Saturday morning we got on the ice at Fish Bay and rode 25 km to the Manitous. Thickness while on the shy side of normal was more than adequate but slush and more pressure ridges/cracks than i have ever seen on Nip made a very interesting ride out.
We arrived at about 10 am and had lines in the water at 10:35. The setup:
The action started immediately and never stopped until we used up our +/- 3 dozen minnows. And it did not take long. 2.5 hours of fishing and we landed 42 fish. We initially set up our second lines on jaw jackers but pretty quickly gave up on the second lines as we simply could not keep up.
The take for Saturday included:
30 perch - 23 kept
1 Burbot - 27 inches
1 pike - 18.5 inches
10 walleye - got our 4 in the slot (2 each), 5 around 14 inches and one 24 inch.
Select photos:
Partial Saturday haul:
Balance of Saturday - bag we forgot to put in pic above less one walleye already under the knife:
Sunday morning got up around 7 and ate a pound of bacon and 8 eggs between the two of us. Hit Fish Bay bound for the Manitous again at about 840 am. We were excited but honestly did not expect another day like Saturday, plus we already had 4 walleye in the fridge so no keepers for walleye regardless of size.
It was foggy and misty and once at the top of South Bay there was no way to see the Manitous. I am old school and refuse to rely on a GPS preferring either dead reckoning or a compass. Well an old &^*# like me knows dead reckoning is useless in the fog on the ice. So got out the Silva and took a bearing and headed out. Stopped every km to check my bearing. Well plodding along at 20 km/hour (couldn't go any faster for fear of hitting a pressure ridge in the fog) it took a while but after 30 minutes of driving in the void the fog began to lift and i caught sight of the most southerly island - land ho - good to go!
Lines in the water at 10:15 am and this time armed with +/- 4 dozen minnows. Action started within 3 minutes and just never stopped. We landed 66 fish in just under 4 hours and then once again ran out of bait.
The Sunday haul:
59 perch - 50 kept
5 walleye - all went back - mostly small guys
1 Cisco
1 pike - 23 inch
Select photos:
Grand total of 6.5 hours with lines in the water and 108 fish landed with 81 kept - 73 perch, 4 walleye, 1 burbot, 2 pike, 1 cisco. I have had good days on Nip many times but this was just a whole different level. Back at the cottage both days before 4 pm with woodstove lit, roaring and whisky poured by 430 pm - the good life.
Hatchet