New Years Day On Ice

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

in recent years, as i've become a family man, i've decided to forgo the regular new years eve celebrations and spirits in favour of an early morning brook trout fishing trip. this year would be no different! we loaded up my pathfinder and were out of town by 5am. an hour later i felt like my stomach dropped into my thigh as i realized my snowshoes were not part of the cargo. what a rookie mistake!

 

because my wife had deemed them "too dirty" to be in the house, i had neglected to grab them from the laundry room. an hour lost and if it weren't for a second stop at tim's, we might have just gone back to bed.

 

by 8 pm we were putting on our snowshoes for the brief but aggressive hike. at 9 am we arrived at the lake, took note of the incredibly slushy conditions, and decided to fish the first mainwater point on the lake.

 

fishing was tough. when fish did bite, hits were subtle. if you bell rang it signified only that your worm had just been removed. of the 7 fish i landed, 5 were caught by watching for unnatural movements of the rod/stick. given the 20 km/h winds shooting straight down the long, slender lake, seeing these subtle hits proved difficult.

 

i took two fish home for the table that swallowed the hook. they made for an excellent dinner with my wife tonight. while we didn't take many pictures of the day, i took a short vid and 2 pics at home. thanks for watching!

 

http://www.vimeo.com/8507224

[T Fisher]

Nice, very nice congrat's.

[pike slayer]

right on! nice little vid! she was pretty darn cold out there, certainly sobered me up from the night before hahah!!

[Dara]

Nice little vid. How much ice do we have?

[pike slayer]

dara, i was out on ottertail on tuesday and there was 10inches of ice and yesterday i broke trail into crooked lake behind northland on the searchmont highway and there was 8-9inches of ice and there was quite a bit on slush on the lakes in that area.

[Dara]

Yep...gotta watch it still...I want to got for Splake soon...the big guys.

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

i had perhaps 6 inches of actual ice, and an unbelievable layer of slush.

[Dara]

i had perhaps 6 inches of actual ice, and an unbelievable layer of slush.

 

 

the slush is what concerns me as i ride a yamatank...4 stroke

[pike slayer]

the yami has alot of power, just givvvverr and dont stop cause you'll be stuck! when i was out on the lake i didnt even know i even went through slush till the sleds behind me caught up and were packed full of slush haha!!

[TDunn]

Nice Dr.S...

 

Geeez it was cold today...

 

TDunn

[rob v]

Nice video, great looking fish , thanks for sharing - but was this last year or a couple days ago ? - your date indicates jan 1 2009

[troutologist]

Good on you for getting out. Where we had the cabins for nye just iced over on tuesday....not for me. Didn't seem any vehicles parked on the drive up through the park on sat. some tracks are gmit and going down the road though.

 

I know that tree....wonder if you would do anygood fishing the stream out from the campsite or those logs across from it? I've done best across the last few years....don't want to move too much in those temps once the fire is going though.

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

good call on the date rob. haha!

 

 

 

troutologist, the original plan was to attempt that end of the lake but the slush was worse than any i've ever been in. if it had been just cold or just slush, one or the other we might have attempted the north end but given that we were semi-consistent success we didn't bother.

[Leecher]

Awesome video Dr.S

It certainly looked like a cold one out there..... Up here was -28C with the windshield

Great job on them brookies

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

[anders]

Good on ya for getting out....I made it out on the 31st when it was warm and we did well...we planned on going all three days but each day was getting cancelled due to the extreme cold...-30 here all three days around 730 am....cant really fish they way we wanted to with that so we stayed home....the cold just woke the giant though...gonna hit them hard the next few weekend thats for sure.

 

Nicely done again Doc!

 

P.S. Its nice to see also people letting them nice fish go and only keeping a a few for dinner....there is hope for us yet....and it makes it easier to tell ya where the trails are broken too

 

Did you see the new lake trout limit...not a nice slot size, but will definitly help the fish and keep a lot of people out of the area.

Edited January 4, 2010 by anders

[trapshooter]

cool video... literally. Elliot Brood is by far the best band I've discovered in a looong time!

[foggynotions]

Just some more lake conditions for the Sault Ste Marie / Ranger Lake / Highway 129 area:

 

Ranger Lake - 12" as of Sunday smack dab in the middle of the lake more around 8" some slush spots along the south shore

Penelope Lake - 10-12" all over some small pockets of slush

Desbarats Lake - 8" slushy and some open water going into the cut by Barbers Side Road

Wakomata Lake - Unknown - was there for the long weekend, still no one fishing it.. just recently froze over

Damn Lake - (north of Wakomata) slushy in spots with some open water in the back bay but where the trail comes on end of the lake 10"

Appleby Lake - (Hwy 129) hut on the lake and lots of sled tracks not sure of ice depths

Cummings Lake - 8" at the point off of Hwy 129 about 6 people fishing around 100ft out in the normal spot

Saymo - 10" and slush pockets at different areas of the lake and still open water at the swamp near the domtar end of the lake

 

I didn't get to all these spots but I was told by numerous friends and people that have been fishing. Hope this helps!

 

Len

Edited January 5, 2010 by ssmfishingguy