Perching

[DanD]

I asked last week about the ice road to and from Georgina Island; thanks for all the replies and concerns.

 

Well I can tell you first hand that I used it; along with the hundreds of other vehicles, it was/seemed fine. My Niece was also told by one of the year round residents of the island; that with them continuingly plowing it, keeping the snow clear from the road; that it had built a lot of ice and was “safe” to use.

So right or wrong we drove across; didn’t see any signs of slush, pressure cracks and the road looked like a four lane highway, smooth as glass.

There were hundreds of huts out there; mostly on the north side of the road.

My Niece and her husband have two huts out there; my old blue tarp and plywood folding one; that they use as a portable. And a six man wood framed insulated one that they took out and planted about 1/2-3/4 mile South East of the island, North of the ice road, in about 20 FOW. The portable was only about a 1000 feet from shore, in-front of the trailer in about 5 FOW; that the girls were going to use; something about the bathroom being close by.

We headed out to the larger hut the next morning at day break; set up the heater, the underwater camera and dropped our lines down. Then for the next 4 hours we watched the perch swim up to our bait, bump it with their nose and then swim away. We tried everything we could think of too get them to bite; but only two little six inchers were brought in and thrown back. There were hundreds of perch down there, with what looked like some really nice big ones in the mix. I was bouncing my jig tipped with a minnow off of their heads; it wouldn’t scare them away or cause a reaction bite; nothing seemed to work.

So around lunch time we decided to head to the trailer for some eats and see how the girls were making out on the way in.

Well wouldn’t you know it; they had a count of over 2 hundred perch caught, out of which about 40 that they kept in the 10-12 inch range.

Needless to say after lunch we hooked on the six man hut and hauled it back into the five/six foot deep water.

It was like a different day; the fish were very spooky; the slightest noise in the hut and they would scatter. Wait 10 or 15 minutes and they would come back and back in groves. Lots of dinks to pull your bait away from but there were some bigger fish there as well. At the end of the day; we didn’t limit out but had a nice sized batch of fish for supper.

Turned out to be a great weekend and talk about nice having a fully functional trailer, with all the amenities as home, only a thousand feet away from the fish hut.

Woke-up Sunday morning, had a coffee, got my boots and coat on and I was fishing in about 30 minutes of getting out of bed.

Didn’t take many pic’s; but here are a few.

 

Inside the trailer after the Friday night fishing strategy/drinking session.

 

The mascot; that frigging dog grabbed a hold of one of my boots while I was riding on the quad and bit a hole through it. My Niece said that’s nothing; they have had to buy three new tires for the quad; because the dog will bite at the sidewalls and puncture them while they’re driving. I told her it would be cheaper to build him a seat and let him ride.

 

My old folding hut; the thing has to be at least 10 years old and still going strong.

 

This is to show how close we were to shore; that’s the trailer (centre) in the back ground

 

Here’s a couple of the nicer sized perch; from Sunday morning. Two days worth of bed and hat head, kept the toque on my noggin. I never knew my hair could stand up in so many different directions; I looked like a punk rocker. LOL

 

Like I said there were a ton of these little guys; that wouldn’t leave your line alone.

 

Going to try and get up there again after the West side of the island/lake freezes up and try some deeper water.

Some people were out there; but one of the island residents said they were nuts for doing so. He said there were still a bunch of slushy spots and some open water.

The ice between the island and Virginia Beach was an average 12-14 inches; everywhere we punched a hole.

 

Dan

Edited January 17, 2011 by DanD

[mercman]

looks like a little piece of heaven ya got there.By the looks of the dog, you're lucky to have all your toes.

Thanks for sharing.

 

 

[Terry]

don't you love it when you can see them and they just will not bite

[Rod Caster]

100 iced fish will make you change your ways won't it? hehe. good job.