Prime Time Bite

Last night I finally got out. I headed over to my local lake to catch the prime-time bite at dusk. After I unloaded my gear at the public access, I headed out on foot a 1/4 mile to my spot. Luckily, this season I have my GPS unit with the MN Lakemaster chip. I was able to get right on the spot, in not time. I drilled a few holes around the inside curve of a deep flat, adjacent to a break-line and midlake hump. I hole hopped for little bit and then settled into my portable for prime-time. I wasn’t as productive as I could have been, though, as I was tinkering and adjusting my equipment, getting all the bugs and everything worked out, typical for the first trip of the season. I manage to catch two little walleyes about 10-22″. The deadstick was not productive. About a half hour after sunset, I had just charged and dropped a JB Lures Rattling Varmit tipped with the head of a fathead minnow and watched as a fish cam up off the bottom of the flasher. The fish took my spoon hard and a lengthy fight ensued. After a few minutes I saw the slipknot on my line near the hole, I knew the end of my line was near. I watched through the hole as a nice walleye flashed her belly and white tipped anal fins as she swam by. I finally got the fish up to the hole and onto the ice. The only tape I had was my ice scoop and one of those C&R stickers that the DNR had given out years back, 40″ in length.

I brought the fish up to the sticker on the side of my sled tub and I had a rough 23 inches. I didn’t get an opportunity to lay the fish out or pinch the tail, so it could’ve been longer. The girth on the fish’s belly was pretty outstanding, as this was definitely one of the fattest 23″ walleyes, I’ve seen outside of their spawning run.
Come 6 PM, I wrapped it up as the bite begins to tail off. A brief recap on the first official field test of my portable mods is as follows:
The reflectix worked well and cut down on frost quite a bit, only the canvas on the sides had frosted up lightly. The LED lights worked out nice. Plenty of light, but maybe a using the headlamp is in order to tie knots quicker. It is doable, but 2 lb test or smaller could get difficult if you have limp line, especially if you are threading the small eyelets found on light panfish jigs. Taking out the extra seat definitely provided some extra room. The insert I installed in my sled was nice; It’s always nice to have an extra flat surface to lay tackle or or other things on, like my bait puck.
Hopefully we’ll get some snow soon, and I’ll be able to test out the new rigid hitch with my snowmobile.

My New Toy

I finally broke down last weekend and bought a snowmobile. With the onset of global warming and el nino threating our way of life up here in the snowbelt, and the assault of four-wheelers everywhere, why a sled you may ask? Even my mom, who is clueless about ice fishing life, asked why I got a sled over a four wheeler. Here are a few reasons.
The Wind. The wind coming off the prairie in Northwestern Minnesota can be quite brutal. Snow drifts can overtake permanent houses in a matter of hours. Passage on big windswept lakes can be all but impassible with a four wheeler under certain conditions.
Slush. If this winter turns out to be anything like last winter, a snowmobile will be the only way around a lake. Due to heavy snowfall early in the year last winter, many lakes had a crippling amount of snow on top of the ice, causing it to sag and flood the surface. This created slush ice. Throughout most of the season until Late February, most area lakes were plagued with 12-18″ of slush. Many a four wheeler were at the mercy of the sled last winter, hoping to get a pull. Conditions were so bad that I didn’t even drive on the ice once last year.
Trails. Simply put, a four wheeler cannot legally ride down a snowmobile trail. Often times, a snowmobile trail provides the only link between two bodies of water, or the only access to a lake. This is critical if you like fishing untapped resources. This is also important if you like to tour several lakes in a close proximity of each other, without having to go through the hassle of trailering your equipment to each lake.
I realize that potentially, I could ride a four wheeler year round. But to do so comfortably in the winter requires a few modifications to the wheeler like a windshield and hand covers and warmers. Also, if you are ice fishing with friends who are on sleds, it may be difficult to keep up with them. I am not interested in trail riding a four wheeler in the summer, as I would rather spend time on the river fly fishing, so it was a pretty easy sell to go with a snowmobile. This has also opened up the realm of fishing big waters now, like Leech, Lake of the Woods, Upper Red, Snowbank, etc. without having to worry about driving a vehicle on the ice. I am excited! I think my mom now understands why I chose a sled over a wheeler.

Pack It Up

I hate to say it but I think today might have been my last day of the season fishing open water. I was fly fishing the Otter Tail River this afternoon for walleyes and pike, and only managed to hook up on two small hammer handles. I admit that it was pretty slow out there. While a cold front was rolling in, I watched ice starting to reform around the edges of the pool after the warm week we had melted down most of it. The cold breeze didn’t bother me much this afternoon, and neither did the ice freezing up on my line and guides. I had come prepared and brought my insulated pants, fleece cap, and windproof fingerless gloves. No, it was the sense of the changing seasons and the urgency that I should be fishing through the ice, not in open water. Even though I was all alone in on that river, in perfect solitude, my mind was preoccupied and the day was not enjoyable as it should have been. Sometimes, with my busy work schedule, these days on the water are few and far between. As I was standing by my truck cutting the fly from my leader, packing up, reflecting, I should be grateful for every chance I get to spend on the water, standing in a river, waving a stick.

Portable Mods

I’ve been tinkering the past few weeks. I’m in the process of modifying my portable ice house. There have been a lot of good ideas being shared by the members of Fishing Minnesota. I am fortunate to have that resource to bounce ideas back and forth. After much thought, I decided that I want a partial insert to install in my flip-over. While, many FMers opted for a full-length insert in their sleds, I wanted something that would still be able to utilize the open configuration of the sled, and have the option of easy removal. I fabricated an insert that will fit about one third of the length of my sled. It is constructed from ¾” plywood and I carpeted the entire surface with some excess indoor/outdoor from my front porch. I opted to install two 12V power points and two LED switches. I mounted the switches and power points on a roughly 4” x 6” aluminum flat mounted on top of a cut out in the insert. This allowed for easier installation of the threaded collared switches. I installed a couple of brass plates to serve as a common ground and power junction to a fuse block for the connected accessories. The fuse block runs to the switches. I’ve installed two strings of 6’ long LED rope lights along the tubing hoops on the ceiling of the shelter. I am also going to install two 12V computer fans on the ceiling as well, to help circulate heat. I will finish the ceiling with some reflectix insulation.

Last Days

With only a few days left in the Stream trout season (lakes), I headed down to my local trout lake. While watching the sun rise, I managed to hook into my first trout. Not much for size, about 10″ long, but still a good fight nonetheless. Gotta love those rainbows! The water temps had cooled down considerably and much of the emergent vegetation finally receded. Thoughts of ice fishing this lake this winter filled my head. The rustling of leaves quickly diverted my daydreaming to a forked buck browsing behind me. After a few moments, the buck passed, and I resumed my attention to the task at hand, fishing. I caught a few more yearlings before I finally hooked into something nicer. After a few minutes of fighting the fish, I finally landed the rainbow, it measured about 15″. I’ve caught bigger trout before, but this was nice. I hadn’t been trout fishing since Fourth of July weekend in the Superior National Forest and BWCAW. All in all, I caught 8 trout this morning, two of decent size. It was nice to get out one last time for trout this season and enjoy the fall breeze in my face. Before long, winter will be upon us and I will be back in a few months chasing those trout on the ice.