishing was just that, fishing, no bites. I was disappointed a bit, but can't fault the guide, the fish were rolling on the surface and we threw everything in our combined arsenals, lockjaw seems to sum it up. However, we did not have the same lockjaw affliction as the fishes, and with not much action, the exchange of fishing stories and banter was fun. He was of course interested in my stories of past and recent catches on the other side of the island, and after handing over my cash and a tip of a spool of hard to come by Seaguar Blue Label, we arranged to meet up at one of my spots the next morning. SHOULD HAVE CHARGED HIM $350US!!!!!!!! If you read this Nick…just teasing Anyway, Nick got into a bunch of small Blue Runners and a nice baby Tarpon on his fly rod. I got into a nice Horse-Eye Trevally Jack and a giant…..well….we never saw it but it left both of us with jaws agape at the wake it left with the sweep of its tail that broke my 50lb swivel. Nick was impressed with the venue and we vowed to hook up again next year, try some different spots and perhaps put in his small tinny into a lagoon somewhere, something to look forward to and always good to make connections and friends. I went back the next morning to 'My Lagoon' and hooked into some Snook and Tarpon, just an idyllic spot to wade round in the morning, pelicans diving, warm ocean, big fish always around. Pink and white, and pearl seemed to work good, the noisy baits attracting strikes from the Trevally, snook and barracuda with the quitter baits like thumper tail shad/swim baits and twister tails being more appealing for the Tarpon. Its difficult to get the right balance between maintaining light gear for maximum sport and having heavy enough terminal tackle for monsters that does not interfere with presentation. The fly fishing route seems interesting but I out fished the fly on my gear so am not apt to change just yet. Just need to research some terminal tackle that suits what I learnt on this trip. Next year's trip should be an interesting one for sure! Here is the video footage, its 17 minutes long, and while I cannot claim slick editing to match the pros, there are no ads, there are some fish caught and I don't try to sell you anything, so grab a cold one and transport yourself to a warmer climate!

Dunno, i was not there, probably not more than 8'. Thanks DB! Lol, i'll tell him that, should get a good response.

Have you heard the one: Q. Why do women fake it? A. Because they think men care. Well it seems that female brown trout get the last laugh at that one. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150214-fake-orgasms-and-other-sex-lies

My buddy got a Marcum lx9 delivered last week, it has a scratched lens (they are sending a new one) but it aint bad...you can see pretty good despite that. Here is a little vid of a stocked bow taking a look.

I agree Chad. My old XLT (God rest her soul) was awful in snow more than a foot deep, and it was heavy! Super fast, fun sled but not ideal for ice fishing. Mine blew the pot on the primary clutch side, crank bearings were toast too.

No moving off without my signal ( a quick 2 thumbs up). No crossing any road, be it ice road or our driveway. Never go down on the lake without me. Stay off the septic and water line side of the house. When we get to a road STOP….wait for the 2 thumbs up. No following too close behind me….lol….I have 2 nice chunks out of the rear snow /mud guard. No chasing the dog Leave your visor up till we move off. Always stop if you need to, I will wait or come over and see what is up. I'm not that worried about speed as top whack is 8 mph, but its still fast enough to be worried about something hitting him or him losing control and hitting something else.

Cool bit of trivia Old Ironmaker…thanks for that. I have known who these two guys are (John Carlos is the other guy) since as long as I can remember. It was the olympics that happened a year after I was born. I was born in Toronto and one parent was black the other white, black power was not just a headline to read in our family, one of my uncles was involved in the panthers in New York…my dad disapproved….lol.

The revolution is still coming brother!

Awesome report, the pic with the sunset and plane is my favourite.

Thanks man. He loves the shack, have to say that makes me happy. Thanks Rick, he is getting more confident on the sled for sure. He listens well and we have some good ground rules for riding…lol….and he knows he'll lose it if he breaks the rules! LOL…thanks Blair. Thanks JDS, its family day next weekend and the ice carnival hits the ice road, we have prime position with the shack in the middle of it all. Should be a hoot!

Hi all, Been a busy winter and only just managed to get the shack out last week. I only just managed to get one hole inside the shack done, either gonna have to get an extension for the auger extension or the farm jack to take it off the blocks, drill, and get them back under again….plenty of ice despite the mild winter. The Ice Road is not exactly the fishing hotspot of the region, but the walleye are around, albeit mostly small ones. Great place to hang out with family and friends though! Jack was really poorly that morning and I had a day off. By 10am Jack said he was bored, he made a miraculous recovery when I suggested the shack! We took the skidoos down and had a blast enjoying all things iceshacky. Lunch was simple but fun, the shack was warm and we even had a a few missed bites and steady action for 45 minutes from 3pm. Finally landed one inside the shack, Jack got it and was all smiles!

Stick of dynamite? Just kidding, jig with pearl thumper tail/twister tail.

Yup, they have power alright. I will still be experimenting with light gear though. I love the challenge of going as light as possible, sure a few fish were missed but with some more experience I will be taming these guys with 10lb test and an ice fishing combo from CT!

LOL...I dont drink alcohol but I know what you mean

LOL…no it wouldn't, the guys here would charge you with no fishing licence and contaminating the lake!

OOOOPS! I went fishing on Saturday, set the otter up and while firing up the tank top heater the front guard pinged off and went straight down the hole, would have been ok if I'd been using my 8" auger, but was using a buddies 10"….oh well. Been online searching for a replacement, its off one of those Remington ones from CT, very hard to find one to order…can find but won't ship to Canada. GRRrRRRrRRRRRRRRRR.

For sure hoping to get back there next January! Its a trivially species, there are so many. Google 'Trevally' and search images…you'll get the idea.

HEARTBREAKER EH? It was the wire on the snap swivel that gave way. I purposely upgraded the test# strength of the braid as last year the fish would just pull once on 20lb and ….GONE…..! I had pretty heavy duty snap swivels but obviously the forces generated by wave and fish were greater! I started tying direct to 30ld flour leaders after that. Still lost some fish but that is another story….coming soon.