Diary of an Ice Newb

[MJL]

Up until last year, my basic fishing calendar for most of my life went like this:

 

- ice out till mid may = Steelhead

- Mid may till mid October = carp

- Mid October till ice up = Steelhead

- Freeze up = Build rods, tie flies and live through the TV fishing show hosts like Bob Izumi, Daryl Choronzey, The fishin’ Canada crew and others on the Global network Saturday mornings between 7am and 9:30am…Italo at 10am on TSN (I don’t have WFN)

 

Last year I incorporated a few fishing trips for brook trout and resident brown trout into the mix.

 

I’ve only been ice fishing twice in my life before…Both times for steelhead in one Lake O trib when it remained frozen solid with 5 inches of ice after 3 days of +4 degree temps…I showed up to the river only to find the locals ice fishing and doing OK…They felt pity on me for showing up decked out in waders and wielding a 14ft float rod. They drilled a hole for me and handed me one of their spare rods (5’6” medium light ugly stick). I managed to catch a total of 6 steelhead through the ice in those 2 trips and had a blast but I never really gave it another thought to try ice fishing again or buy equipment for it.

 

Six years later (as of this January) several of my friends convinced me to try ice fishing again for the lakers – Namely Jet, Kelfun & Frozen Fire.

 

It’s been over 10 years since I caught my last laker. The last 3yrs I’ve been trying for them without luck in the Niagara – Pesky steelhead always seem to get to the bait first. Definitely pumped to land another. My first and only laker at age 15…Most people still say I look like a kid

 

 

January 22, 2010

 

Popped into a couple tackle shops to pick up a variety of lures to try for lakers recommended by my friends as well as a number of people here on OFC.

 

Picked up some spoons, tubes, bucktail jigs and some Li’l Foxee jigs… I actually called Kelfun from BPS asking him “Is it normal for a Williams ice jig to have 7 hooks on it? Are they legal?”

 

Basic lure tackle box

 

Back in the day, I was a fishing nerd collecting whatever magazines and newspaper articles I could find. I usually skipped reading the ice fishing articles/issues but I guess they’ve become quite handy now. Some alternate bed time reading when I should’ve been studying for a financial exam – Several of the articles were written by soon-to-be OFNers

 

 

Also watched numerous vids on youtube as well as watching the ice fishing episodes of Getting Hooked with Aaron and Barry to get me in the mood…Ice fishing mood that is

 

January 24, 2010

 

Jet and his girlfriend, Kelfun, Frozen Fire (Anthony) and I hit up Lake Simcoe. Not exactly sure where, we walked a long way into the middle of nowhere, jumped over a couple pressure cracks (which before actually seeing them, I was a little freaked to do) and wandered around drilling holes and checking the depth.

 

Kelfun and Frozen Fire are also new to ice fishing but they already had a number of trips under their belts as well as the gear…Jet loaned me a rod, I bunked in Frozen Fire’s pop-up hut and Kelfun let me use the Vexilar he borrowed from his other friend. I brought my old Eagle Cuda 128 fish finder which really didn’t work all that great in cold weather…It seemed to work OK for an hour once inside a heated hut but still didn’t read at deeper depths all that well.

 

I blanked on that trip but got to see Jet land 4 nice lakers. I learned how to read a fish finder a lot better after getting to use Jet’s Humminbird for a couple hours (I saw 3 fish rise up off bottom and chase my lure for a bit before going back down – insanely frustrating!). Jet also prepared some TASTY TO THE MAX cheese filled sausages for lunch. Two schools of herring swam right below the hut…My fish finder went from reading 100ft to 23ft…I never saw anything like that before (Not counting the Discovery Channel). I was really excited to get out for a next time.

 

Simcoe laker skunk #1

 

January 28, 2010

 

I bought several med-action ice rods and stocked up on some more lures to try…I bought a broken ice rod for cheap and did some repairs by changing a couple of guides. It was 31 inches before, now it’s 28 inches long or so. Also changed guides on one other rod to larger, oversized ones to reduce ice build up when fishing outside in below freezing conditions.

 

Watching epoxy dry at 1am in the morning.

