No Guts, No Glory.

Musky Opener.

Unfortunately, there were no muskies to be had, but here's one of the "consolation" northerns we boated on a scorcher of an afternoon right in the city....

Catchin' Up Again....

See the full gallery on Posterous

The first of the summertime action....

In Training.

I don't think this needs any further explanation....Here's Otto learning the ropes...

End of the season...

I'll try to keep it brief  here... We definitely worked some big fish over the last two days, but, unfortunately we were not able to get any of  'em up on top of the ice. We lost seven or eight on tip ups, and I had a really nice 34" or 36" muskie on a super light crappie rig that I lost after a four or five minute battle... At least we were able to watch that whole fight play out, a foot or two below the ice, and let me tell you, that was one of the single most exciting things I have ever experienced. I just was not able to give it a proper hook set at any time during the fight, I had left my drag too loose, and had no muscle on the reel.  Lesson learned.

We ended up with a couple of small muskie in hand, Brandon had the first rod and reel muskie of the season up through the ice, and a smallish northern was also tallied....Now it is back to jigging for crappies.  Here's hoping....

Leaders...

Another "snowpocalypse" up here right now, so there will be no ice time today.  I figured I would try to make myself useful and tie up some new tip up leader rigs.  20 lb. lo-vis pink flourocarbon, no.6 red treble hooks on the left,  no. 6 black ones on the right, and both are finished off with orange beads and yellow blades.  The reds, oranges and yellows have been working well, so I'll give 'em a shot and just wait to see what happens.

Sucker!

Time for some action...

Any one who cares about fishin',  or huntin',  or campin', or boatin', or just cares about the simple fact that we still have such a vast amount of amazing wilderness left in this country that we are able to experience and explore, should check this out and take a minute to let the folks in Washington know that it is certainly not alright to put any these things on the legislative chopping block...

House Leadership Attacks Wild Lands: Follow our live blog from the debate

By Christopher Lancette on February 15, 2011 - 6:41pm
The U.S. House of Representatives began debate on Feb. 16 on a slew of anti-conservation budget cuts attached to legislation to keep the government running in 2011. These initiatives would deliver crushing blows to wildlands, public health and to economic growth. Follow us as we blog from the Hill and then take action today!

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Skunked...

I was hoping that with the full moon, the cold weather settling back in, the crisp and clear sunny morning, and the storm system we were expecting to be moving in later on in the day, that the fish would be whipped up into a frenzy and that the fishing would be fantastic.  

Wrong.

Four and a half hours and nothin'. 

Bob had gotten out on the ice a couple hours before I had, and he landed the first and only fish I saw a bit before noon.

On the bright side, I got to hang out for a while with a couple of bald eagles. They were sitting side by side up in a tree not too far from me, and man, were they squawkin' at me.  I tried to get closer to take a picture or two, and one of 'em took off, but I got this one right here...

Tip Up Rigs.

These here are a couple of examples of the tip up rigs I have been using this season.

This one here is the business end of my Berkley tip up.  A sweet dual treble hook, quick strike style rig, wound onto 30 lb. Berkley Ice tip up line.

This is on the end of one of my Frabill 10" insulated tip ups.  The spool is wound with Woodstock 65 lb. ice line, smallish Swedish pimple with an upgraded and upsized treble hook in order to accomodate the big 'ol sucker minnows we have been using lately. 

 The final rig here on another Frabill 10' insulated tip up.  Wound with 25 lb. Shakespeare Ugly Braid, and topped off with a Kastmaster maroon and gold flasher, also retro fitted with a slightly larger treble hook, only to accommodate the larger bait fish.

Two Bucket Style...

So this here is my own personal recipe for a nice, lightweight tip up expedition.  Two buckets, filled to the brim, and you have everything you need, except a shelter, which I guess on windy days might come in real handy for sure. On second thought, I guess this also leaves you armed with only a hand auger, and that can leave you with some seriously tired arms, but once again, you still have all of the absolute bare necessities at hand.

