First time out on the ice 2014!

[johnnybo1]

Hello community,

 

Went out on a fishing trip last Saturday for lake trout on K bay with my buddy Anthony. 5 am we headed out and half way there (25 min drive) I realized I had totally forgot to renew my fishing licence. With no stores open and no idea where the closest place was, I was in a panic. Thank god for technology as Anthony told me I can renew it over the internet. Good thing Anthony had his credit card on him as I was able to renew my licence and save the temp PDF on my phone. Not the best start to a day but it was a start indeed. We arrived and parked waiting for Anthony's friend Steve and his family to arrive watching the parking lot fill up within minutes. finally they had arrived with no where to park so we helped them unload and pointed them in the right direction to find parking close by. 20 minutes pass as we anxiously wonder where the hell they are we get a phone call from Steve, they had fallen into a 4 ft deep ditch. :rofl2:Steve met up with us while his wife waited for CAA to finally start our adventure. We could not believe the amount of people on the ice. As far as I could see in every direction was ice hut after ice hut just like a little village, It blew my mind. So we walked out about a kilometer and set up in pretty nasty winds good thing there was 4 of us as we set up 1 pop-up at a time. Once we got settled in I pulled out the mini stove and started working on breakfast ( good old bacon and eggs) while Anthony drilled the holes and got the buddy heater blasting. after the holes were drilled out, rods baited, bellies full and a nice warm hut, IT WAS TIME TO FISH. Regardless of a fun day on the ice cooking bacon and eggs and having a bunch of laughs me and my baddie could not seem to catch any fish. So at 3:30 we packed up dragged the equipment up a huge steep slippery hill and loaded up our vehicles. I was exhausted after dragging a sled packed to the limit up that brutal hill, I was ready for dinner.

 

While I was fishing here is what I did, I would let my lure drop to the bottom and then reel up 5-10 feet then jig until a fish would show up on the fish finder. I was told to reel up so that the fish would chase my lure but every time I did that either the fish would go right back to the bottom or chase it for a bit then go back down. I tried using a jig head with a big swim bait, spoons, live sucker, tipped spoons and even a rapala jig. We seen a ton of fish show up on the fish finder and 2 nice chases but no luck. I'm sure I just need more experience as it was my first time fishing lake trout but, is there something I'm doing wrong?

 

Should I be jigging on the bottom to entice a strike or should I use the reel up method for a chase?

 

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

Thanks and hope u enjoyed my little report.

 

Johnny boy

[Acountdeleted]

Its tough to say exactly. In 3 years of ice fishing, sometimes I still have no idea what the fish are thinking. Trying to pick up their moods can be like trying to figure out if a blind date is interested in you.

 

Here are some tips I would try for your next outing (Keep in mind, none of these may work, I'm still very new to this)

 

1) Set a few tip ups up right near the bottom, if you have a few people, set one up right on the bottom, then a foot off, two feet off, 5 feet etc. That will get the lazy or lethargic fish.

 

2) Try changing up the size of your offering. This time of the year, Lake Trout will hit just about anything but there is a chance you may have been dueling Whitefish or perch. They may have had interest but may not have been able to take in what you are offering. If I'm in a nice warm hut, I'll try just about every size, shape and colour in my tacklebox until I find something that works. You already did the hard part in finding the fish. It can only be so long until they take.

 

3) Try various retrieval speeds. If when you marked a fish, you were reeling in super fast and the fish would follow and then change their minds, slow it down. Or Jig and pause, jig and pause all the way up to the surface.

 

It can be maddening sometimes to draw fish in and then have them not hit, but for me that's all the fun. Trying to get into a fish's mind and figure out what its thinking.

 

Good luck in the future. Sounds like you still had a pretty good time once you got out regardless.

[johnnybo1]

Its tough to say exactly. In 3 years of ice fishing, sometimes I still have no idea what the fish are thinking. Trying to pick up their moods can be like trying to figure out if a blind date is interested in you.

 

Here are some tips I would try for your next outing (Keep in mind, none of these may work, I'm still very new to this)

 

1) Set a few tip ups up right near the bottom, if you have a few people, set one up right on the bottom, then a foot off, two feet off, 5 feet etc. That will get the lazy or lethargic fish.

 

2) Try changing up the size of your offering. This time of the year, Lake Trout will hit just about anything but there is a chance you may have been dueling Whitefish or perch. They may have had interest but may not have been able to take in what you are offering. If I'm in a nice warm hut, I'll try just about every size, shape and colour in my tacklebox until I find something that works. You already did the hard part in finding the fish. It can only be so long until they take.

 

3) Try various retrieval speeds. If when you marked a fish, you were reeling in super fast and the fish would follow and then change their minds, slow it down. Or Jig and pause, jig and pause all the way up to the surface.

 

It can be maddening sometimes to draw fish in and then have them not hit, but for me that's all the fun. Trying to get into a fish's mind and figure out what its thinking.

 

Good luck in the future. Sounds like you still had a pretty good time once you got out regardlesHey jeremy,

Hey Jeremy,

 

Thanks for the feedback. I will take that all into account next time I go out. I'm pretty sure the fish on the screen were either white fish or lake trout but most likely lake trout as the fish looked huge on the screen, way to big for perch but possible a large white fish. I tried several retrieves fast, slow, choppy, ect... but maybe your right maybe my offering was to big. I will try switching up my bait size and I'm going to pick up a few tip ups for my next outing. trying to figure out what they want is the best part that's why I love going out for bass in the summer.

 

Its all learning curve and I did have blast on the ice

 

thanks

[Acountdeleted]

If I get back before the season is up (I live in Edmonton right now). We could always meet up on the ice and swap techniques. 2 heads (and 4 lines) are better then 1.

[johnnybo1]

Yea that sounds great

 

2 heads (and 4 lines) are better then 1.

well said my friend well said. That sounds like a great idea give me a pm when your around.

[Rod Caster]

No advice from me, but I bet you slept hard that night!

 

Just the bacon and eggs on the ice makes that a good day.

[miller]

I was out Saturday as well, tried giving your friends a push but they got pretty deep in that ditch. Fish sticking tight to bottom are likely whiteys and I find they usually won't come more than 15-20ft off bottom, lakers will chase and commit big time coming up big time. I got 1 whitey n 1 laker, missed about another 6 hits.

[johnnybo1]

I was out Saturday as well, tried giving your friends a push but they got pretty deep in that ditch. Fish sticking tight to bottom are likely whiteys and I find they usually won't come more than 15-20ft off bottom, lakers will chase and commit big time coming up big time. I got 1 whitey n 1 laker, missed about another 6 hits.

Hey thx for trying to help out my buddie that was nice of you.. Glad u caught something I would of been happy with anything ! Hopefully my luck will be better next time I head out.

[johnnybo1]

No advice from me, but I bet you slept hard that night!

 

Just the bacon and eggs on the ice makes that a good day.

Yes bacon and eggs always makes a good day of ice fishing and you bet I slept hard. My back was burning like crazy but that's ok because I haven't been to the gym since I have been off on holidays. I needed a nice workout lmao.

[manitoubass2]

When all else fails, deadstick one hole with live bait/deadbait. Then again i shouldnt be giving advice for laketrout, never caught one under the ice, EVER... Haha. Sounds like you had a blast regardless!

Edited January 7, 2014 by manitoubass2