Wednesday afternoon my son and i headed to the cottage for some Nip hardwater action. Temperature when we arrived was -20. Got up at 730 on the 9th (Thursday) grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to Bowmans to grab some minnows. In years past we have always gotten on at Wades Landing/Fish Bay Marina at the very southern tip of the lake and rode to where we were headed from there. The last few years we have been fishing the Manitous a lot and that was our plan for this trip. From Wades that is over 20 km and with basically no snow on the lake Thursday plus a rather bad outcome last time i tried this we decided to drive to the Government dock in North Bay and get on there. Only a 10 km ride from there.
We got on at the dock and rode about 7 or 8 km on almost completely bare ice. Checked my sliders once in a while and they were fine - studs and scratchers were doing their jobs. At this point there was a pressure crack running north/south. Crack was only one foot wide at this point so just found a spot with low edges and crossed.
We set up the popup but the ice was so hard we were unable to get the anchors in for the pop-up. We instead ended up tying off to the snowmobile and the toboggan and poured a small amount of water on the skirt in places to strategically freeze it in. The setup:
Ice thickness was 13 to 13.5 inches of hard black slippery as F ice. At one point drilling holes i started to spin around the hole instead of the auger spinning. Ice was very loud all day with the odd small quake.
Fishing was good all day. Combo of walleye, perch, pike and ling:
Had to measure this guy back at the cottage as my board is only 30 inches long:
Only one walleye in the slot on Thurday. Typically walleye were around 14 inches:
Thursday on the ride out the crack was basically unchanged and crossing was easy at the same spot. Friday (10th) morning it was -19 when we left. Crack was again basically unchanged and we crossed at the same spot as the day before. Popup setup was same with no anchors but tied off and carefully frozen in. Ice was crazy loud all day. Frequent quakes and water erupting from the holes regularly. We could also feel definite movement and actually saw 3 small cracks appear like lightning bolts in the ice on the floor of the popup.
Fishing was better than the day before with more numbers and again a combo of perch, pike, eyes and ling. Only one slot eye though.
This guy just squeaked into the slot at 15 7/8 pinched tail:
Typical perch:
Shot of the floor showing new cracks:
Friday evening when we pulled up to our crossing point at the crack it had completely changed. We were greeted with a 2 foot wall in front of 6 feet of open water and 6 feet of mushy looking stuff beyond that. I got out my super dupper flood lamp and scouted a 1/4 mile on foot for a spot to cross. Finally found a spot that had no/minimal ridges but was still 6 feet wide plus 6 feet of mush. Lined up the snowmobile told my son to hold on and pinned it. All good.
Saturday (11th) was much warmer at only -6. Arrived at the crack and in the daylight found a place to cross the 6 feet. Fishing improved again and numbers improved even more. Again a combo of perch, pike, ling, eyes and even one bass. One more slot eye.
Typical perch:
22 inch eye:
Typical ling:
Those destined for the freezer:
Return trip Saturday was easier as there was finally snow on the ice and because it was Saturday it was busier and was able to follow tracks to the preferred crossing spot on the 6 foot crack. Did however see a large group of people with SxS and ATVs scratching their heads trying to figure a way across. Got checked by a CO coming off the ice and all good with big brother. Was a little funny as he recognized me from past years and was drooling over my snowmobile but having an older moment did not recognize him. Gave him intel on the crack which he seemed to appreciate.
January 9, 10, 11 Report, Good Times!
