Boxing day special

[tbayboy]

I knew I'd posted that year end video too soon!

 

Anyhoo, I'm spending my holidays up in Thunder Bay visiting friends and family and after much bickering about family responsibilities and how to get out of them 3 of my buddies and myself snuck out today for a day on the ice up here in Thunder Bay. The lake of choice today was Lac des Milles Lac, a familiar haunt for any local fisherman. After a stop for timmies, gas and minnows we drove up, paid the toll keeper our small fortune and hit the ice road for today's target - sand point. We drove about 4k on the ice to fish in 6' of water . Normally I hate guys charging to let you on the ice but in this case I'm fine with it - the guy plows a road to all the key spots, sweet since it snowed last night.

 

Of course our plan for being on the ice really early fell through but eventually we got there and setup, sorry for the pics, just had the phone with me:

 

<a href=" title="Keep drilling! by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3117/3139945918_6550c92a5e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Keep drilling!" /></a>

 

Our spot was near a bunch of full timers with their shacks. They saw/heard us whining and whining with the hand augers and helped out with a few holes using their gas behemoths - nice guys who kicked our asses all day on the fish. We put it down to the amount of whiskey they consumed - it meant it they let their lines alone more than us and that probably caught them more fish.

 

Anyhow, we got our holes done and got to it

 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/3139946634/" title="The battlezone by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/3139946634_f983c59f1e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="378" alt="The battlezone" /></a>

 

After a slow start we started getting into fish, real keepers:

 

<a href=" title="Not going to measure up by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3199/3139946678_01aa659fec_o.jpg" width="558" height="979" alt="Not going to measure up" /></a>

 

But eventually we figured out the pattern, green jig, slow small lifts off the bottom and the keepers started to appear

 

<a href=" title="Mmmmm dinner by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3294/3139116953_2acb94b426_b.jpg" width="594" height="1024" alt="Mmmmm dinner" /></a>

 

Even your intrepid author got into the action

 

<a href=" title="The author by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/3139117113_8b15b57a2f.jpg" width="500" height="376" alt="The author" /></a>

 

Soon enough the cooler started to look respectable

 

<a href=" title="Getting there by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/3139947266_f3a1e386fa.jpg" width="500" height="376" alt="Getting there" /></a>

 

Then Mr. Plow came by again to tidy up the roads and we took the opportunity to head out soon after

 

<a href=" title="Thats my name, its mr plow! by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/3139117533_2005282eb3_b.jpg" width="1024" height="256" alt="Thats my name, its mr plow!" /></a>

 

All in all we were on the ice for 5 hours and kept 12 fish (11 eye's, one big perch) and tossed back 7 or 8 little ones. Not a banner day but it made my mom happy to come home and fine some fresh fillets ready to fry on a day she probably thought we'd be eating left overs. mmmm those were good.

 

So Merry Christmas everyone, hopefully I'll see some of you on Simcoe soon, nothing like the first trip out to get the itch going again.

 

Sean

[fishindevil]

Great day on the ice sean !!!!...some yummy walleyes are making their way to the table for sure, nice pics too,and you guys even got a nice road plowed for ya !!!!a great way to start the winter season ...cheers

[lunkerbasshunter]

nice haul!!!!

 

cheers!

[Whitespinnerbait]

A cooler half full of Walleye..............You lucky devil you,,

[irishfield]

Great stuff Sean !!!! What does the local "toll taker" charge?? Is it a "public" access point?

[Leecher]

Great report and pics Sean

 

Real nice looking walters you got into Congratulations

One question: How thick was the ice you were driving on? Today we went to McLaurin bay on the Ottawa river and the ice was 10" thick

 

Thanks for sharing

Jacques aka Leechman

[johnnyb]

Great report -- I also thought the pics were great for a cell phone. Curious as well about the toll fee...?

Good job out there!

[tbayboy]

Great stuff Sean !!!! What does the local "toll taker" charge?? Is it a "public" access point?

 

Thanks Wayne, the toll actually wasn't that bad considering the plowing - $10 a vehicle or $5 a person.

 

Great report and pics Sean

 

Real nice looking walters you got into Congratulations

One question: How thick was the ice you were driving on? Today we went to McLaurin bay on the Ottawa river and the ice was 10" thick

 

Thanks for sharing

Jacques aka Leechman

Thanks, The ice where we stopped to fish was 8" or so, didn't hear a crack or boom anywhere we went (but kept the jackets on and the windows down just in case we needed to get out in a hurry).

[tbayboy]

Nice report!

Surprising wide angle pictures fer a Cell Phone camera.

How deep was the water?

Water we were in was 5-6', pretty shallow really. Lost a couple at the hole because you'd wack the ice before you realized you were there already.

The wide angles were actually edits (I always edit and crop now, find it make for better pictures - thanks to Dan and others on the board for that tip)

[limeyangler]

Nice one sean!

 

Holly crappolla....your almost close enough to invite round for coffee!

 

Those pictures are excellent for a phone...."oooooh .....i remember the days when phones had circular dials on them"

 

 

Nice haul of fish, had to lauagh at the bit where ya lost a couple cuz it was shallow....had that happen before.

 

 

Great to see ya got out, glad you made it back to your real home

 

 

 

Best wishes for the new year.

 

 

Simon

[irishfield]

Thanks Sean... just asking as I have two neighbours at the lake (well one now) that keep the ice road clean from the town ramp part way up the lake... and they would never think to charge for it's use... as matter of fact I had to hide money in one of their pockets last year to help with their gas budget!

[tjsa]

Hey Sean, I fished that EXACT spot last year, first weekend in January. We did good also, 5 guys, probably 35 fish landed(only 3 by me, keeping 2, I kept getting the line wrapped around the transducer for the extra Vexilar a bud let me use. But the float was set wrong, and I had no clue, first time user, )

I even remember that blue shack in the background on your pictures.

A bud of mine was supposed to go to that same spot on Tuesday, and probably again with another bud of mine, but I haven't received a report yet.

 

Are you sure about the ice thickness, recent reports are its in the 14"+ range for almost two weeks??

[tbayboy]

Nice one sean!

 

Holly crappolla....your almost close enough to invite round for coffee!

 

Simon

 

Only 5 or 6 hours or so depending on how many trucks you have to pass. Setup a get together for the holidays next year and maybe we can organize something half way

 

 

Hey Sean, I fished that EXACT spot last year, first weekend in January. ...

I even remember that blue shack in the background on your pictures.

A bud of mine was supposed to go to that same spot on Tuesday, and probably again with another bud of mine, but I haven't received a report yet.

 

Are you sure about the ice thickness, recent reports are its in the 14"+ range for almost two weeks??

Not sure at all really - didn't measure and I know it took forever to drill holes (got the sore arms today to prove it). The 8" hand auger was down to end of the screws when it went through so yeah probably more like a foot or more now that I think about it. There were probably 15 other guys fishing the area with us so I'm not surprised you've fished the same spot . If you bud goes tell him it was either basic pickeral rigs on willow sticks or green jigs with light lift/drops that were working.

[LeXXington]

The Nerve!!!

 

You post ICE fishing pics, catching walleye too..

 

great now you have me crying!!!

 

 

 

Thanks for the update Sean

[tbayboy]

The Nerve!!!

 

You post ICE fishing pics, catching walleye too..

 

great now you have me crying!!!

Thanks for the update Sean

Hehe, I'll be back in town soon - just let me know when you're ready to warm up with some perch and then move onto the whitefish