Ice Is Nice

here is a short entry to what i hope to be a long dialog.. As the sun moved west I felt such a great feeling of ALIVE.. Like standing on the moon of love..
Crowds were non existent as friends gathered and fish were Iced or lost..
I drilled 1 hole in the hardwater today and it was a good one..
I'm so pooped. The pics will have to wait until after day 2 ..
100% confident my son will catch his first ADK lake trout tomorrow
Yes, there is fish in these waters
 

I got to get out there with you this season! Good luck bud.

Well I'm back from day 2 at laker country.. Cant say I;m any less pooped but the 2 day run was WELL worth it..
Yesterday I drilled 1 hole all day, today my son came along and we wanted to try out his new tip ups so we each put out 3 and jigged in the warmth of the shanty..
My goals this year have been :
1:  get son his first deer... mission accomplished in spades, he got 2
2: have son get his first toothy critter on ice.. mission accomplished he got a few
3: have son get his first Lake Trout through the ice.. again , accomplished on the last day of 2013 :)
 
So , unlike the Salmon River when you lose more fish then land some say they are fouled.. NOT the case on the ice with a short pole.. We lost so many fish it was beyond keeping track.. It's the norm out there as it is very difficult to get a good hook set when fish charge a lure or swarm around it bumping the lure with it's nose.. Pretty darn awesome to look down the hole and see it happen..
 
I was anti electronics for a very long time until I got humbled by friends kicking my azz with their fancy flashers.. Without sonar you are just blind jigging with no clue as to what's happening under the ice.. Now I will (hope) never to go lake trout fishing without one.. It is a whole different game seeing the fish react , chase or just be on the sonar knowing how to use your skills to get them to bite.. It's a good investment for anyone playing the laker game..
I may be able to get back on the ice this week before my afternoon shift if the local ice is safe.. Lets hope because there are some GIANT perch locally..  Otherwise I'll have to wait until next monday & tuesday ,, sure enough back to laker country.. Lets hope this upcoming snow dump don't make things to difficult..
So here they are, a few pic's of mostly cookie cutter trout but boy are they fun to catch on a short pole.. Many lost and a few heavy weights were felt..
This first pic was taken by a friend which I think is cool as heck.. Pay no attention to the lure ..lol

 
Here are a few of ours:






 
Have a Happy New Years, Be Well to all and hope to share some ice with you all..
Peace & Tuna
 

Sweet. Good job.

Absolutely great fish and great family experience-congrats.

Tuna, goes to show its never too late to inspire your children. Great job and great dad... oh yeah and nice lakers too !

Now that I met your wife Rich I know where your son gets his good looks
Man from those pictures it almost looks balmy out there on the ice,do you eat those Lakers? The one time I tried one from the big O I found them to be very fatty,but maybe it was the size difference and location.
Great to see the father/son thing,nothing beats that experience for both.

Hey RichW, I'll get in line for that, too. I gotta ski on the end of my name, I grew up on food like that. HT, I'll talk to you soon. That's a bunch of lakers!  Need advice on jigs and pound test to spool up. 6?  Is braid better for the less stretch  deep jigging?   Glad your out on hard water, instead of hard lime a good amount of the time.

Golabki=good eats.

Keep me in the loop also with the dates!   I think with all the menu talk, Polish - Italian etc, there may be some FRACKING going on the ICE!
There is a Great Polish Deli in Garfield, NJ,   Piast Meats and Provisions.  They are the Cabela's of Cabbage -  Kielbasa and Pierogies!
 

Thanks, HT. I've got some pimples, I'll pick up some of those spoons and jigs  and some Gulp minnows. I've got a couple of rods that will handle lakers, the others are really light for letting those Carter's  Pond runts wiggle the tip.....  Hope the snow stayed south. We've got about 9-10 and its stopped.

John, ABSOLUTLY !!
I used to bring my wheelers but when the snow gets deep they suck and more of a PIA.. A sled, as the trail system goes through the access points, is killer..
Now that there is snow cover on the lakes, sleds will be all over.. Many Trail (no fee) systems in the area..

I didn't have a good feeling about the ice today, so used the snow instead to snowshoe through a very  pretty  valley that has a frozen beaver meander through it. I look forward to  chasing the lakers, not so much the little ones out of the ponds. If I had a local baitshop, I'd set up for pike- but it's a long drive.  Have steelhead spoiled me?  Absolutely no doubt about it. Just my current phase, sure as heck don't dislike ice reports and pics!  I hope you have a good day up North. I'd have to go through a whole  winter of skunkings to pay for that one day you had with the lakers.

Report: 1/6-7/14
It's pretty awesome knowing that the water I fished 23" lake trout are forage fish and those marks are not from 1/0 snaggers ..  More to follow

Let's see,  23" laker, maybe 50" northern?!
 
L13