Long overdue report from Canada. Part I

[Scombrus]

Hi all,

I joined this forum when I was in England 5 or 6 years ago I think, hence my screen name ‘Scombrus’ (mackerel) which used to be my favourite fish to catch whilst sitting in a chair on a sun drenched pier in Plymouth, Devon. Despite there not being a mackerel within 100miles of my current location…I kept the screen name…lol.

I now live in Northwest Ontario in Canada, which has some incredible fishing. Completely different to any kind of fishing I’d done before save for the rods and reels. We live on the shore of Lake Wabigoon and when I’m not fishing there I don’t have to travel far by boat (summer) or snowmobile in winter to access some pretty amazing lakes and fishing…..lucky chappy I am.

I had intended to post some ice fishing reports last year, never got round to it, so here goes….my ice fishing season so far all in one go……it’s a very long report I strung together from the regular reports I do on a more local forum.

After dodgy weather conditions made for a slow start to the ice fishing season here, normal service has well and truly resumed.

Normally I will fish for Lake Trout over winter through the ice as this presents the best opportunity for ‘all day’ fishing, as walleye, on the whole, tend to be an evening bite only fish in winter.

However, this year family commitments mean I’m no longer able to fish ‘all day’ as much as I used to so getting out for the evening bite only has become a bit of a pattern. This has not dented the fun I get out of fishing, especially since I have discovered an incredible walleye fishery I can get to by snowmobile right from my house across a couple of lakes in about 15 minutes.

I have also revisited a lake I did very well on for Lake Trout and Whitefish a few years ago, but have failed to repeat those successes until this year....surpassing those previous good days fishing by quite some margin.

I have met a lot of new fisherpeople this year both online and in person and have amassed a considerable group of fishing partners and friends because of this.
Anyway...here are some reports from the beginning of December up to the present...


On Saturday 20th November I watched Lake Wabigoon go from open water to ice cover in one afternoon! There were still a few open puddles ...none the less...pretty cool!

I woke that day to strong winds and minus 15...I was watching the steam rise off the lake thinking...well there goes the last of the heat from the water...wasn't wrong! also temps were all due to be double digit minus and up to -21 nights on the 15 day forecast....should've only been a week and a half before I’d be drilling holes.

However the moment the lake froze..Literally that evening it started to snow, effectively insulating the new thin ice. By Dec 2nd it was still brutal for new ice. I headed out to Bear Narrows (Eagle Lake) with a friend hoping to find some early ice..No need for the lifejacket, rope or anything else...someone was down just before we were...the chisel went right through.
Barely 1 inch tops and we got out of there quickly.

We went straight back to my house , we noticed fresh deer tracks hugging the shoreline...not good...about 2 inches of white ice (frozen snow), water, and about 1 inch tops of ice under that...we needed some -20C for a steady week before we might have somewhere to fish...was gonna be a lonnnnnnng while before they even think about winter roads.

DECEMBER 2nd.......ITS GONNA BE A WHILE!









On December 5th My buddy Lew dropped by to help pack down the snow on my lawn with his long track snowmobile as the drifts get so high my 'trail' machine can’t get down to the lake without getting stuck, and it had not stopped snowing for the last 2 days...Another buddy Tyler came round later and did the same on his Arctic Cat Sno-Pro....at least now I was good to go except for the lack of ice...............

DECEMBER 5TH VIDEO




The next day I heard of a friend who had been fishing up the road, that was it...I had to get out. It had been pretty cold the night before and the trail that I had walked the day before was hard under foot. I went out as far as I dared, which was not far enough really as the fish tend to be a little deeper in front of the house. Anyway...here's my uneventful first line down of a new ice season....

DECEMBER 6TH.....FIRST LINE DOWN! VIDEO





That evening we got the mother of all snow dumps. Literally 3 feet in one night. Luckily though, although it stopped me going anywhere near the ice for a week, that next week temps were -30 Celsius all week. And on Sunday Dec 12 we finally went out for 'real'. Joining me on this trip were Lew, Moe, Carmon and Tyler.

We had to break trail in, but with Lew's Bearcat leading the way no dramas. Really nice to finally smell the fumes from the snowmobiles and get a hardwater outing under our belts despite temps @ -28C & the wind-chill a t-34C.




The lone heater for the Clam (sunflower heater) head snapped off....but Carmon managed to get it fixed, and with that, extra heat in the Clam....everyone set up outside .













Lew and I had some interested whitefish through the afternoon, as everyone waited for the much anticipated dusk walleye bite.







Tyler finally makes a dash for his deadstick and pulls up a nice eater walleye.







.......................... Followed by Carmon with a gorgeous fat walleye we guessed at somewhere between 21"-24" depending on who was estimating...back down it went.



Meanwhile back at the warm Clam, a nice eater walleye for Moe, not the kind of day everyone had hoped for, but it was sure nice to start off the 2010-2011 hardwater season with a bunch of great anglers.

I got some video footage as usual....here we go.....

DECMBER 12TH VIDEO

[pingu]

awsome pics there , an we moan about frost ion devon

dave

[MRG2000]

Welcome back to the forum

Awesome report and pictures , what a place to fishing ,awesome

[chrismc]

nice photos looks bloody cold there m8

[Portland Pirate]

You gotta be keen to fish in that temperature. Nice one.

[SIMPLE MAN]

Nice report mate
you guys are really lucky your country is still my favourite place that i have ever been lucky enough to fish,
And although its the other side of the country from you i hope to be back on the fraser river in sept 2012 for some of those salmon and two or three days sturgeon fishing
regards John

[barbelblanker]

Keep the reports coming. It brings another aspect to the forum. Also makes some of our winter fishing look a bit tame (even if it did get down to -15 here , which is probably warm over there ;).

[Woodsman]

Good report.
I'm also from Ontario but Southern Ontario.
Also on most local forums with the same name.

Best wishes: Rick

[Greenheart]

Great read & pics Scombrus & welcome back to the Forum.... Looking forward to reading this winters reports.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

fab report mate keep them coming !!!