Fall and Early Winter Catch Up

After a great canoe trip in September, I had a pretty busy fall and didn't get much fishing in.  I made it out one weekend in October for hiking trail stream trout.  One of my favorite annual events, shorefishing lakes for stocked stream trout in the fall, is easy and comfortable.  Fishing wasn't nearly as good as it was last year, but I still had a couple tasty trout meals.

Ice arrived early this year and Sportsbar, our ice fishing shack, was deployed in early December.  And what a start it was!  Captain K set the hook on the first bite of the year in the shack and tussled with a massive pike for about 15 minutes before landing the 44 inch behemoth!  What a riot.  "Tank" the pike was released to bite again.

Tank the Pike

Once Tank was cleared out of the way, we enjoyed a great December of fishing with lots of keeper perch showing up.  They were nice, non-wormy, fillets that, when dipped in my secret batter and some panko crumbs and fried, tasted awesome.  A few crappies were mixed in with the perch as well.  Some "normal" sized pike were also invited home for dinner.  We've discovered that when you fillet a pike like you would a walleye, leaving the hated "Y-bones" in the fillet, and then put the fillets through a food grinder, you can make a great fish patty.  The Y-bones grind up and actually help hold the patty together.  Pike burgers are a big hit here in Duluth.  

Unfortunately, the Sportsbar bite disappeared as we went into January.  The lack of snow means the ice is getting really thick and oxygen is dropping, slowing the fish way down.  It was fun while it lasted, though.  Overall, fall and early winter were fun.