Eight inch auger, check. I am using an HT Polar Auger.  It ain't perfect, but it is definitely light and it gets the job done.   Vexilar, check.  I have the FL-18 Genz Pack, no bells and whistles here, but it is (relatively) cheap, and, it's both light and extremely functional. 

Also included in my load out pictured here, one nice insulated styrofoam minnow bucket that fits all snug into a five gallon bucket, and I have that outfitted with a Frabill aerator to keep those minnows all lively and kicking for days.  In the picture up top,  I have three Frabill ten inch insulated tip ups stacked on top of the minnow bucket, with my sweet old coffee mug floating around on top of those... I've also got one Berkley tip up, stuffed into my other bucket, just in case.

So as for all of the other  miscellaneous gear , I also pack a big 'ol Frabill ice scoop, complete with a 36" measuring stick on the handle,  it is handy for positive ID.  Also included is a small tackle box with extra pimples, hooks, bobbers, weights, and leaders.   Pliers and jaw spreaders are a must for the big fish fishin, I can't be without these. Two rods fit nicely in the bucket, just in case you would rather be jigging, instead of just sitting around, waiting for your tip ups to go.
I had ordered what was described as a "fish-safe" gaff hook, thinking it would be all smooth and good to go.  When it arrived, however, I discovered that it was nothing more than a  huge sharpened treble hook welded onto the end of a steel shaft.  Not so "fish-safe".  I decided to  hack off the sharpened treble, and replaced it with a nice homemade brazed treble, all nicely rounded and smooth.  The rest of the gear I have loaded up here includes my thermos, (a nice small one to save room), a couple of packs of hand-warmers (just in case), and a camera in a (somewhat) waterproof case as well.

Thanks, Sharon!

I stopped by the Ace Hardware,  up on Diamond Lake Road and 54th  the other day before hitting the lake, but showed up and hour before they opened. They have taken over for Bob Moore, after he had to close his doors they bought some of his tanks, and are now peddling some real nice live bait, right here in the heart of the city. As I was driving out of the parking lot, a woman flagged me down and asked me what I was looking for.  I told her I was hoping ot get some minnows, and she was kind enough to open the doors early and sell me some real nice suckers, as well as a few good looking shiners.  So I just wanted to take a moment and say thanks, Sharon, you really saved the day!

Sunny Sunday...

Lets rewind for a quick minute...This last Sunday up here was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to get out on the ice, but Brandon hit up the lake with his dad and brother, and was not disappointed with his catch of the day right here...

Another nice little tiger muskie up through the ice...And just check out the patterns on these guys, absolutely beautiful.

Fog and Fish...

Tons of fog on the lakes this morning, and not so many fish...

Brian showed up and landed the first two or three fish of the day, one of them being this trophy walleye. Come to think of it, it's actually the first walleye we've seen come up through the ice on this particular lake this season.  It was caught on a floating jig and minnow if I remember correctly.  Oh., and I can't forget to give a big old shout out to Brian's friends,  who had come out to meet him with some nice hot coffee and generously hooked us up on a cold wet morning... Thanks guys!

We definitely missed a some fish this morning during a couple frantic periods of  activity, and then it would shut off just as quickly as it started.  Brian had a nice pike earlier on a tip, unfortunately I don't have a picture of that one for you, and he managed to jig a couple of perch as well.   I ended up with this one here, a 30ish" tiger, and unfortunately that was about it for  Brandon and I for the day.

More Gear Talk...

Its all pretty simple, ice fishing gear, at least the ice fishing gear I prefer to use. A few different rod and reel set ups, and a couple of different tip up rigs. But I guess ice fishing is absolutely no different than everything else in the fishing world, in that there are seemingly millions of different tools, tactics and techniques at your disposal for each and every unique situation you might happen to find yourself in.

I have three different rod and reel combos that I use fairly regularly, each set up a slight bit differently than the others.   I'll get around to all the tip-ups in a later post.

I use an Ugly Stick wound with 20lb. braided line, tipped with a decent steel leader and finished off with a pretty big Swedish pimple.  Obviously, this rig is geared for the more aggressive fish, northern and muskie.

