01-06-2019, 09:41 PM
Ice_sled invited me to tag along when he went to Fish Lake Saturday. We fished across the road from the store on the south end of the lake. We went as far out as the furthest groups. That proved to be 51 fow and we decided to go back shallower. The night before SBennett gave me some hints and I wanted to fish at around 16'. After some trial and error we landed at 16.4'. Before I could get in the water Ben had a perch flopping on the ice. I had to re-rig from my last trip but soon caught one and then another. Whew, the one-fish-only curse was not going to apply today. The action was constant and Ben ended up with over 80 perch while I got half that. They averaged about 8". To my delight I caught several splake, a first for me. I also iced a couple of rainbows. The best two trout were 14".
Most all my fish were caught on a #8 white glow Ratfinkee or a white-with- orange-stinger Atomic Teaser, both tipped with perch. On another setup I had on a perch-colored Jigging Rap with a plain hook baited with perch belly strip a foot above it. I caught a number on the bait but none on the Rap. Ben used a firetiger Rap and caught something like seven in a row, but he's a lot better jigger than I am. The fish would bite on jigging or while deadsticking. The bite was often light and tentative while other times they slammed it. The perch were down on the bottom. The trout were sometimes suspended at maybe 10 feet. I would let the lure down until I just lost visibility and let it sit there. Some of the perch also bit at that depth.
So two firsts for the day: first time fishing Fish Lake and first splake ever. That brings my species count for the Challenge to six which would tie me with SkunkedAgain, not bad company to be in. Now if I could just start catching some bigger fish like he does. Next time down I'll try for some macks; that should do it. 'Twould be another first.
If you go be aware that the ice is mostly clear of snow and is very slick. I didn't even think about taking any cleats like Ben did and I walked very gingerly to keep from slipping and followed patches of snow where I could. The ice and water were so clear that at one point I could see trout cruising just under the surface below my feet. I could also see numerous cracks. There was 8" of ice but it got very noisy as the day progressed and made us a little nervous.
All-in-all one of the pleasantest days I've spent on the ice. We didn't try to bust on down there by first light and didn't actually start fishing until 10:00. We were on the road home again right at 2:00.
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Most all my fish were caught on a #8 white glow Ratfinkee or a white-with- orange-stinger Atomic Teaser, both tipped with perch. On another setup I had on a perch-colored Jigging Rap with a plain hook baited with perch belly strip a foot above it. I caught a number on the bait but none on the Rap. Ben used a firetiger Rap and caught something like seven in a row, but he's a lot better jigger than I am. The fish would bite on jigging or while deadsticking. The bite was often light and tentative while other times they slammed it. The perch were down on the bottom. The trout were sometimes suspended at maybe 10 feet. I would let the lure down until I just lost visibility and let it sit there. Some of the perch also bit at that depth.
So two firsts for the day: first time fishing Fish Lake and first splake ever. That brings my species count for the Challenge to six which would tie me with SkunkedAgain, not bad company to be in. Now if I could just start catching some bigger fish like he does. Next time down I'll try for some macks; that should do it. 'Twould be another first.
If you go be aware that the ice is mostly clear of snow and is very slick. I didn't even think about taking any cleats like Ben did and I walked very gingerly to keep from slipping and followed patches of snow where I could. The ice and water were so clear that at one point I could see trout cruising just under the surface below my feet. I could also see numerous cracks. There was 8" of ice but it got very noisy as the day progressed and made us a little nervous.
All-in-all one of the pleasantest days I've spent on the ice. We didn't try to bust on down there by first light and didn't actually start fishing until 10:00. We were on the road home again right at 2:00.
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.