Report : 1/13/14 Lake George/Schroon Lake
I gotta say, right now the ice is not so nice.. A week ago from Sunday there was 8" of snow on Schroon Lake and then the rains came, HEAVY rains.. We waddled through slush and water on Monday 1/6 and sat in the shanty in pouring rain all day.. The fishing was good but conditions out side not so.. Luckily that night the temps dropped and the water on top became solid.. It made for easy walking on tues but 30 mph winds and single digit temps made again conditions rough outside.. I never put a tip-up in and sat in the shanty jigging the 1 hole I drilled all day.. My friend gave it the old collage try and put 3 traps in.. Big mistake as he had to drill holes around his traps to get them back.. Tough day for sure..
Now with all that rain, once again we got a TON more this past sat.. That caused major flooding to the incoming tribs of the lakes.. So much water coming in with so little area to go out it made the lake very dirty and the water pushed up onto the shorelines making access to the ice difficult.. We had to walk through 6" of shoreline water out about 5' to get on a solid 11" of ice.. The fishing was terrible, while last week I could see my lure an easy 10' down the hole , yesterday it was less then 3' visibility.. These lake trout are all about attraction.. If they can't see the lure then your success becomes slim..
As for Lake George, We were really starting to gain ground on the ice until again, the weather put a big shot in the arm ... The area I fished had a good 5" of clear black ice but as you seen in the pics, open water where I really wanted to set up... Around 8:30 am yesterday the wind picked up a little and with the warm temps the ice was going CRAZY... It was popping and even moved my shanty a few times.. It was not the sounds of Ice growing but the sounds of ice shifting from so much water coming in with nowhere to go up or out into the open water.. My friend was not comfortable out there in 100 fow with all that going on and wanted to fish a more solid lake so we picked up and headed out.. I felt fine although it was a funny feeling..
I sure hope winter comes back soon, very soon or what usually is good fishing right through March just might be a short season this year...
I will be spending 3 days up in Schroon on Sat-mon so no reports till the...
Be safe if you go out on this not so nice ice :
Peace & Tuna
 

Well I got a call Thursday that Gander mnt had one of the shanty I had been wanting.   Somebody ordered it and did not want it.   Picked it up Friday after the Ball game and took it out today.  With no time to practice in the basement, I could not get it set up for the life of me.  It cut my trip short today.    Everyone I talked to had no bites and I probably drilled 15  holes with no activity on the sonar so I packed it up.  The heave back was HORRIBLE with some fresh snow on the ice as I did not bring the smitty,  that was mistake #2.  The jet sled was just acting like a plow.    
 
  I set it up in the basement a few times with my wife and then by myself so I think I have it now.   I will say I will be in the market for a one man flip next year or so.  

Tuna , think the ice is back near you?  Getting cold in NJ again.  I have to head to Chicago - Wisconsin  for four days.  Don't think the high is gonna get out of the teens there!   One good thing I like traveling there is stopping at Bass Pro - Gurnee, Il.   I personally think Bass Pro has more to offer than Cabela's in Pa.    Bought some jigging lures there last year and power magots, never got to try them due to the NJ Heatwave last year.
I am getting antsy to take an Ice fishing trip up North!

Was at Cabelas in Hartford once and found the store prices were not the same as the catalog. Employee told me the stores are allowed to charge 'whatever the local market' can handle.
 They did, however, honor the catalog prices if ya brought in the page or putor copy of the merchandise you were after- they did not appreciate my polite request to look it up on their putor rather than my having to make a long round trip to do it at home.
 Buyer beware------

hot tuna
Hey guys. I'm just out lost on Lake George ice. Fishing and conditions been good . Pics on Monday . I will say its pretty awesome when the fish are as big as the rod :)

As big as the 11' switch,they must be sharks!!!!
I stopped dancing for now Rich as the cold will be here soon....enjoy!....I'm talking about real artic cold not this chill we're having today.

Jack , I gotta thank you again .. It was just enough .. Pics soon as we head back from an epic adventure .. Wild , not stocked , chromers as long as the rod I say :)

Great Weekend with friends and family on the ice..
We had to beat back the crowds on day 1 after arriving on the ice at O'dark 10 am but after that we locked down the spot.. lmao
A few random pics of good times had by many:
Tough crowd:

 
base camp:

 
fish on:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
dinner:)
..
 
Ice is nice again and heading to perch land soon..
 

WOW

Nice fish!!!!
My dance brought another artic vortex for you ice guys,this one is going to last awhile so enjoy it.
I'm going to hibernate with the bears.

Congrats HT, beautiful fish.
 

Want to get out tomorrow, but I think the wind may keep me in.

The place I go for perch tends to be a wind tunnel.   Although I am getting good with putting up the shanty I am a bit leery about setting it up in high winds.   That said I  made the call to go to the younger nephews Bball game this AM and watch the SU game at 1:00.   Although the wind is blowing pretty good it is looking like I made the wrong call and should have went as tomorrow looks to be a little less windy AND snowy AND colder.  We will see how Sunday morning pans out if the snow is tapering I will head out and try.  Tapped out on $$$$$ so I do not have a great heater yet.   I have one of those big ones that go on a BBQ tank, but it is a pain to haul out by myself.   I am going to try a Colman gas lantern for heat as it should put out a bit and not so heavy to pull out

That's a big laker, but about half the size of the world record. HT probably has ones not too far off that one sniffing around. A friend of mine got a 28 out of George, I'm guessing that ones in that range, maybe a little more. I'm bringing the video camera, HT's due......

According to the video it was 43 3/4...................   Don't know about that.......

Inches. Which would put it in the low 30's.  Be like pulling some of those sharks from this year's run  out through the ice on a short rod. Fun!