 

Along with my old 2000 Shimano Stradic, I also bummed my dad’s 2000 Daiwa Emblem Z and 2000 Daiwa Advantage to put on 2 of my rods when he wasn’t looking . 3 ice outfits ready to be Christened.

 

January 30, 2010

 

Fished a lake in Central Ontario with Jet & girlfriend, Kelfun, Anthony & his girlfriend + a bunch of their friends. I actually met a cousin of my cousin at McDonalds on the way up and he was going to be fishing with us (Small world eh)

 

My fish finder didn’t work very well despite being in a heated hut…I guess it didn’t have enough juice to see a jig falling or fish below 60ft of water – I fished blind all day. The other guys were catching decent numbers of fish on a variety of baits and though I had a few solid hits on some soft plastics and minnows, I was still fishless…An hour before we had to leave, I get one fish to take on my 2nd rod with a minnow just dangling 2ft off bottom.

 

Finally managed to land my 2nd ever lake trout. I thought it was a brookie at first.

 

It was super wriggly and wouldn’t hold still for the camera

 

I was expecting a laker to be a little bigger and sorta reeled him up a little too quickly…I don’t think he burped out on the way up and had some trouble going back down till he let out some gas a couple minutes later with some reviving. Great day overall albeit cold at -25 degrees. The portable hut & heater definitely made it comfortable.

 

February 3 & 4, 2010

 

Figured I had enough of fishing blind without a decent fish finder. Decided not to go with a Vexilar type unit…I get car sick watching the lights flashing up and down in a circle - I'm surprised more people don't suffer from seizures by looking at them all day. I also like the fact you can see the history of all the lines as they scroll across the screen with a graph. Ended up getting a new Humminbird 343c on Clearance and my dad made it into a portable unit using a cooler bag (which I have to thank my mom for), some wood, foam, Velcro (to strap the battery down) and some wire connectors to hook the unit to the battery. Using Jet’s method of using a wooden stick, zip ties and a clamp, my dad fashioned something similar for the transducer. Turned out nicely - Thank dad!

 

 

 

For those wondering the 2 blue plastic rectangular pencil holders hold the battery in place and the glad tupperwear is used as a stand to put the screen on top of when in use…It also serves to keep my lunch warm if need be.

 

I bought a new auger as well - 8” Fin-bore III which really does make cutting holes way easier than the other augers I’ve tried. I found the inline augers like the HT and Eskimo ones that my friends have are more tiring and difficult to use (maybe because I’m generally not that big of a person or have the right technique). Either case, the new Fin-Bore cuts through way easier.

 

 

February 6, 2010

 

Back to Lake Simcoe again with Anthony, Kelfun and Okuma Sheffield. We tried 5-6 different locations, marked fish in 96ft of water and got a few fish to chase but none would commit to taking our baits. We’re still learning what to do when that happens. I had one fish follow my lure from 96ft to 40ft and then drop back down to the bottom – he was on it for 30-40 seconds.

 

In 116-125ft of water we drilled a few holes and set up the huts…I jig my bait 2 feet off bottom and notice a fish coming to investigate it. I raise the tube jig up a little and it follows…I slowly reel up and up and it follows…In 60ft of water I feel tension on the line and set the hook…I slowly reel it up to the surface (it wasn’t fighting much) and realize it wasn’t a laker that I hooked…It was a 13 inch cisco that smashed my 4 inch tube

 

Torpedoed it back down the hole without a pic (you can’t keep them on Simcoe – I love eating herring)…That was the only fish we caught that day. It was also the first Cisco I’ve ever caught – Another species to check off the list. We had a number of fish chase and come by to investigate but none would actually take our baits…Insanely frustrating to the max!

 

Simcoe laker skunk #2

 

 

February 14, 2010

 

Hit up Simcoe with Anthony…We got to the lake at 6:30am before sun up hoping to cash in on an early bite (if there was going to be one)…After drilling the first 2 holes and sticking the fish finder through the ice, we marked fish hugging bottom. All day we had schools of fish come and go through below our hut…I fished outside most of the morning with winds to 40 clicks blowing. I ended up going into the hut around noon when the wind got really bad. I wasn’t uncomfortable in 5 layers of fleece and gore-tex…The snow which kept piling up on my gear and fish finder was more of a problem than the cold.

