Trout Below Zero

My first winter camping adventure of 2010 was held this weekend. Of course when I could finally make it up north, the temperatures went south. The sun was out and the winds were calm most of the weekend, though, so it was actually pretty comfortable.

Lows were well below zero in Duluth on Friday morning when my friend Officer Friendly arrived at my house in Duluth. We packed the truck and hit the road at about 6:30am. We headed northeast via the North Shore Drive and then headed inland on the Gunflint Trail. We pulled into our destination lake's public access at about 10:30am. We set up the canvas tent and wood stove in a clearing well off of the parking lot and headed out to fish on a cold but clear and calm day. We could see anglers already set up on the spot we had picked out on the map and we could see a lone angler well down the lake, but they were only other people on the lake that day. We walked a little ways to an island with a steep drop off, got the portable tent set up and started fishing about 1pm. Officer Friendly had never ice fished for lake trout before, so I provided some basic instruction and we fished side for the afternoon. The fish were fairly cooperative...I had three bites on my tube jig and landed two nice lake trout, including one that was unusually dark colored. Officer Friendly didn't have a bite. We were checked by the Conservation Officer, who reported others were having slow fishing. We walked back to the tent under a beautiful sunset to the west and a beautiful moon rise to the east. We fired up the wood stove and enjoyed Italian sausages with fried onions and roasted red peppers for supper.

It was another chilly morning on Saturday, but we both reported sleeping well overnight. We hit the trail and headed back to the same fishing spot. It was another bright sunny day that was a bit breezy, but still comfortable. How was the fishing? We got skunked. But, I wouldn't say the fishing was bad. Between the two of us we had eight fish hooked and headed up to the hole, but not one of those fish hit the top of the ice. 0 for 8. Ouch. Lake trout squirm off the hook better than other fish, but Saturday was humbling. We enjoyed chicken and rice hotdish and the local radio station's trivia show that night.

Sunday was again sunny, but a cold wind was cruising out of the northwest. We drilled some holes off a point near the landing, but discovered our depth map was way off and what was shown as 40 feet deep was 12 feet. We switched to a flat off of a rocky reef I had spotted in the summer. We had immediate action as I got a nice trout all the way to the hole only to have it wrap up on depthfinder transducer and escape. Not a good start. Soon after that I watched a fish on the depthfinder that chased my jig all over the place but refused to hit it hard enough to hook up. In a last ditch effort I put down a minnow on a plain hook and put a bobber on. The fish refused to hit that as well. After a bit, I reeled up the minnow as fast as I could so I could switch back to the jig. As the speeding minnow neared the bottom of the ice, I watched a trout swim up to the minnow with unbelievable speed and hit it. This time it hooked up and after a run back to the bottom, I finally landed the nice laker, breaking the bad luck streak. Now the mission was to get Officer Friendly a first winter lake trout. When a mark showed up on the depth finder and my friend dropped a spoon down to it, the fish swam up and nailed it. After a decent fight I looked down the hole with much anticipation to land the fish and discovered it was a northern pike. Unbelievable. We stuck with it, though, and just after noon a fish hit my bait and stole my minnow. My friend reeled up to the spot and fish hit the spoon and hooked up. After a bit of a tussle, I looked down the hole to see a nice laker (I of course immediately said "Oh no, it's another northern," which Officer Friendly did not find humorous). We were about to the land the fish when it made another run. Suddenly my friend said, "Oh no" and I looked up to discover the line had become hopelessly tangled on the reel. Again, unbelievable. Thankfully, the fish wasn't strong enough to break the line, and we were able to pull the laker in by hand. It was another nice one. With that accomplished, we filleted the two trout and packed up. We broke camp and uneventfully headed back to Duluth. Another fun trip.

My next trip won't be until mid-February...watch for another trip report after that.

Getting Ready for Winter Camping

The recent cold, rainy, and even snowy weather has inspired the Arrowhead Angler (me) to start getting ready for the Winter Camping season. Winter Camping season is my favorite of all the seasons in the north woods. The north woods seasons are Winter Camping (Ice), Waiting for Open Water, Open water, and Waiting for Ice. Some outdoorsy folks also talk about the short season in the middle of Open Water called Going to Weddings of People You've Barely Met.

I have done a few things in preparation for Winter Camping. Last weekend I got the wood stove out, set it up in the yard, and lit a fire in it for the purposes of burning off the preserving oil. It is a sheet metal stove and, to protect it from rust, I had sprayed it down when I put it away for the summer. Last year, I hadn't burned off the oil and so when I went camping the for the first time, the tent filled with an acrid smoke when I got the fire going. It took a good hour for the oil to burn off and the smoke to clear. So it was good to get that task done.

Also, last night, I rolled up my sleeves and made a bunch of burritos. I wrap them individually in foil and freeze them. Then, when I go ice fishing and winter camping, I set the burritos on the wood stove or ice house heater until they are grilled a golden brown and have a nice hot lunch (or breakfast). In total I made 36 burritos (they are small). I decided to make them now because on Monday my lovely bride had cooked a giant turkey for dinner (I could go into a long dissertation on why we made a 24lb turkey for 2.5 people in October, but for everyone's benefit, I won't). I used all the leftover turkey for the basis of the burritos. So I made the following kinds of burritos:

Turkey Fajita Burritos (turkey, cheese, fajita seasoning)
Chipotle Turkey Burritos (turkey, cheese, chipotle seasoning)
Turkey Pizza Burritos (turkey, mozzerella cheese, pepperoni, pizza sauce)
Turkey & Gravy Burritos (turkey, cheese, gravy)
Breakfast Burritos (scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon)

I admit, by the time I got all done, I was a bit nauseous and didn't want to see turkey for a while. But I am now all set for winter lunches in the woods.

This weekend I am headed up north one last time to try and get some rainbow trout and splake in designated trout lakes. The DNR has stocked these trout in a bunch of small lakes in the National Forest that did not otherwise have viable fisheries. The trout bite great in the fall and taste really good. Judging by the weather report, I'll be bringing the winter tent and wood stove, not the summer gear. I'll let you know how it goes.