Ice out skunk chronicle

[limeyangler]

Hi all,

 

The ice finally started to give way on the lakes round here on the 23rd of April, and i have been busy taking pics of the ice retreating as a kind of record to look back on in years to come, keeping a close eye on how the weather/wind/temps etc.. affect the ice. I fished a lot later last year, even though the ice was probably safer for longer this year, just had other stuff going on....so the first opportunity i had to cast a line was not soon enough....lol...i would have cast into a puddle by the side of the road if i could have. I did not intend this report to be so long...but i kept putting off writting it up.....but now i'm at work (boring night shift) and have some time on my hands...lol...at work and have time....at home...not so much...ironic.

 

 

 

Anyway....here's a few pics of Lake wabiggoon the week of 21st april, showing the gradual retreat of the ice...AT LAST!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it was around thursday 30th April that i noticed that there was a large enough area at Olsen's landing to cast for some Pike, so i dropped by at Lew's place and we arranged to go that afternoon. We skunked, Lew sliced his thumb open opening a new lure packet, but felt great to cast a line again and lew got to try out some of his homemade lures.

 

 

 

 

LEW TESTING HIS HOMEMADE LURES

 

 

 

 

 

I had been talking to OFNer Brkygtr about getting a lake we had skunked on in jan/febfor some ice out specks, he called me Friday night and we arranged to meet the next day...neither of us knew whether the ice was actually out yet on the lake...but we were gonna chance it....we arrived to perfect conditions. half the lake was still covered in ice....more slush really, with a slight breeze clearing the ice slowly but visibly........

 

 

 

PERFECT CONDITIONS GREETED US

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WE WERE IN BRKYGTR'S 12' WITH HIS NEW TROLLING MOTOR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its not a very big lake...almost a pond....lol....so we covered a fair bit of water, and having ice fished it knew the structure/layout pretty well, after trying shallow, then deep we headed over to the retreating ice to fish the ice shelf.... we were casting various mepps and blue fox spinners, split shot rigged worms(nightcrawler) i even tried thew slip bobber .....nothing!

 

 

 

 

TROLLING THE ICE SHELF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had stupidly underestimated the weather, and had not brought warm enough clothing , so when the wind picked up Dale took pity on me and we found the most sheltered shoreline and breaked for a cast and a bite to eat......dale had brought some moose smokies he had someone make up from a bull the got some time in the fall.....damn good smokies!

 

 

 

FOUND SOME SHELTERED SHORE FOR A CAST

 

 

 

 

 

 

AWESOME LUNCH...THANKS DALE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch we headed back the the ice shelf, this time we were trolling what i think are called 'gang troller' rigs....i.e. 4 or five large in line spinner/flasher blades with a hook at one end, we had nightcrawlers on the hooks. After freezing our cojones off in ever increasing winds with no fish taking, we decided to get back to the landing while we still had juice in the battery, as paddling against whitecaps was not on our list of things we most wanted to do....

 

 

TROLLING THE ICE SHELF AGAIN

 

 

 

 

we got back to the vacinity of the landing and started to cast again, i tied on a little cleo to give me a better casting distance if nothing else, and started to cast at the submerged boulders along the shore. that produced the only action of the day, a large swirl, and a fast follow , but no strike. this encouraged us to try a bit longer but at around 2pm after 6 hours trying we decided to try a splake lake further up the road........

 

 

 

WENT UP THE ROAD FOR SPLAKE....UNFORTUNATELY THE NW WIND HAD BLOWN THE ICE TO THE WRONG SIDE OF THE LAKE MAKING ACCESS EVEN FOR CASTING FROM SHORE IMPOSSIBLE

 

 

 

 

 

After that we called it a day and i made the 2 hour jouney back home to Dryden. On the way back i noticed that one of my favourite lakes for bass(sm) had open water, and stopped to cast a few lures, nothing taking......probably a bit too cold still.

 

 

 

 

THIS LAKE IS RIGHT BY THE HIGHWAY AND HARDLY EVER FISHED BUT HOLDS THOUSANDS OF BIG SMALLIES...I WILL RETURN....lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was greeted by a welcome sight on Sunday morning (3rd may)...OPEN WATER AT THE BOTTOM OF OUR YARD!.......I had a few things/chores to sort out so got busy with the intention of getting my first big ice out pike later in the afternoon...man was i psyched up.......

 

 

 

 

YAY...OPEN WATER!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By 5pm i had done the chores list and got some big sucker minnows for bait.....only to see that whilst in town running around the wind had changed direction and blown the ice back into shore.....DOH! No fishing today...lol...but got some nice pics anyway as the sun went down.

 

 

 

 

DOH...WHERE"D ALL THE ICE COME FROM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NICE SUNSET PIC OPPORTUNITIES THOUGH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was working the next day, but was back by 7pm and had to give it another go, the strong SW winds during the day having cleared a good swathe of ice from our shore......The sucker minnows were still lively, so i made the short trek down the lawn, full of anticipation on a beautiful evening....

 

 

 

 

A FISH!.....but a small one

 

 

 

 

That was it...not another bite....wow...this time last year it was non stop 30"+ pike one after the other, mind you the water was warmer last year at this time. Anyhoo, i took some more susnset pics as i was waiting for the fish to bite........