 

In the end we blanked.

 

Simcoe laker skunk #3

 

February 18, 2010

 

In a desperate attempt to enhance the mojo of my lures, I modified a few. Epoxied on 3D eyes onto a few spoons and used a tip from Italo on putting a plastic Jensen egg on the treble.

 

Tied up a few ‘Polar hair jigs’ made up of polar fiber and polar bear fur from a tiny square patch I inherited many years ago from a fly tying mentor. Apparently polar bear hair pulsates more underwater than bucktail – at least according to anglers fishing for the giant Gerrard rainbows in Kootenay lake, BC…Polar bear trolling flies are a staple for them and I was hoping deep water lakers would enjoy them too.

 

Bottom view: Tied in a few strands of red Krystal flash to simulate gills and stuck on another 3D eye on bottom…3 eyes are always better than 2

 

Top and bottom left: Polar hair jigs. Top right, bucktail with integrated rattles. Bottom right: Polar fiber jigs

Edited March 14, 2010 by MJL

[MJL]

February 21, 2010

 

Hit up Simcoe with Anthony. Marked a ton of fish on the finder hugging bottom. They wouldn’t swim up more than a foot. I lost 1 fish all day which didn’t feel all that big but pulled drag for a brief moment. Fished from 8am to 2pm. Only a few chasers and fish that remotely showed interest. We blanked in the end

 

Simcoe Laker skunk #4

 

February 27, 2010

 

Hit up Simcoe again with Anthony from 8am-4pm and very determined to prove that we don’t suck at ice fishing. Anthony hooked one which came up funny and wouldn’t come up the hole – It was wrapped up in the line. For 6min we tried reaching 18 inches down the hole to try to grab it…Line broke off in the end – It was around 6-8lbs. Anthony went 0/2…I didn’t have any action beyond a few fish that investigated my lure 10ft off bottom.

 

Simcoe laker skunk #5

 

March 6, 2010

 

Most likely my 2nd last chance of hooking a laker during ice season on Simcoe. Crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Jet accompanied Anthony and I on the trip back to Simcoe. Also joining us was Jet’s girlfriend, his sister and her boyfriend. With 6 people, I was hoping to at least see 1 laker caught. After 5 weeks of blanking on Simcoe lakers, I was willing to hook into just about anything!

 

Minutes after setting up, Jet lands a nice laker. I marked a few fish on bottom on my fish finder as well…I had 2 rods going. 1 rod had a shiner minnow doing its thing on bottom and 1 I was using for jigging.

 

Saw my minnow twitching on the finder (which was pretty amazing to watch considering I was in 103ft of water). I looked over to my right and saw my titanium wire indicator bouncing up and down. Picked up the rod, set the hook and all hell broke lose. Line was peeling off the reel – I was in a state of Euphoria . Definitely a decent fish on the line. After a few minutes of give and take, its head popped through the hole and Anthony grabbed it for me.

 

First decent laker through the ice...First decent fish since New Years eve

 

 

The release

 

Jet was a fishing machine hooking and landing lakers with regularity. Both Anthony and I were watching his every move trying to figure out the intricacies of ‘the laker chase’. Noon time, I relocate to another area with Anthony and noticed some super aggressive fish on my finder. Sweeping up on the jig, I hook into something solid and I’m into my 2nd fish of the day. It literally went warp speed from bottom to 8ft off bottom to smash my tube. The finder barely registered the fish as it was swimming so fast – I only saw a few faint dotted lines making their way up to my lure.

 

Got it to the hole after a good battle and Anthony grabbed it for me. My 2nd laker of the day

 

Managed to finally kill the skunk. I felt more relieved than anything. Anthony lost 1 fish which hit a minnow. Not even sure how many fish Jet landed and lost…He had the magic hole.LOL

 

March 10, 2010

 

Most likely the last ice trip of the year for Simcoe. Quite optimistic about catching something considering the luck we had during the weekend. Jet, Anthony and I took a day off from work. We were really hoping Anthony was going to break his Simcoe skunk. We drilled about 40 holes all day over water from 49ft to 108ft. It wasn’t meant to be. Jet got one cisco early on in the day and Anthony lost 1 fish. Saw tons of ciscos on the fish finder all day but marked very few other fish. I had 2 fish zoom up from bottom in 95ft to try to intercept my falling spoon at 50ft…They turned away at the last second.

