manitoubass2 Posted January 29, 2012 Report Posted January 29, 2012 (edited) Well, for the past few weeks my pops has been bugging me to go fishing with him. I always want too, but our schedules only allow us to get out together a few times per year. So when he called two nights ago asking if I was free to fish Sawbill, and I was, of course I said YES!!!! I grew up fishing this lake a a couple times per year, but I haven't really been in there for about ten years. So it had that "new lake" experience written all over it. We spent Friday night discussing what to do, where to go, over some beers. Always great times! We rigged up, got the sleds ready the night before and had everything set. Lights out at 11pm. Alarm goes off, it's 5am. Coffee and a quick breaky and were all set to go. Then we get a phone call??? Two other couples are rigged up and ready to head out. So we plan to meet, and were off. We had some discussion about which way to enter the lake, as there are numerous options. We made the wrong call. Heading down an unplowed road with nowhere to turn around, bummer. Lots of hills and about 14" of snow, and WAY longer then we expected the road to be, 12km to be exact. But we made it, thankfully. After a few good laughs and the "wonder how were gonna get outta here" talk, were all on sleds and off. Arrive on the lake about 645am. They have huts to set up, not us, we went without for this day. It was cold and VERY windy, about -20, winds about 50kmph. We picked a section of the lake partially sheltered by an island. None of us had fished it, but it was a wind block, and had a rock drop off right off shore that went 23FOW. We drilled about 20 holes while our day partners got shacks set up. Started dropping line and noticed we had landed in a great spot, right on some rock structure with depth differences by about 5ft. I like it, I was amped and ready to go! First line down for me, and I hand fed the line to the bottom. As soon as it hit, "thump", fish on!!! Eagerly awaiting to see what it was, I here fish on, and fish on again!" Saweet, we or on the spot!!! First three fish were small crappie, about 8"ers. This continued for awhile, but it was great fun. Soon, some 10"ers were biting! It died off for an hour or so, then our partner broke off a big pike right at the hole, boooo! She was a good one too. Right after that, he sets the hook. Looks like another decent pike??? Gets it up and lo and behold, the first smallmouth I had ever seen pulled outta that lake! A nice, healthy 2.5lber with a unbelievable shade of bronze. Then, just as fast as the bite turned off, it was back on! My first fish on the new bite was nice!!! Felt like a beauty. Get er to the hole and a quick measurement reveiled 11.5". Right on, great fish! Next bite, and then I knew it was on!!!! This was either a good perch, or a great crappie? It fought good (as good as it could fight anyhow), got it to the hole and grabbed it. Everyone asked me, what did ya get??? So I held it up, and everyone agreed it was a great fish, and the biggest they had seen from this lake. I was stoked, because without measurement I still knew it was a PB. Got the tape out and snapped a few pics as well. The fish was a tad over 13", but was chunky too. We struggled after that to catch keepers, but we had alot of action. We also got on some good perch too, which was a bonus. The action was good enough that we decided not to try for walleye later in the day. The ride out went well, and nobody got stuck! The bummer was, my camera didn't get used enough, and all the pics have blurry spots in the middle of the photos??? No idea why, but oh well. This was a great day, good company, fun times and fishing with the ol'man! Just perfect, weather included. Hope you all enjoy! Edited January 29, 2012 by manitoubass2
Nipfisher Posted January 29, 2012 Report Posted January 29, 2012 Nice fish. Looks like you might have some condensation (moisture) inside your lens. The pictures inside are clearer but it may be the warmth.
DaveMc Posted January 29, 2012 Report Posted January 29, 2012 nice craps. i need a good feed of them things.
mercman Posted January 29, 2012 Report Posted January 29, 2012 Great report Bud !!!Good on ya for getting out with your dad too. Thats time well spent on a huge scale. Great looking Crappies too.
Rod Caster Posted January 29, 2012 Report Posted January 29, 2012 sounds like a good mix of species on that lake. Congrats on the pb!
Leecher Posted January 29, 2012 Report Posted January 29, 2012 Looks like you had a wonderful crappie day Manitou Congrats on your PB Beauty
manitoubass2 Posted January 29, 2012 Author Report Posted January 29, 2012 Nice fish. Looks like you might have some condensation (moisture) inside your lens. The pictures inside are clearer but it may be the warmth. Yeppers. I took a quick look at the camera and discovered a tiny screw missing, so there was a small gap on the side of the camera. Thank for the comments guys, we sure did have a blast!
EC1 Posted January 29, 2012 Report Posted January 29, 2012 Nice job! Someone's gotta take me out for some secret spot crappies. My spots are all fished out! Hope you have a good fish fry!
manitoubass2 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Report Posted January 30, 2012 Nice job! Someone's gotta take me out for some secret spot crappies. My spots are all fished out! Hope you have a good fish fry! Come on over! Walleye tonight, crappie tomorrow! I'll take some pics. Gonna try something new with the crappie, can't wait!!!
brkygetr Posted January 30, 2012 Report Posted January 30, 2012 ah ...the wee Sawbill. I miss that place. Anyone who really loves crappie would love that lake. Awesome fishery dude, you did well. Did you by chance go up too the big lake and across to Otukamamoan (Trout)? I posted a report on here years ago about a wolf we saw on the ice up there. Another amazing ride that you can only reach via the ice. Someday I'll make it back. Your a lucky man.
manitoubass2 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Report Posted January 30, 2012 ah ...the wee Sawbill. I miss that place. Anyone who really loves crappie would love that lake. Awesome fishery dude, you did well. Did you by chance go up too the big lake and across to Otukamamoan (Trout)? I posted a report on here years ago about a wolf we saw on the ice up there. Another amazing ride that you can only reach via the ice. Someday I'll make it back. Your a lucky man. Nope, we never went anywhere else yesterday. I have fished big sawbill quite a few times though, both very good lakes! Next time though, I'm just gonna go through porters inlet. Much easier and we can hit some walleye after crappie fishing. Another week and were gonna hit up another lake, not sure which one though? Mainville maybe? Possibly go for some trout up the cedar narrows road? Who knows? So many amazing options within an hour of here it's ridiculous.
Pikeslayer8 Posted January 30, 2012 Report Posted January 30, 2012 Way to go man! Out fishing with your dad, very cool. Speaking of cool, you and your dad must be some sort of tough rascals to be out like that. Givin me shivers. Thanks for sharing your day!
Blue Lk Posted January 30, 2012 Report Posted January 30, 2012 I was down Hwy 502 to the Goldrock area on the weekend,we got some nice trout. Nothing really big,but lots of fun.
johnnyb Posted January 30, 2012 Report Posted January 30, 2012 Oh MAN those are some nice slabs!! Very well done
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