 

 

 

 

MORE SUNSET PICS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did not get out on the 5th of may....but coming off the night shift on the morning of the 6th i gave it another go out the front....no fish again........but it was a beautiful misty morning ...soooo...lol....took some more pics as the mist cleared.....hopefully i can be posting some fish pics again soon.......

 

 

 

NICE MISTY MORNING , BUT STILL NO FISH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll keep trying....cant be long now before i get some fishies...till then...tight lines all!

[MCTFisher9120]

Cool pictures, I remember some of the first pictures from a few weeks ago. It's really cool how you have pictures of the ice as it melts in stages, congrads on that little fish you caught also. I'm not sure where Dryden Ont is but it must be far north if there has been ice like that still on the lake

 

Keep on waiting, It'll all be gone soon enough!

 

Mike

Edited May 9, 2009 by Mike The Bass Fisher

[Radnine]

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

How's the baby?

Jim

[bigugli]

Waiting for ice out used to drive us nuts. That's no longer a problem living down in the banana belt. There is always open water somewhere.

[Greencoachdog]

Great report and pics Simon!!!

 

It won't be too much longer before you're giving those fish the Dickens!

[Kenny G]

Thanks for sharing.

Great shots.

[Leecher]

Great report, pics and videos Simon

 

I can feel your anxiety through this report and all I can say is... it won't be long now!!!

I'm sure that when the water temp goes up a little, it's like turning the switch on, the bite will start

 

Loved the sunset shots, real beautiful

Thanks for taking the time to put this report together and sharing it with us

Keep it up and like I said before.... won't be long now!!!

Jacques

[brkygetr]

it'll happen yet...the goodness of the Speck bonanza will amaze you!!!! Good times my friend

[rickster]

great report Simon

after reading this I really

can't wait for eye opener this Saturday

 

Rick

[smokin joe]

Simon thank you for another great report, pics, and video's, it won't be long now until you're fishing soft water again. How's the boat seat coming along?

[limeyangler]

Cool pictures, I remember some of the first pictures from a few weeks ago. It's really cool how you have pictures of the ice as it melts in stages, congrads on that little fish you caught also. I'm not sure where Dryden Ont is but it must be far north if there has been ice like that still on the lake

 

Keep on waiting, It'll all be gone soon enough!

 

Mike

 

Thanks Mike, were near Winnipeg, so pretty cold up here, but the ice is all gone now and its a rush to get my boat ship shape for walleye opener on the 16th.

 

 

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

How's the baby?

Jim

 

 

Hey Jim, like i've said before, i never tire of the sunsets up here...awesome....as for baby limey, Thanks for asking as it gives a very proud daddy another excuse to show him off...he is really coming out of his food/cry/fill the diaper stage....a real character....he has a smile that melts my heart........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting for ice out used to drive us nuts. That's no longer a problem living down in the banana belt. There is always open water somewhere.

 

 

Plenty of water here now Bigugli, come on fishes....really cant wait to see if i can beat my 30"pb walleye this year, and a first ever musky would be another goal of mine.....come on Team #3!

 

 

 

Great report and pics Simon!!!

 

It won't be too much longer before you're giving those fish the Dickens!

 

Nope not long now Glen till i'm holding up traffic at the launch and burying my truck up to the belly in the beach, whether i'll give the fishies a dickensing this season remains to be seen....but i'm sure i'll have some good moments this year. Why aint you out there?

 

 

Great report, pics and videos Simon

 

I can feel your anxiety through this report and all I can say is... it won't be long now!!!

I'm sure that when the water temp goes up a little, it's like turning the switch on, the bite will start

 

Loved the sunset shots, real beautiful

Thanks for taking the time to put this report together and sharing it with us

Keep it up and like I said before.... won't be long now!!!

Jacques

 

You read my mind again Jaqcues, i was looking back through last year's posts, and it was definitely warmer this time last year. I lost a huge pike yesterday, it snagged on an underwater branch and snapped me off, so they are starting to show.

 

 

it'll happen yet...the goodness of the Speck bonanza will amaze you!!!! Good times my friend

 

 

Hey Dale, i forgot to mention in the post about our recent speck trip that it was a blast despite not catching, and gotta say, not being a fan of smokies as you know, those moose smokies have me converted....lol...they were awesome!

 

 

great report Simon

after reading this I really

can't wait for eye opener this Saturday

 

Rick

 

 

Hey Rick...long time man......like you i cant wait till saturday...good luck out there dude...but i dont think you need it

 

 

Simon thank you for another great report, pics, and video's, it won't be long now until you're fishing soft water again. How's the boat seat coming along?

 

 

Hey Joe, got the seats sanded down, and applied the first coat of Helmsmans varnish, i think it will weather proof it for another year, but the quality of wood i used to build the new seats last year was pretty crap, think ill re-do them again next year with some nice hard wood.

[johnnyb]

Awesome report, Limey --- you are tracking the progress of the ice receeding inch by inch...I wouldn't expect anything less! Your boy is a real looker too...must take after Momma Keep the great pics coming!!