 

Simcoe laker skunk #6

 

My ice gear is currently being put in storage and my steelhead stuff is slowly coming out bit by bit. Ice fishing for lakers is by far the most challenging type of fishing I’ve ever done. Definitely gotta thank Jet for showing us the Jedi ways for lake trout over the last couple of months and giving us numerous tips . Though Anthony and I blanked on almost every trip out on Simcoe, we took it as a learning experience and a great way to get into ice fishing. Each trip we walked around a few kilometers drilling holes and lugging stuff around – we got plenty of well needed exercise to get us in shape for steelhead season. In general, ice fishing for lakers makes a tough day of steelheading look and feel easy (at least for now).

 

Some other highlights of my ice fishing season:

 

- Watching Anthony stick his hole arm into freezing cold water in attempts to grab his fish (which eventually did break the line)...Ironically he was up till 3am the same morning getting a hook out of his finger at the Lindsay hospital...Dedication right there

 

- After smearing my tube jig with scent and dropping down the hole I realized I forgot to tie it onto the line X 2 (it was a long day)

 

- The bi-weekly tradition of stopping in at McDonalds on the 400 for the greasiest, fattiest, most unhealthy meals we could order after a rough day on the ice. Super-sized with an apple pie

 

Quote of the season:

Jet: “Mike, you’ll get one eventually…lakers are like steelhead…They’re just trout.”

Mike:“No they’re not…They’re char…They’re demon spawn!”

 

 

Fun times for sure…After a spring and fall season of steelheading and a summer worth of carp, I’ll definitely be interested in another laker quest on hardwater next winter…At the moment molten steel is bubbling up in my veins!

 

Hope you enjoyed

Edited March 14, 2010 by MJL

[bassman87]

cool thanks for sharing

[EC1]

Haha Nice Job Mike!

Too bad I didn't end up making it out to go for the lakers with you guys, Would have loved it!

[Leecher]

Mike, thanks for posting your hard water adventures..... was a great read

and welcome to ice fishing

Not easy to be limited to an 8" inch hole but somewhat rewarding when you can get into some.

I admire your persistence and trying new things.... you certainly got rewarded big time when you got the skunk off your shoulders that was a couple of beauty lakers congrats

Looking forward to your steel reports!!!

Jacques

[The Urban Fisherman]

Thanks for the bedtime read mjl! Great detailed report!

 

Looking forward to some of your seasonal steelie and carp reports...

 

Cheers,

Ryan

[BillM]

Mike, that's a great recap!!!

 

I learned awful quick on Simcoe if the fish aren't into the chasing game, it's time to move. I can't even count the hours I've spent staring at the graph at inactive fish.

 

This was the first year I really got into icefishing, luckily I made out pretty well...

[Guest Hauki]

This post is just perfect, catches, explanation of the tackel and the lures, and beautifull pictures.

Congratulations for that big lake trout, and for releasing it.

[KelfuN]

still got plenty of ice up north

 

but can you resist catching double digits spring steelheads??

[Victor]

Really enjoyed the read Mike ... i try to not think fishing too much during this time of the year, especially with all the school work ... but this sure got my blood going.

 

It sucks that I couldn't join you guys on the laker hunt this year, be sure to count me in for the next one though!

[BFSC Kevin]

Hey victorrrrr . Me too me too. Have u seen jerry lately?

[tknohpy]

One of the best reports I have ever read, thanks! Was great to follow your adventures.

[alphaalpha]

Great read! thanks for posting. I just got out to simcoe for the first time this year as well, then went two more times. Got skunked all 3 but have been learning lots from various people here on the boards and am definately looking forward to next year. I spent a fair amount of coin on gear this year so a finder wasn't in the budget. Hand drilling a million holes and fishing blind gets old quick. Next year i will definately have one and hopefully that will make the difference.

 

Thanks again for the post, was inspiring and i am looking forward to next year even more.

[Spiel]

Nice morning read Mike, well done.

 

Boy when you decide to test new waters you jump in with both feet.

That's a lot of new gear and those jigs look awesome!

