Long overdue report from Canada. Part IV

[Scombrus]

January 23


Hit Shoal Lake with Glen, Terry, Mark and his girlfriend and my buddy Lew. Shoal Lake is a fair way from where I live (2-3hours). I was out for revenge on the whitefish that had so far eluded me this year
Unlike last year there was not really an iceroad...going was bumpy, I got stuck at one point too. First spot we hit seemed like it was gonna be a banner day. Before everyone had a line down Mark's girlfriend got into a nice fat 4lber.
I dropped my transducer down the hole to watch my jig greeted by 3 large whitefish signals chasing my jig all over the water column with one committing to bite after 30 secs......then nothing! Even the hundreds of tulibee(lake Herring) and perch on screen ,which hit hard last year, would not touch anything sent down the hole....strange ???

After a few hours at that spot we hit the next spot...slightly deeper at 60'FOW......not even much bait fish on screen...I had a couple of whities follow my jig....no takers. Mark's girlfriend cooked a ground beef and beans concoction which was simple but freekin' delicious and Glen set the bed of his truck on fire making burgers for everyone which were equally tasty and well received on a brutally cold day.


LUNCH......HOT AND YUMMY!



After about 2 more hours we were about to pack up when Mark's girlfriend landed another whitie...we decided to stay but after no repeat customers at the holes we headed to another spot. This time slightly shallower in around 40'-46' FOW. Right off the bat I got a couple of nice fish...around 4-5lb.
Then Lew got into one for his second of the day. All this time the others were not getting a thing...and save for a jackfish I landed some 45 minutes after the last whitie that was it fish wise for the day. It was brutally cold and windy but fun as usual, we all decided to hit that lake again IN THE SPRING WHEN IT’S NOT SO FRIGGIN COLD!

The conditions were not conducive to filming but I got a few of the fish landed on video...........






January 25

Met up with Gord...who I met on another forum. After a whole host of reasons and excuses we (Tyler, Carmon and meself) got there at least an hour late. Somehow we managed to rocket past Gord who was already set up pretty close to where we came onto the lake and set about covering the whole lake (first time I’ve been there) looking for him.

After 15 minutes we decided that he had either never made it or packed up and left. So I told Carmon to set up while I just quickly went to look for the trail from whence monsieur Gord had come onto the lake. I found the trail and there was a set of fresh snowmobile tracks coming onto the lake. I followed the tracks back almost parallel to our tracks in and low and behold...there was Gord's shelter....HOW THE HELL DID WE NOT SEE HIM.....WE WERE THAT CLOSE HE HEARD US BLAZE BY(I use the term 'blaze' for effect....my sled don’t blaze anywhere with Carmon's fat arse on the back plus a 3 man Otter portable icefishing shelter!).

Anyhoo...I sat in with Gord...Carmon and Tyler in another shelter. Gord....great guy! Very easy going....outdoor enthusiast.....top fisherman.....hope he invites me out again!


Fishing was slow...Carmon got the 2 biggest, Gord got one about the same size as Carmon's and I got the quantity as opposed to Quality. All in all 5 trout landed in the 3 hours we were there. We had a few issues with the fish finders which was frustrating. My Lowrance and Gord's Vexilar worked pretty issue free side by side in his shelter, but as soon as Carmon,40' feet away turned on his Lowrance X67c...TOAST! Interference all over the screens.

Most of the fish came racing off bottom to grab white tube and bucktail jigs tipped with live minnows. We were in 63'-56' FOW. Weather was pretty foul, what’s new.....lol.

Gord is a great guy, easy going and good company, never felt like we had just met. We caught some decent supper size fish and had some banter about gear and other lakes.


HERE'S SOME PICS AND VIDEO FROM THAT MORNING






GORD WITH A NICE LAKER





NICE COLOURS ON THESE FISH






February 2

Met up with an old friend Ben and his buddy Greg for a shot at some whitefish and trout the lake I mentioned before where I’d failed to replicate the successes of my first few outings a couple of years ago. This time however we got into a lot of fish, the last time I went here with Ben everybody skunked!

After a few scares with my snowmobile on the way out, Greg a kindly donated a bottle of gasoline antifreeze , everyone was set up and fishing in 40'-30'FOW. I was in my shack and Ben started out in Greg’s pop-up. By the time Ben came to visit and fish in my shack....the two of them had hit at least 15 whitefish.

I was not having much joy. I did land the first of my 2 trout just as Ben came knocking, but the whitefish would not commit. Ben was having the same trouble until one hit a Northland minnow replica jig I had left dangling. After that the fishing picked up. All this time Greg was absolutely slaying the whitefish. Ben estimated he had over 25 fish this afternoon. Ben and I scored between 10 and 12 each, all but a couple were released. Ben got some trout too and a nice pike, I think Greg got a trout too.

All in all a fun day on the ice, and we were packed and on the road by 3pm.

Here's some pics and vid of the day.


APART FROM THE HOWLING WIND...GORGEOUS DAY (darn cold though)





BAIT AND WHITEFISH ALL OVER THIS REEF








THE FIRST WHITIE I GOT WAS AN ABSOLUTE TANK! 25.5" BUT THICK SHOULDERS AND HUMPBACK










MY SECOND LAKER WAS A VERY RESPECTABLE 32"( In my haste to put it back the sign went Australian)




AND SOME VIDEO CLIPS FROM THE DAY.........






February 7

Called my new buddy Gord last minute last night seeing if he wanted to go for a couple hours Laker fishing today...YUP...lol...he did. Off to Thunder Lake we went.

We discussed the potential slush situation, given he'd been out on a small trout lake and almost got stuck a couple days before, and the slush in front of my house has been knee deep all week. Slush is basically when the snow on the ice weighs down the ice and forces water up through cracks. This turns into a hideous slush which will bog down a powerful snowmobile doing 70mph dead in its tracks.

The temps have been an average of 0 degrees C for the past week...so things are pretty liquid out there given all the snow we've had this year.

Anyhoo, the plan was that despite being a heavy old beast of a triple cylinder , more suited to groomed trails, we would take only my snowmobile and the Equinox sled instead of the otter flip up to cut down on weight, so we could just power through the slush.

Slush was horrendous as anticipated(a little worse in fact) but with some hard packed snow right off the landing terminal velocity was achieved and we smashed through on the way out.

Getting back was another story. Despite Gord saying he'd walk the sleigh to the hard packed snow some 20 meters away, I convinced him (wrongly) that we should just pin the throttle and go.



BAD IDEA
We could not get any speed up from the start with both of us on there and got all of 10 meters before we were stuck. We pushed and pulled and shovelled and were out in 10 minutes or so....but...I would have been screwed if I was by myself.
Even worse I ended up flat on my arse in 12" of ice cold water....TWICE....ok when its as mild as it was...but this happening in -20 would be no laughing matter if I was solo and on a remote lake..... I HAVE LEARNED TO RESPECT SLUSH....was not nearly as bad as it could have been but an eye opener to what could be.
Anyway....twas not a picture taking day, but we did get some trout for our efforts...nothing big...in fact I got one that was not much bigger than 6" and another around 10"...good sign for the lake....and they both swam away happy as I slowed down the reeling up when I realized they were small so I did not blow their swim bladders out their rear ends!
We kept a couple of 19-22" fish for eats......50' FOW....trout coming in when the baitfish showed...which was rare...spent most of the 2 hours staring at the blank screen of my X67c.

[Salsburgh Angler]

Ive read all your reports today and i must say id like to have your life for a few weeks lol

No ice fishing here in Scotland,the fish got lucky

[..::Pike Pirate::..]

nice report! and some nice fish too