JJ Mac
12-22-2008, 07:27 PM
Saturday 3:30 am
The temp was 7 degrees when I hit the road. As I headed north the temp dropped quickly, and bottomed out in Pellston at -13. The surprising thing was...when I hit Levering it was still -12, but within 5 miles when I hit I-75 just below the bridge, the temp went all the way up to 12 degrees. The temp dropped down again well below zero once I headed west towards Rapid River. I met my brother, Cedar River Fin-Addict at Sallmar Resort. The owners were kind enough to leave a bucket with a bubbler set up for us with a nice selection of minnows. Now, that's the ammenities I'm looking for in motel when I'm icefishing!
When we hit the bay to launch, Fin's atv wouldn't start in the arctic conditions, even with a jumper pack, so while he headed back to town for a battery I dragged all my stuff out there. I set up outside the break in 35 fow. It took me 15 minutes in the cold to get the propane bottle valves to function to get the heater lit. Then after fishing 10 minutes I wasn't paying attention and had a hog just about rip the rod out of my hands and I missed the hookset. :rant: I tell ya', no matter how many years you ice fish, it always takes a little while to get back into your groove. :dizzy:
I caught several undersized walleye before catching a healthy 21 incher. Fin joined me shortly thereafter and quickly after setup he had a keeper flopping on the ice. Fin was breaking in his new Lowrance LMS 522 for the first time. After making similar adjustments as you would with an x67 (but a little less colorline) this unit really began to show it's capabilities. The new A scope feature is the absolute bomb when used in conjuction with standard sonar. It's like using a big x67 with the standard graph and then having the most killer graph/flasher next to it. For ice fishing applications, the A scope displays you lure as a blob, not a solid line on the graph, where it's easy to see the hooks below the lure and even the bait on the hook. It seems like it displays even better target separation. It's like half flasher, half sonar, with a history. Very, very impressive. I didn't check out the built in maps, but Fin seemed to be very impressed with them as well.
After a lull late morning, I had a school of jumbo perch come in on the vex. I managed to pull 3 of them before they moved on. One was just a slob 14 incher.
We decided to head on to a new spot for the night bite. Shortly after set up, I had a tip go and iced a 28 inch northern. By nightfall we had both iced two more eyes each that were between 17 and 20 inches. We also caught numerous undersized eyes as well.
We headed back out the next morning to the same spot as the night before but a little deeper at 45 fow. The first fish that came in on the FL 18 was a big red blob all fired up, wham! Hog on! After a good tussle I landed a fat eight pounder (released). We went on to catch lots of undersized walleye, and I managed one more 17 incher before packing it up for the weekend by late morning.
Jigging raps in #7 and especially #9 took most of our fish. I spent some time running some spoons like do jiggers and hopkins without much interest from the fish. I'm still having some good success with the x rap feathered hooks on the rapalas, and plan on running them on more presentations this year. I also noticed that scenting my raps with Pro cure super gel also seemed to have a positive effect.
All in all, a great weekend with good fishing on the bay. Ice was running 6 to 7 inches in the locations we fished. Sorry, no pics this time as I misplaced my camera and Fin...can you believe...dead batteries in his camera? :lol:
The temp was 7 degrees when I hit the road. As I headed north the temp dropped quickly, and bottomed out in Pellston at -13. The surprising thing was...when I hit Levering it was still -12, but within 5 miles when I hit I-75 just below the bridge, the temp went all the way up to 12 degrees. The temp dropped down again well below zero once I headed west towards Rapid River. I met my brother, Cedar River Fin-Addict at Sallmar Resort. The owners were kind enough to leave a bucket with a bubbler set up for us with a nice selection of minnows. Now, that's the ammenities I'm looking for in motel when I'm icefishing!
When we hit the bay to launch, Fin's atv wouldn't start in the arctic conditions, even with a jumper pack, so while he headed back to town for a battery I dragged all my stuff out there. I set up outside the break in 35 fow. It took me 15 minutes in the cold to get the propane bottle valves to function to get the heater lit. Then after fishing 10 minutes I wasn't paying attention and had a hog just about rip the rod out of my hands and I missed the hookset. :rant: I tell ya', no matter how many years you ice fish, it always takes a little while to get back into your groove. :dizzy:
I caught several undersized walleye before catching a healthy 21 incher. Fin joined me shortly thereafter and quickly after setup he had a keeper flopping on the ice. Fin was breaking in his new Lowrance LMS 522 for the first time. After making similar adjustments as you would with an x67 (but a little less colorline) this unit really began to show it's capabilities. The new A scope feature is the absolute bomb when used in conjuction with standard sonar. It's like using a big x67 with the standard graph and then having the most killer graph/flasher next to it. For ice fishing applications, the A scope displays you lure as a blob, not a solid line on the graph, where it's easy to see the hooks below the lure and even the bait on the hook. It seems like it displays even better target separation. It's like half flasher, half sonar, with a history. Very, very impressive. I didn't check out the built in maps, but Fin seemed to be very impressed with them as well.
After a lull late morning, I had a school of jumbo perch come in on the vex. I managed to pull 3 of them before they moved on. One was just a slob 14 incher.
We decided to head on to a new spot for the night bite. Shortly after set up, I had a tip go and iced a 28 inch northern. By nightfall we had both iced two more eyes each that were between 17 and 20 inches. We also caught numerous undersized eyes as well.
We headed back out the next morning to the same spot as the night before but a little deeper at 45 fow. The first fish that came in on the FL 18 was a big red blob all fired up, wham! Hog on! After a good tussle I landed a fat eight pounder (released). We went on to catch lots of undersized walleye, and I managed one more 17 incher before packing it up for the weekend by late morning.
Jigging raps in #7 and especially #9 took most of our fish. I spent some time running some spoons like do jiggers and hopkins without much interest from the fish. I'm still having some good success with the x rap feathered hooks on the rapalas, and plan on running them on more presentations this year. I also noticed that scenting my raps with Pro cure super gel also seemed to have a positive effect.
All in all, a great weekend with good fishing on the bay. Ice was running 6 to 7 inches in the locations we fished. Sorry, no pics this time as I misplaced my camera and Fin...can you believe...dead batteries in his camera? :lol: