Once in lifetime hardwater weekend

Friday afternoon my oldest son and i headed up to the cottage for a weekend on the ice. Don't get that many chances to get out with the lad so was hoping for a good weekend. Little did i know that the fishing would smash our expectations and go down as one of the greatest fishing weekends of all time - hard or soft water.

Saturday morning we got on the ice at Fish Bay and rode 25 km offshore to the Manitou Islands. 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 cicso. 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.

Great report and pics. Well done guys.

Congrats on your once in a lifetime fishing weekend. Looks very cold but awesome report, thank you for sharing.

that is fantastic
what is the leopard patterned fish?

That is the burbot. It's a type of freshwater cod.

It just don't get any better! Lifetime Memories made! Awesome post.

awesome
thanks

Great report!

WOW, great pics and report. Thanks for sharing!!

Now that is some serious fishing. Congratulations

Thanks for the great replies guys.

So took me 5 hours to fillet the 81 fish. One 2 hour shift and one 3 hour shift. Touched up the fillet knife once mid way through with a few strokes on the 1200 grit fine hone. Might look into an electric as my neighbor tells me they are the cat's azz. Although not sure if it would be any faster as my fillet knife is a one off custom that keeps and holds a razor's edge and i know how to use it. I remember the day when i was 6 years old that my 10 year old cousin taught me how fillet and skin a fish. We had caught a pail full of crappie out of the river that ran through their farm - good times. Honestly an electric knife just doesn't seem to fit my low-tech personality.

Have had two meals off the haul so far and have 7 large freezer bags stuffed with meat. Gonna eat off this haul for a while.

Very nice

I would love to get in on some of that. What a great day.

Very nice!

Very cool!