 

Congrats on icing a few lakers, they're sweet.

[johnnyb]

That's a great report, man!! Congratulations on nailing those Simcoe Lakers -- I have yet to get one from Simcoe, although I don't get to it very often. You are a better man than me....there's NO WAY I would've let that first Simcoe laker go after that many skunkings...woulda fried it up post haste!!!

[tibbs]

Fantastic Report MJL!

 

I just got into ice fishing this year as well.

[douG]

That report was an icefishing clinic, MJL. It was a great read, sharing the journey of an already great fisherman finding a way for the first time to bring some very nice lakers to the sunshine. Just a great report. TJ, put this one in the FAQs.

[Tybo]

Nice Fish!

[frozen-fire]

February 21, 2010

Some other highlights of my ice fishing season:

 

- Watching Anthony stick his hole arm into freezing cold water in attempts to grab his fish (which eventually did break the line)...Ironically he was up till 3am the same morning getting a hook out of his finger at the Lindsay hospital...Dedication right there

 

- After smearing my tube jig with scent and dropping down the hole I realized I forgot to tie it onto the line X 2 (it was a long day)

 

- The bi-weekly tradition of stopping in at McDonalds on the 400 for the greasiest, fattiest, most unhealthy meals we could order after a rough day on the ice. Super-sized with an apple pie

 

 

Excellent recap on our ice fishing adventures this year.

Hopefully next year, we do better!

 

I still laugh out loud everytime I am reminded of your tube falling down the hole... and us playing around with the finder in flasher mode to see something going straight down quite fast. "Quick! Intercept it!"... when we finally realized it was your jig that fell down the hole, it was so hilarious! HAHAHA.

[camillj]

Fabulous report .. thanks for sharing .. I am still not sure why I am sitting here reading reports and not out for my absolute last time on hardwater lakers .... hmm could it be the rain

 

Anyhow ... cant wait to get busy on steel ....

[kickingfrog]

Anybody else have a mental picture of MJL standing 14 feet away from a hole in the ice?

 

I like the idea of adding "eyes" on the ice jigs.

[JohnF]

Anybody else have a mental picture of MJL standing 14 feet away from a hole in the ice?

 

I like the idea of adding "eyes" on the ice jigs.

 

I wanna know if his little strike alarm thingy ever freezes up.

 

JF

[young_one]

Nice summary of your winter.

May the force be with you, next winter. For now, go back to what you are good at, steelhead and carp!

[MJL]

Thanks guys for the comments...Really appreciate them

 

Boy when you decide to test new waters you jump in with both feet.

 

Hey Chris...It's the only way to go

 

That's a great report, man!! Congratulations on nailing those Simcoe Lakers -- I have yet to get one from Simcoe, although I don't get to it very often. You are a better man than me....there's NO WAY I would've let that first Simcoe laker go after that many skunkings...woulda fried it up post haste!!!

 

I wasn't exactly sure what size laker I should be keeping or what size laker would be the most tasty. I was thinking the ones I got were a little on the big side to eat...Mind you I was definitely hoping for a smaller pan-sized one for the table that day

 

I wanna know if his little strike alarm thingy ever freezes up.

 

JF

 

Hey John...If you're referring to the titanium wire indicator thingy with the red bead on it, they do freeze up when fishing outside in negative temps. I do put Stanley's ice off paste on it the night before and apply chapstick onto it during the day as needed - Freeze up is minimal...I had more problems with the line icing up and I had to break off the ice (usually with my teeth) before I could reel in. I also apply stanley's ice off paste onto the line as well which helped.

 

If you're thinking of the electronic bite alarms I use for carp...They definitely do in freezing rain (first hand experience)...The batteries also don't like the cold. I was so tempted to use them on the ice this season on my dead stick rod...I salivate everytime I hear mine go off

[JohnF]

If you're thinking of the electronic bite alarms I use for carp...They definitely do in freezing rain (first hand experience)...The batteries also don't like the cold. I was so tempted to use them on the ice this season on my dead stick rod...I salivate everytime I hear mine go off

 

I had this vision of you kicking back in a lawn chair with the sausages popping on the bbq while you sipped koolaid and pulled on a big ole stogey. Or is that Victor I'm thinking of?

 

JF