Canadian Sunsets

The Arrowhead Angler kicked off the lake trout ice fishing season with a trip north of the border. Saturday morning the Lieutenant, Chief MLB, and I loaded up my truck, hitched up the snowmachine trailer, and headed north through International Falls to the border station in Fort Frances, Ontario. We were lucky enough to undergo a major search of the truck and its contents courtesy of the Canadian authorities. After a discussion about how much beer a "growler" contains and how we should have been more specific about exactly how much beer and booze we had along (even the little bottle someone didn't want to mention because it was a birthday gift for someone), we were sent on our way. We wound our way for about another hour through Ontario, we arrived at the small lodge on the shore of a very large and island studded lake. We got our things into our unit and headed out fishing. A quick snowmachine ride got us to a promising spot and we started fishing on an unseasonably warm afternoon. No houses or heaters were needed all afternoon. I had the hot hole, getting a small trout right away and then a nice 28" laker a bit later. Chief MLB got a nice fish, and the Lieutenant also had some action. Towards evening I set the hook on another nice fish (I was actually standing 20 feet away from my hole attending to another matter when the fish hit). After a pretty good battle I saw a very nice trout below the hole, but it was oddly hooked in the side of the face, and I couldn't get the nose started up the hole. After a while of trying, the line snapped...it must have been wearing on the side of the hole. Shucks. It was still a good day. We headed back to the lodge at sundown and had grilled trout for supper.

On Sunday it was still quite warm out as we headed east on the lake too a new spot. The temperature was dropping and the wind was picking up, so I set my portable house on a steep sloping shoreline. As I sat down and started jigging, I heard a noise outside the house and looked up to see my tip-up flag was up. The noise I heard was the whirring of the reel on the tip-up as the fish peeled off line at a high rate of speed. By the time I reeled up my jig and got out to the tip-up, all the line was off the reel and just the knot held the line to the tip-up. I assumed the fish had broke the line, but he was still on as I began hand-lining the fish up to the hole. After a pretty good fight, another 28" lake trout was on the ice. Soon after I jigged up a nice 25" lake trout, but that was it for me the rest of the day. The other guys also had tougher days, with the Lieutenant getting just one small fish and Chief MLB getting skunked. Blame it on the changing weather-the temps were dropping all day. It was nachos and chili-cheese dogs for supper.

Monday dawned a bit colder and we did some exploratory hole-drilling before spreading out to fish in a deep northern bay of the lake. I missed a fish as soon as I dropped my jig down the hole, and then I didn't have any action until later in the afternoon when the sun came out and jigged outside in a deeper hole. That resulted in a small lake trout, my only catch of the day until an eelpout hit just before packing up. Lieutenant and Chief MLB fared better...the Lieutenant caught a couple real nice trout and lost a big one as well. Chief MLB had good action, getting several smaller trout. Venison stew was waiting for us in the crockpot when we got back to the lodge.

Tuesday we went back to the spot we had tried on Saturday afternoon, and Chief MLB continued to have good luck, getting a couple nice trout and losing a bigger one at the hole. I caught a small trout, and it was the Lieutenant's turn to get skunked. We quit fishing at noon, packed up the truck, made it through US Customs without incident and I rolled into the garage at about 7pm.

I enjoyed the trip thoroughly...the lodging wasn't fancy but was close to good fishing and the price was right. The lake had quite a few other anglers on it, but was so big and full of good trout structure that people could really spread out. The fishing wasn't spectacular, but was certainly adequate and we each had our shots at big fish.

Next trip will be this weekend to a more local lake that the DNR stocked lake trout in a few years ago. We'll see if they survived. Unless another snowstorm hits and I have to stay home and shovel.

Nature Moment: Near an exposed rock near the lake shore adjacent to my fishing spot was an unusual hole in the ice. The snow was packed down around it. I decided it was likely an access hole for otters. Later I saw an otter running in that area, which seemed to confirm my hypothesis. I wonder how often the otters have to use the hole in order to keep it open all winter?

Lake of the Woods Walleyes

After what was a slow holiday season as far as fishing has been concerned, a friend and I headed west to Lake of the Woods, Minnesota. We left on Sunday morning and drove four hours to Zippel Bay on the massive lake's south side. Lake of the Woods and the surrounding area is very interesting geologically...it sits at the cross roads of the flat, boggy prairie and the rocky Canadian Shield. The south portion of the lake, most of which is in Minnesota, is an open, relatively shallow sand flat. The northern portion is deep, rocky, and full of islands. Zippel Bay is a narrow river-like bay, and the Zippel Bay Resort is located well back from the main portion of Lake of the Woods.

We checked in at the Resort's office and learned they had put us in Sleeper House #224. The attendant pointed out where the house was located on a large map that showed an actual grid system of plowed roads on the ice of the main lake. After we settled up ($114 per person for 2 nights), we drove down the landing to ice road on the bay. We wound our way up down Zippel Bay, crossed a sand bar and went onto Lake of Woods. It was an impressive scene...thousands of ice fishing shacks of every make, model, and quality stretched to both the east and west horizons. The northern horizon was a frozen, snow covered lake as far as the eye could see.

We followed the street signs on the road system to "Bobber Street" and took a left, eventually finding the Sleeper Fishhouse labled #224. It was a solidly built house that was about 7' x 12'. It had two beds that folded down from the walls, six already opened fishing holes, a stove top, a heater, a table, and a propane light. Outside there was an outhouse-like structure with a bucket and some garbage bags. Thankfully, a toilet seat was kept inside the fishing house to keep it warm. The house was a respectable distance away from other houses.

We got our lines set up in 24 feet of water and settled in. It took a little while to get going, but we eventually caught several walleye and sauger (a slightly smaller, but just as tasty walleye cousin). Some of the fish were quite small, but we caught some nice eaters up to 16". After dark, I caught a good sized eelpout (burbot), which my friend had never seen before. He wasn't impressed. Overall the fishing was little slower than expected. After a fish supper we turned in, leaving one line down on a rattle reel.

Monday was a sunny, warm day and the fishing was pretty fast for an hour or so right away in the morning, but they were mostly small. We took a drive out and about that afternoon, checking out all the different kind of fishhouse set ups and noting the big spray foam igloo that the Resort keeps on the lake. It has a bar and grill inside. That evening the fishing picked up again. After supper, well after dark, I was jigging on the bottom and noticed a wide mark on my depthfinder, well off the bottom. I reeled up to the spot and got bit right away. After a short tussle and a battle to free the 4lb test from the depthfinder transducer, I pulled up a large walleye. It measured out at 26.5". Probably 6 or 7 pounds. One of the nicer walleyes I've ever caught. A few minutes later another mark came in 10 feet off the bottom and struck my lure. My line snapped immediately. The other fish must have nicked the line somehow. Aargh. That was the last bite of the night.

On Tuesday, we had another pretty good bite in the morning, and my buddy caught a 17.5" walleye, which was a good addition to the pile of fish we were taking home. The trip home was uneventful. I got the fish cleaned and in the freezer (just for you, mom).

It was a fun and interesting trip. Now this weekend I am headed north of the border with two friends to get started on the lake trout season in Canada.