Ahhh......i'm Feeling Much Better Now

[tjsa]

Haven't wet a line since late august, or early september, so even with the forecasted 25 kmh winds, my bud and I decided to go. We got blasted on, because environment canada's weather prediction was wrong again. It was more like 50 kmh with gusts up to 60 kmh, but at least it was only -2C, and when the sun got up above the trees, ice and snow actually started melting off of my quad.

 

We could only fish until maybe noon, bud had a prior commitment, so up I get at 4 am, eat breakfast, load up, gas up the truck and quad, and we are on the road by 6 am. Hit the lake at 7:30, were able to drive all the way in, only about 8 inches of snow. Off we go in the dark, but the horizons were now visible. Got to our spot before the crack of dawn by about 10 min. Was fun setting lines and tying jigs on in the dark, lol. I forgot my headlamp.

 

Used the hand augers, because there was only 9 inches of ice.

 

Within the first 45 minutes my bud landed 3 walleye and one pike, 2 walleye jigging and the other walleye and pike on the set line and I had one hit. I finally got on the board just over an hour later on the set line. My bud missed a fish on his set line shortly later.

 

Then quite a lull, and the sun finally got up, not good, the fishing shuts down usually when that happens and we tend to land only pike. But fortunately for me, I got a 2nd walleye after the sun came up, and my bud missed 2 more fish.

 

But, that was it, no more bites or hits, and we decided to call it around 11:30 because we took the opportunity of low snow and frozen ground to drive into a new cut that is brutal for clay to check out hunting opportunities for next year.

 

On to the pictures:

My bud resetting his line after a missed fish.

 

My usual setup.

 

My buds first two, one over 18" and one around 15", didn't get a pick of his 3rd that he released.

 

My first fish, didn't take a pic of my 2nd one.

 

My quad

 

Sunrise

 

Tried to get a pic of the snow being blasted down the lake

 

Just thought this was a cool cloud picture

 

Hope you enjoy.

[Spiel]

....Ah man, I'm so envious. Sounds like a perfect day and I'd have gladly shared it with you if I was closer. I wish it would get cold down here, I'm just gnawing at the bit to get on some ice. Thanks for the teaser Tom, hope I can post some ice reports soon.

[irishfield]

Great report Tom and thanks for putting it up !!

[danc]

Nice report and photos Tom. I'll bet that lots of the lakes were busy today around here.

Have a great Christmas Tom....

[dwc67]

ohh man i am dying here

 

 

thanks for the post even if it was a kick in the shin.

[Whopper]

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Little birdie told me this was coming

 

Great report Tom!

 

What's for dinner

 

Whopper

[dsn]

Great report. Thanks for giving some of us a boost when no ice is around for hard water and were dying here.

 

From the looks of your helmet you must have tossed it down and jumped on the fish pretty fast!!

[tjsa]

Sorry about the kick in the shin Dave, wasn't intended for sure.

 

Dan, we were the only ones on this lake, it wasn't Lac or Whitefish.

And you have a great christmas also.

 

Thanks Wayne.

 

Hope you guys down there get some ice soon Chris, otherwise I will be teasing too often. We are planning to hit a couple of stocked rainbow, rainbow/splake lakes next weekend and have heard about 6 lb. fish coming out of them, hope its true.

[Garyv]

I am envious...the only ice around here is in my freezer. Glad

you had a good time

Edited December 23, 2006 by Garyv

[Carp]

I'm with Dave.

You're teasing us Tom.

 

Ice....what ice ?

 

I bought an ice hut that may never see the lake this year if

it doesnt get nasty coldl very soon. At least I'll have time to work on it though.

[tjsa]

Dunno whats for supper yet Phil, but I know whats for breakfast tomorrow and christmas day.

 

dsn, thats my buds helmet, mine is on the front rack under my ice ryder jacket. His helmet got blown off the back rack by the wind.

[setomonkey]

Nice report!

 

It might come late this year but I'm sure it'll get cold enough, and all the

southern Ontario ice anglers will get their chance...

 

Mike

[Greencoachdog]

Excellent report, pics and fish Tom!!! I also am envious, love that ice fishin' stuff!

 

Glen

[Smokey]

I am so jealous........Thanks Tom I was waiting for one of your ice reports. Congrats on a great outing and how did the hunt go this year? Did the old BLR do the trick.

 

Great pics.

 

Mike

[tjsa]

The hunt did not go well this year Mike, no moose for us, and I just could not get out much either. My buds BLR did the trick though(I own a remington 7400, semi-auto) on one deer, his dad got one with his old remingon 720, which I had to dress out, lol, both of them had knee surgery within a month of each other, and I was the only one who could actually kneel down. I think that is why they called me 4 times that week to make sure I was going to be able to go, lol.

 

No worries, I got some deer meat in the freezer for my dressing out skills, and for my buds other deer that we butchered ourselves. I did the roasts and rounds, my bud did the tenderloin, and my buds dad did the rest for sausage.

 

We don't have really big deer up here, but they sure are tasty.

[Smokey]

Thanks for the update for some reason I thought you had the blr. Oh well doesn't matter as long as they fall down. Glad to hear you have some meat in the freezer and now some fish for the table.

 

We didn't get a moose this year either but had fun. We had a screw up in the tags this year and ended up with gun tags instead of archery. So we had to move from our regular spot in 15a to 12a as we had another archery tag for there. So it was like a totally new hunt for us and the rut was late again with all the heat and rain this fall.

 

Thanks again for the hardwater report.

[FinS]

awesome report cant wait 4 days left and im on the hardwater

hopefully i can get some good pictures as long as it aint too cold for the camera

[Handlebarz]

Tom you suck ( I think that is what every one was trying to say) teasing all of use down here like that, heck I have a new jiffy thats almost three years old and has not had a drop of gas in it. I am jonesing bad for some ice but it is not in the near future for this area I think a road trip might be in order this year.

 

None the less very nice report please keep them coming

[motv8tr]

Good to see there's ice somewhere, gives the rest of us hope

 

Glad to see you finally got over your cold Tom and managed to get out.

 

Maureen

[Mike the Pike]

Great report I wish we were able to do the same .How far north are you guys fishing?Well I think I will survive until I get some ice.Going to try for browns and rainbows on sunday.This report is going to get our friend Tracker excited I bet he would love to know the secret location.

 

Need a fishing fix!!!!! Mike the Pike

[tjsa]

Thanks MrEh..........I think, lol

 

Yes Campet, I believe this is the 2nd actual ice fishing report, someone had one 2 weeks ago from somewhere down south, but that ice is probably gone now.

 

FinS, I charged up the rechargable batteries last night, and had a full set ready to go just in case.

 

Mo, I am not completely recovered, it is a virus that will just not let go, lots of people up here that I know have it, it hits everyone differently, but I had to get out of the house and do something, and this was a perfect opportunity.

Geez, hand bombing holes through the ice is hard now(god, I am getting old, lol), haven't really done it in years. And the blades on my auger are not honed perfectly any more, lol. Have one of those manual hand held sharpeners, but they are definately no replacement for proper honing. Good thing there was only 9 inches of ice. Our hand augers are old school technology compared to some available today, both of them are probably 30 yrs. old. I know I have owned my folding 8" since grade 11, or 1976(it has 7" blades on it right now), my buds is a slightly newer vintage.

 

Mike the Pike, I am up in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lots of the lakes up here are frozen over, but some of the larger, deeper lake trout lakes are still forming ice. They have ice, but have big open areas on them. The lake I was fishing was actually a border lake with the US, but its mean depth is only 10 ft. at best, and I do not know of any depth deeper in this lake. And with the low water levels this year, we were fishing in at most 7 ft. of water.

[tjsa]

Thanks fer sharin.

You must be either the 1st or 2nd to post an Ice fishing report.

Like the simple gad (light tree branch) for a set-up!

 

Clampet, until I joined this site, I had never, ever, heard of using a sapling referred to as a Gad. Its just a young willow branch to me, supple, and reactive, have used them since I was 10, and that is going back some years, lol. We refer to it as the "finnish" method of fishing, since there is a quite large Finnish population up here. My bud is a "finook", finnish/ukranian mix. Another bud is the same, but reversed. I am just a run of the mill wasp with british heritage, lol.

[Rattletrap2]

Tom,

I always thought you lived here in Ontario like a lot of us..... but your report clearly depicts a trip to some foreign land where the water actually freezes over? LOL

 

Looks like you had a nice day and a few nice fish to top it off.

 

Thanks for a peek at what we can only dream about. Hope you are feeling better real soon as well.

[tjsa]

Tom,

I always thought you lived here in Ontario like a lot of us..... but your report clearly depicts a trip to some foreign land where the water actually freezes over? LOL

 

Looks like you had a nice day and a few nice fish to top it off.

 

Thanks for a peek at what we can only dream about. Hope you are feeling better real soon as well.

 

I do indeed live in Ontario, but up in the great white north of Ontario.

[crappiesteve]

..thats great ,at least you got to go icefishingTom.personnaly I can,t wait myself.

High five to you bud,my time will come,in the mean time ,have yourself a great holiday season.

 

Steve