"Winter Canoes"
From the parking lot we went on snowmachine another 20 miles on logging roads and trails to the lodge. Our favorite hangout has 4 cabins, a sauna, and two friendly owners that do a great job with upkeep and hospitality. Despite its remoteness, generators give us lights at night and even a hot shower. Pretty cushy compared to some of our spots. We settled into the cabin as the sun set. Wood heat feels nice after a pretty chilly ride in. The forecast, however, called for a warming trend, raising our fishing hopes. The traditional first night supper of Northern Waters Smokehaus ribs and homemade sauerkraut set the tone (and the smell) for the first evening.
Not exactly like my canvas winter camping tent...
On Saturday morning, it was a quick packing of the fishing gear and we hit the ice on the snowmachines headed down the massive, island studded lake to our favorite spots. I set up with the Colonel and the Chief on a sunken island in the middle of the lake's main basin. This was the exact spot (gotta like GPS) where I caught 12 trout in 4 hours the year before. Well, the action was fast again, but this year I managed to lose a few fish on the way up and some of the bites were whitefish, not lake trout. No complaining - we love to eat whitefish, an under-appreciated species. It was nice enough weather that I did a little trolling on my snowmachine outside the portable shack and caught a few trout off a rock wall as well. I think I ended with 7 fish for the day. The other fellas had similar luck and Rocket Man landed a 31" laker off an island. It ended up as the biggest fish of the trip. We got checked by the Ontario wardens-a Saturday tradition-with no issues and even some compliments...everyone loves the rod box my dad built me a couple years ago...maybe could sell a few to some Canadians, eh? The fun day ended with fried trout and whitefish, spaghetti, and a sauna.
Sunday was a bit chillier, but the sun came out for a bit. I set up in a new spot on a super steep wall. I had been there a bit with no action and thought about moving when it kicked in-another epic day of laker fishing. Lots of bites, lots of fish that fought their way off the hook, but I still managed to land 11 trout for the day. The biggest was 29 inches. The others had slower luck, so the Chief ended up moving near me and ended up with a better afternoon than I did. The Colonel was snakebit, getting only 2 trout all day. The others did okay. It was, get this, a braised venison shoulder that had been slow-cooked all day for supper. 20 miles in by snowmachine. Amazing. A sauna fit the bill again that night and the hot shower felt great.
Monday found the Chief and I setting off on our own to another unproven spot while others settled on familiar honey holes. I'd say that it was a slow fishing day, but the Chief, only a hundred yards away, had a great day, getting multiple dandies approaching 30 inches. I started the day with a decent trout, but then, a rare event ice fishing, my white tube jig got snagged on the bottom. I yanked it around, but had to break it off. Tied on another jig, dropped it down, and...got snagged again. This time it came free, but I can take a hint, so I pulled stakes and moved to a different spot. A bit of a screw up (see Hubs Flub below) resulted in my fishing a structureless flat. It produced no fish for the afternoon. I moved again, after taking pictures of the Chief's big fish, but still no action. Finally, as I was packing up before dusk, I had a big strike. It took a bit to land him, but I got a nice 29" trout. I decided that it would be a good one to bring home and feed the family with (and two neighbor families, too). It had my white tube jig pretty deep, so I reached in with my hemostats and pulled the hook free and set the jig on the floor. I then reached in and unhooked my white tube jig out of it mouth. Wait. I had already unhooked it. What the hell, why are there two of my tube jigs in its mouth? No joking, the second tube jig I pulled out of it was the one I had snagged and broke off that morning. Somehow that fish had dug out that jig with its salted minnow on it and ate it, then 6 hours later and 75 yards away, I caught it and got my jig back. Crazy. Others had very good luck that day - the Colonel had his best day ever, hitting double digits. It was fish tacos for dinner - really tasty with fresh herbs and chopped radishes.
Chief with a nice trout
On Tuesday, the Chief had to take off for home, so we bid him adieu and the rest of us hit the lake again. It was calm and warm and misty...not a real "trouty" day. The fishing was slow for us all...except the Colonel. He tried a new spot and again had tons of action. I ended up with only 2 trout, I think Rocket Man only had a couple, and Captain only had 4. The Colonel was into double-digits again. One trout was more memorable than the rest... Turns out he decided to do some trolling outside his house. As he was jigging about 75 yards away, he gets a funny feeling bite. He reels up to find he had hooked a fishing line. There was some evidence of other people fishing in that area previously, so he assumes they had broken off the line. Then he realizes there is a fish on the end of the line. He hand over hand reeled it in and landed the trout. It had swallowed the hook. There was a bobber on the line as well. So he starts pulling on the other end of the line to get it out of the water and he feels resistance. He pulled and pulled and finally came to a stop. The line was snagged. He realized that someone must have lost their entire rod down the hole and the rod was hung up. He pulled hard to break it off and it gave a bit. He pulled some more and he felt it give again and start up to him. Sure enough, after pulling a while, up comes a perfectly good rod and reel. How neat is that? But, wait...he looks at the rod and realizes it is very familiar. It is just like a rod he owns. Just like the one that he left in his portable shack with a plain hook with a minnow on it, with a bobber, and the bail open so a fish wouldn't pull it down the hole while he was gone... That's right, he had caught his own pole. He had left it deployed in the house, a trout bit the minnow, happened to swim to where he was jigging 75 yards away, he caught the line, he pulled in the fish, then he pulled on his line until all of it had come off his reel spool and then he jerked on it until the entire rod and reel tipped over and went down the hole and then he reeled in his own rod and reel in a different hole. Lucky...or something else? It was worth some pretty good laughs, anyway. We had leftover venison sandwiches that night. Still very good.
Wednesday morning we packed, cleaned up the cabin, settled bill and hit the trail. It was an uneventful ride out. At the parking lot, we discovered my snowmachine tiedown on trailer had stripped out, but with some extra straps and ingenuity, we got it secured. We rolled into Duluth about 5pm. It was a very good trip again with lots of fish and lots of laughs. We were lucky that we didn't catch a January deep freeze, making the snowmachine riding pleasant. We already scheduled the cabin for the same weekend next year.
Nature Moment: We found out later that the Chief's ride out the day before the rest of us left was eventful, as he had to yield to three moose. Going around a corner and encountering a moose is a real danger on a snowmachine, but he avoided injury.
Hubs Flub: So after I had gotten snagged that day, I moved to a new spot. I was checking depths by shooting my sonar right through the ice, and found 45 feet, then moved bit further and found 48 feet, then a bit further and found 51 feet, then a bit further and found 104 feet! Wow, an underwater cliff! I set up on the top of it in 50 feet. This structure was not on the map. After a while and no bites I started to think...can it really be 104 feet so close by? I rechecked it. 52 feet. The sonar, as it will do once in a while, had double sounded. I was on no structure at all. Wasted most of the afternoon.
Quote of the Trip: "Hey wait a minute, this is MY rod!"
New Feature! What Broke: My wife always asks, whenever I come home from a trip, "What broke this time?" Not a real vote of confidence, but it is probably warranted. As stated, the trailer tie down stripped out. That will require replacing all the hardware. Also, there was a sauerkraut spill in the oven that smoked us out of the cabin for a bit, but I don't think there was permanent damage. Everything else seemed to perform well, including my snowmachine, and the new electric auger I got for Christmas and my birthday worked great.
Safety First When in Canada