I also have a cheap little sporting goods store special combo, set up with 4 or 6 lb. mono on the spool, a sponge bobber and topped off with a basic Swedish pimple, not too big, not too small.  It's not the most sensitive rod, not a lot of finesse there, but it seems to work well on everything just the same.

I have saved the best for last. My absolute favorite setup, though, is something that is truly special.  This rig here is absolutely tangible proof of the age old adage, "you get what you pay for".  This is the whole reason I wanted to write about gear.

This beauty here is hand crafted by Scott Fox of Fox Custom Rods, located right here in Minneapolis, and I can tell you that this rod is absolutely magical.  Not only is it beautiful, but it is absolutely deadly as well. Perfectly sensitive and amazingly strong, it is the ultimate secret weapon in my arsenal for sure. Finicky crappies, no problem. Big 'ol ornery pike, absolutely. (I landed a 35" northern on this rig not two weeks ago...)  They might be a bit spendy for some folks, but after using this, I am definitely a bit hesitant to pick up anything else when I find myself fishing rod and reel through a hole in the ice. Right here is where  I need to give a quick shout out to Patty, who had given this rod to me as a gift  in the first place. It has definitely upped the ante in my own extremely limited knowledge of ice fishing.  Thanks for the rod bud, and Scott, thank you for the exquisite craftsmanship and love that you have poured into these.

Gangbusters!

It was supposed to be a warm Saturday morning, at least by mid-February Minnesota standards. So tip-up fishing was on the agenda, no house, no heaters, just some buckets and an auger.  Sunrise looked promising, as the sun had started forcing it's way through the clouds early on. But then all that stopped, the cloud cover thickened, and the cold decided to stick around.  Definitely under-dressed,  all I could do was hope that the days fishing we had in store would make up for the deteriorating  conditions.  Brandon had hooked up with the first fish earlier than we were expecting it, as the bite  has been somewhat predictable lately. A nice little northern, and, hopefully an auspicious omen. 

 

 The sun started to look as though it might come back out about a half hour later, and right on cue, suddenly I had a flag up. I grabbed the line, let it run for a second, and then gave it hell. I set the hook into what felt like a real nice fish, and after a little excitement,  ended up with this in hand as my first fish of the day..

A good looking 34-36 inch muskie, and everything seemed to start looking up right about now for sure.  Then the sun disappeared, the cold settled back in, and everything shut off for the next two hours.  Now I love fishin' as much as the next guy, but sitting out on the ice, cold and empty handed, certainly ain't good for my morale, and I started thinking about calling it a day. And again, the sun started peeking out again,and suddenly the bite turned right back on again. One of the other fellas who was out on the ice had landed a nice fish, another muskie, and as the three of us were were standing around, talking about the differences between tiger muskies and pure muskies, Brandon had another flag go up.  I'll fast forward to the pictures, enough dialog...

Brandon had his first muskie through the ice, as sun was coming back out.  He re-upped the minnow,  reset the tip-up, and hadn't even taken two steps away when the flag popped up again, right as his other tip up went off.  He ran to check that one and I went to reset the other one, we kind of figured the fresh minnow was just tripping the flag.  He pulled out another nice little northern on his, and we ended up with a double, as I hooked into another little muskie as well.

We hit a couple more small pike, that kept us busy for a bit, then a brief lull in the action. We started jawing about some other real nice fish that had been caught in the area, and figured our chances of landing a pig were pretty good. Two minutes later and I had a flag trip, and the spinner was absolutely flyin' on it by the time I got there.  I ripped a decent hook set, and it was on. It took about three minutes to get that beast to show itself, and it had taken off on three real nice runs during the fight.  Man, those three minutes felt like an hour for sure.  Maybe I am a glass half empty kind of guy, but all I can do when I am fighting with a fish is to think about the hundreds of things that could possibly go wrong at that moment...

I think this here is proof that nothing went wrong this time. 42" tiger muskie on a tip up, and a feeling that is hard to match.. And to think I was thinking about packing it in an hour earlier...I would have missed all this!

Sunrise...

Oh, I think I forgot to mention that you get to watch sunrises like this....

They Just Keep on Comin'

At times it can seem almost unfair, at least when you find yourself right smack dab in the middle of days like this. Brandon won the biggest northern prize of the day with that brute up top. And Matt, who had lost a nice one earlier in the morning on account of, um, well, let's just call it "an equipment malfunction", landed his first tip up northern this year...

I had hooked into the first fish of the day with this handsome fella.

I was just about to knock off for the day just a little earlier than everyone else, so I made my rounds one last time and checked my tip ups, just to make sure everything was still all good. Not two minutes after I had reset my second tip up, and literally right under my feet,( as we were standing right over the hole), I had a flag up, and I had hooked up with a right stubborn monster. A minute into the fight, and it finally showed itself at the hole, a muskie! At that point, my hands were already trembling, half cold, half full of adrenaline, and then seeing what was on the other end, that only made it worse. Now my tip up was rigged downright ghetto, with some old 20 lb. braided line and a small pimple with a smaller stinger, no leader, no nice thick vinyl tip up line. That fish came up a couple of times, dipped back out of sight and finally, just parked his head right up under the edge of the hole and wouldn't budge, and then he made a break for it ripping line from the spool at an alarming rate. All I could really do was hope that my line didn't get hung up on the underside of the hole, try to keep it tight, and tire 'em out. And, thankfully, in the end, that is exactly how it all played out. Brandon braved the frigid water and scooped 'em up, bare hands and all, and that right there, is the very first muskie that any of the three of us had ever seen come through the ice.

Fish Stories....

Ask anyone who as ever fished a day in their life, and they will surely tell you, there is always at least one story about the one that got away. On open water in the spring, summer and fall, most of the time those stories will revolve around pure speculation as to what kind of fish it was and how big it truly was... But when you find yourself sitting in a dark ice house, watching the fish swimming five feet below you, you get a chance to see some truly spectacular things. You get a front row seat to watch finicky crappies, spittin' out minnows a thousand times and not get hooked, or watch as they fly out of the weeds looking for an quick snack, and you get to witness the monster northern and muskies, come lumbering through, if only to check out your minnow, and watch helplessly as they disappear, just as quickly as they appeared in the first place. You get to see just how big and powerful they are, and you know, as soon as they vanish, that they are still there, hanging around, just out of sight, waiting for that perfect moment to come back and eat...
That feeling alone is enough to make your heart race, to keep you out on the ice another two hours. Sometimes, it is almost better than actually catching the fish. That excitement of the unknown, the thrill of the chase. But that excitement has two very definite, very different faces. It can also be terribly bittersweet, as we all know all too well.
We have all been there at one time or another, and this season for me is no different. The very first time we set foot on the ice this season, we had line stripped from a reel at a blistering rate, only to be snapped on the jagged ice on the bottom of the hole. We have watched as tip ups zipped around and around, and fought bravely, if only for a split second, and wind up empty handed in the end. We have seen the mouths of monsters fill up the holes in the ice, but could only helplessly watch on as our hooks were seemingly spit out of those great jaws.
Having seen just how big those fish really are, watching them from above, and seeing that they are really there, makes it that much more painful, that much more personal. If you have ever read Moby Dick, you must recognize that this is the exact kind of motivation that fueled Ahab, that motivation that drove him to incessantly pursue that white whale, and that motivation that ultimately drove him over the edge.

More Monsters...

One week later, and another Saturday morning of fishing before work. I cannot thank my wife enough for affording me the opportunity to get some time in to get out and chase some fish with some good buds...

This one here is a 39" northern caught on a tip up rigged with a large pimple coupled with a stinger hook and topped off with a big ol' sucker minnow. The tip ups have quickly become a massive and integral part of our arsenal out on the lake. In military terms you would call those a "force multiplier". Oh, wait a sec, quick Google search... here it is right here... "Force Multiplier Definition noun any activity or equipment which increases the combat effectiveness of a military grouping without actually increasing its firepower (such as engineer support, electronic warfare, deception, and surprise)"

Suckers, in my humble opinion, can catch anything, from the big nasty cats in the river to these sleek, monster northerns in the lake, suckers are the deal for real.