Ice Fishing Lake Abitibi for Pickerel

[potichnyj]

Hey Guys,

Heading up north to ice fish Lake Abitibi in the middle of February for a week or so. Don't have much experience on that particular body of water or with ice fishing for pickerel or pike for that matter. I have a pretty good idea of a few different baits and techniques to use, but I was hoping to hear from the other members of the forum to see if anyone had any recommendations in terms of what kind of jigs and set ups to use, what kind of lures to use, or any other useful information for Lake Abitibi. Has anyone here fished Abitibi yet?

Thanks in advance.

[Grimace]

I fished Abitibi in 2007. Great Lake to ice fish. Pretty shallow. You will get walleye and sauger all day and the odd pike. The pike that come around are usually pretty bloody big. Keep it simple, jig and minnow or spoons. Once the sun goes down it is ling city. The ling provide a great deal of entertainment.

 

You are going to catch plenty of fish. Have fun.

[mikdor]

Hey Guys,

Heading up north to ice fish Lake Abitibi in the middle of February for a week or so. Don't have much experience on that particular body of water or with ice fishing for pickerel or pike for that matter. I have a pretty good idea of a few different baits and techniques to use, but I was hoping to hear from the other members of the forum to see if anyone had any recommendations in terms of what kind of jigs and set ups to use, what kind of lures to use, or any other useful information for Lake Abitibi. Has anyone here fished Abitibi yet?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

Hi patriot

I have heard nothing but good things about lake abitibi and would like to go there this winter myself are you staying at a resort within traveling distance of the lake.I think if you want to know how to fish the lake you should p.m.Abitibi Ray

Please let me know what you find out Thanks mikdor

[Dabluz]

Ling are excellent eating. They are the only member of the cod family that live in freshwater. Don't forget to carve out the cheek muscles....they are huge and taste great.

[Moosebunk]

Ling are excellent eating. They are the only member of the cod family that live in freshwater. Don't forget to carve out the cheek muscles....they are huge and taste great.

 

Wonder how many people know that it was Satan who created the ling? Quite the little story from all the way back to the 8th day of the world's creation.

 

Just sayin.

 

This is a lake I want to ice fish. Good luck. Can't help you at all really. Hope to see a report.

[potichnyj]

I fished Abitibi in 2007. Great Lake to ice fish. Pretty shallow. You will get walleye and sauger all day and the odd pike. The pike that come around are usually pretty bloody big. Keep it simple, jig and minnow or spoons. Once the sun goes down it is ling city. The ling provide a great deal of entertainment.

 

You are going to catch plenty of fish. Have fun.

 

Thanks Grimace, you have definitely filled me with optimism for this particular trip. When you fished Abitibi in 2007 did you guys try fishing a jig head with salted minnows, or were you guys just using live minnows? I want to try to use a traditional pickerel rig with both live minnows and possibly saltys as well.

[potichnyj]

Hi patriot

I have heard nothing but good things about lake abitibi and would like to go there this winter myself are you staying at a resort within traveling distance of the lake.I think if you want to know how to fish the lake you should p.m.Abitibi Ray

Please let me know what you find out Thanks mikdor

 

We will be staying at Perry Lake Lodge, which is about 15-25 minutes from Abitibi on snowmobile from what I understand. Thanks for the heads up on Abitibi Ray, definitely will PM him later on this evening.

[potichnyj]

Wonder how many people know that it was Satan who created the ling? Quite the little story from all the way back to the 8th day of the world's creation.

 

Just sayin.

 

This is a lake I want to ice fish. Good luck. Can't help you at all really. Hope to see a report.

 

Moosebunk, I will definitely give a full report as soon as we get back. Lots of photos and hopefully a video or two as well.

[Grimace]

Thanks Grimace, you have definitely filled me with optimism for this particular trip. When you fished Abitibi in 2007 did you guys try fishing a jig head with salted minnows, or were you guys just using live minnows? I want to try to use a traditional pickerel rig with both live minnows and possibly saltys as well.

 

We were fishing with live minnows if my memory serves me correct. The water is shallow and really stained. The Walleye are light in colour. I was lucky enough to catch this 7.5 pounder.

 

You can see how clear the fins are. We were in a giant Bungalow style hut. Ray Blackburn was the guy we went with. I wonder if that is the 'Abitibi Ray' that these guys are talking about. Great guy anyways.

 

My Dad caught this Silver Pike up there too. FYI, it is just a Northern Pike with no pigment. Really cool looking fish. In person you can see how the sun reflects different colours off the scales. Really neat.

 

Here is our minnow bucket, just to give you an idea of the stained water you will be fishing.

 

For us there was lots of Walleye in the 16-20 inch range, a bunch of little Saugers and after the sun went down loads of ling to about 22 inches. Oh yeah, the Pike too.

 

 

 

Have fun. I have always meant to go back.

[potichnyj]

We were fishing with live minnows if my memory serves me correct. The water is shallow and really stained. The Walleye are light in colour. I was lucky enough to catch this 7.5 pounder.

 

 

You can see how clear the fins are. We were in a giant Bungalow style hut. Ray Blackburn was the guy we went with. I wonder if that is the 'Abitibi Ray' that these guys are talking about. Great guy anyways.

 

My Dad caught this Silver Pike up there too. FYI, it is just a Northern Pike with no pigment. Really cool looking fish. In person you can see how the sun reflects different colours off the scales. Really neat.

 

 

Here is our minnow bucket, just to give you an idea of the stained water you will be fishing.

 

 

For us there was lots of Walleye in the 16-20 inch range, a bunch of little Saugers and after the sun went down loads of ling to about 22 inches. Oh yeah, the Pike too.

 

 

 

Have fun. I have always meant to go back.

 

Thanks for the great pictures Grimace. Now I really cant wait to get out there. Ill be sure to give a full report when we return, hopefully ill be able to show off a few good photos of my own.

[bare foot wader]

Our group has fished twice with Blackburn, stand up guy, great fishing and good times....keep it simple, 4 or 5' of ice in 6-10' total, subtle jigging produced...I found a deep hole approx 12-15' and had steady action all day....up shallow was hot bites at dusk/dawn and randomly throughout the day

 

my most productive setup was a tip with a size 4 treble with either a large minnow on it or 3 medium sized ones wiggling around

 

jigging rod was a jighead with minnow

 

good luck.

[potichnyj]

Our group has fished twice with Blackburn, stand up guy, great fishing and good times....keep it simple, 4 or 5' of ice in 6-10' total, subtle jigging produced...I found a deep hole approx 12-15' and had steady action all day....up shallow was hot bites at dusk/dawn and randomly throughout the day

 

my most productive setup was a tip with a size 4 treble with either a large minnow on it or 3 medium sized ones wiggling around

 

jigging rod was a jighead with minnow

 

good luck.

 

Thanks Wader, any specific colour or size for the jig heads?