Laker trip

[tjsa]

Buds and I decided to go for lakers. They are not open in TBay district, so we had to go where they are open. Up at 4:30, meet at buds place at 6:20, on the road at 6:30, park at 8:30, fishing by 9:15.

Right away, our bud Gord(the only one with a Vex) has fish following, but they would not commit to anything he put down. Tubes, chubby darters, mini-airplanes, scent impregnated smelt imitation, etc. all were followed, but ultimately ignored.

Shortly after, I got a hard hit on a white tube tipped with a minnow, but no hookup. Still amazes me how a fish can hit that hard and not get hooked.

Not too long after my bud Gord did get a fish, about 2.5 lbs. but it got hooked in the pectoral fin, so back it went.

A bit later I got one pulling on my set line, but I missed it.

It was a nice, light wind, cloudy, lightly snowing day. -7C morning to -4C afternoon. Perfect day really.

Not to long after, while my bud was switching between jigging rods, and dropping his presentation down, a chubby darter, he notices a blip half way up(we were in about 55 ft. of water), he stops it, and gives one twitch of the rod, fish on!

His first fish, about 5 lbs.

Shortly after that, I get one on my set line with minnow. Sorry for the Art Garfunkel look btw,

Snapped a couple pics of my buds, first one is of our bud Mike, who hasen't been out fishing for anything for over 2 years, he has been working out of town for all that time.

Gord, watching the Vex intently while switching rods and presentations.

The sleds, if anyone is interested, 1995 Yamaha Enticer TR, and a Polaris 340 Touring.

A bit later, I get my 2nd laker, on a chubby darter, a whopper of a fish,

What was it thinking that lure is 1/3 its size????

Then, at 10:40 am, my limit is complete, 2nd keeper laker, its the top one in the pic, bookends basically, 2 nice 2.5 lb. fish, perfect.

We stayed at this spot until near noon, with Gord having a few other follows, Mike losing one on his set line, and possibly missing one while jigging. Gord is showing Mike how to interpret the Vex.

We moved to another spot for an hour, but with only one fish showing on the Vex, we were just starting to pack to move, and Mike

gets a hit jigging. Caught him off guard cause he just started to reel up, and didn't get a good hook set, and lost it.

We moved to our 3rd and final spot for the day, and it was slow for a bit, but Gord got his 2nd keeper of the day, another one near 5 lbs.

I had continues to jig with a chubby darter and white tube jig. I lost one at this spot right under the hole, and a bit later landed my 4th laker of the day, another one same size as my previous 2 keepers. It went back of course.

What a difference a year makes, we went to this lake last year, and I lost everything I hooked, this time, I only missed 2. And last year, we did not catch anything on the set lines. Different day, different results.

We called it a day at 4 pm, and got back into town at 6:30, got home and everything stowed at 7 pm. Another usual long day for us. But it was an enjoyable day out with buds, especially to have Mike finally out with us after his long hiatus from fishing.

 

Tom

 

p.s. I just previewed my post, and have no recollection how to make the pics bigger, I have been out of the loop for too long to remember, actually suprised at what I did remember,

Sorry for the small pics.

 

OK, the squirrel in the cage(my brain) finally started to run, remembered how to make them bigger.

Edited February 3, 2008 by tjsa

[Ramble]

Looks like you guys you guys had a great trip. Those were some beautiful fish. Lake trout are definantly one of my favourite fish.

 

Great Post. If you guys are going to catch fish like that, you should get out more often.

 

-Ramble

[huntervasili]

Nice lakers Tjsa... looks like a great time on the water

[mcallister.grant]

Nice Lakers! Glad to see you guys had a good time!

[fatherof3]

looks like a good trip,congrats on the fish

[Mike the Pike]

Hey Tom good to see you out fishin don't worry the pics are big enough .

 

Great to see another ice fishin report cause the ice is just starting to become safe in my neck of the woods.

 

So hopefully I will get out soon

 

MTP

[tjsa]

I fixed the pics Mike(they were thumbnails originally), took me a bit to remember how to post properly, lol.

[Moosebunk]

Great results TJ.

 

Those Enticers are good reliable machines bud. Don't think they're made anymore though.

 

I gotta get on the ice this year.

[tjsa]

No, they are not made any more, too bad. I own the precursor to it, the Enticer 400T, without the rear suspension travel though. Closest thing anyone has to it is Yamaha's VK 540, but that machine is another 100 lbs. heavier, and longer, and wider. Or the Skandic WT or SUV. but both those machines are also much heavier.

 

And yes, get yer butt out on the ice, we need a "bunk" report, soon,

[mattyk]

great report, thanks for sharing.

[nofish4me]

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Nice pictures.

Haven't seen any from Moosebunk. LOL

Too busy flying to work? I guess.

I can just imagine that life gets in the way, sometimes.

[Greencoachdog]

Excellent report and pics Bubba!!!

 

All good healthy lookin' fish!

[fishindevil]

Great report & pictures of all that fish-porn !!!!! very nice scenery as well,kinda looks like the ottawa valley/mattawa area,i know it isnt,those beautiful lakers are just the perfect size for a shore lunch too !!!!!do they have a slot limit up that way??...thanks for sharing !!

[jat]

where do you get the chubby darter and what colors were you guys using?

[tjsa]

Nope, no slot size for lakers in our immediate and neighbouring areas fishndevil. Just a 2 fish daily and possession limit inland.

It is 3 fish daily and possession limit for lakers on lake superior, but since it is not freezing over like it used to, haven't fished it through the ice for some years. Used to drive our trucks out on the big lake 20 kms. in the past, now, its open water in the areas we used to drive to fish. Even if the ice will not support vehicles, we don't drive our snowmobiles out there now also, its just too risky.

[tjsa]

where do you get the chubby darter and what colors were you guys using?

 

The chubby darters are Salmo brand lures, bought them locally, but first heard of Salmo lures on this board 2 yrs. ago.

 

I doubt CTC or other like places have them, but the more specialty shops will. The one I was using was a number 9, chrome blue on top, opaque sides, and bright red bottom, and it seems they cost pretty much like their number, lol. Have a couple of other smaller ones for other species in different colours.

You have to twitch them hard up, then let them settle. If you get the chance to see their action below the hole in clear water, they have an amazing action when slightly twitched, or hard jigged.

 

But, they are not cheap, thats for sure. I cringe using them jigging for walleye when I know pike are also present. Have been lucky so far.

Edited February 3, 2008 by tjsa

[tjsa]

LOL, to add to my above post, I did a google search for Salmo Chubby Darters, and what did I find??? a post in the buy/sell section of ONFC from Troutguy.

 

http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15026

[irishfield]

What a great day out for you Tom! Glad to see you back at it up there.

[Joey]

Great report. Pics look fine to me.

 

Nice fish for sure.

 

Sure are alot of butterflies up there in the winter eh

 

Joey

[tjsa]

I prefer to call them "flutterbys", cause thats what they do, flutter by, lol.

[Roy]

Nice fish there Tom. Good on yas fer getting out. Thanks for posting.

[Spiel]

....Sweet fishing there Tom. I love icing north country lakers and they're just fine in the pan too.

Curious though do you ever target whities in those trout lakes up there?

[Whopper]

Well done!

 

Glad to see you get out and have some fun!

 

Thanks for sharing Tom

[b2kptbo]

Good one, thanks...

[tjsa]

....Sweet fishing there Tom. I love icing north country lakers and they're just fine in the pan too.

Curious though do you ever target whities in those trout lakes up there?

No we don't, not many people up here do on the inland lakes, mostly and incidental catch. But they are targeted on lake superior in 3 or 4 places. We keep saying we should try for them, but haven't gotten around to it yet.