URL showed her teeth

Ok what just happened?

What a crazy start to the 2009/2010 ice season for us! Slow growing ice with sketchy conditions to start with, then we get a dumped on by a blizzard and few million cubic feet of snow that needed to be moved to accommodate a packed reservation book that all needed to be rescheduled due to poor travel conditions, safety factors and closed interstates. Once successfully completing that hard-hitting project we got slapped with on shore temps of -37 below zero accompanied by a remarkable bite that slowed to a crawl; requiring a mad scramble to put houses and clients on a quality fishing even if a case of walleye lockjaw was spreading like the plague.

It has been absolutely crazy around the Petrowske camp for a couple weeks but it has been paying off with smiling anglers, hordes of big fish and full buckets. Just last week we had a few houses break well over the 100 walleye mark and I got to see some great cell phone photos of trophy class pike. In just one day I witnessed a 42”, 41” 39 ½” along with four more pike over the 36” mark! Fishing has been great for those willing to concentrate on the fishing and not the card game or amount of foam coming out of the keg.

My super condensed report:

Our anglers are having great success via the darkness and we don’t really know why. It could be the full moon, the weather, the genetic make up of the new fish or even the misalignment of Jupiter in accordance to the third ring on Saturn causing the incredible night bite. We truly have no idea why they went to a nocturnal bite but we are seeing a lot of sleep deprived anglers with big smiles. Naturally this is making the lure of choice tiny glowing rigs with small minnows in an almost motionless presentation the key to late night walleye. As for the pike just put something in front of them and its game on, they have been caught on suckers, walleye jigs, dead stick rigs and even one on a baitless crappie jig while setting the bobber.

In general the bite has slowed down with the cold front but the majority of our anglers are still catching quality fish both in size and numbers with the ratio of light biters getting off the hook increasing as they taunt anglers with a game pull on the minnow.

Now hopefully things will even out, the weather will settle down and the fish go back to a aggressive groove so I can get back to scouting new areas and posting multiple reports per week again.

Thanks for the update Jonny

Ill make sure to sleep for a week strait before I tag along with Joel up there

Thanks for the update, Jonny. I would imagine the plow equipment took it on the chin given how heavy the snow was. How many days will you be wrenching now to get everything put back together?

Who needs sleep any ways Last week was great and hopefully this week is half as good I cant get one of those big pike though not due to lack of trying!See ya Tuesday!

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I would imagine the plow equipment took it on the chin given how heavy the snow was.

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Oh it was heavy. This was my view for a good part of the road. Fordenstien with its straight blade and chained up tires pushing a V plow truck that also had the hammer down. It was interesting re-cutting that super highway, although it wouldn’t had been so bad but we had a individual blow past the pay box and road closed sign skipping out on his road pass and the valuable information of “no travel until morning”. He made some very high ruts that made some very deep drifts and very few friends. At one point the snow was coming over the top of the straight blade and up to the door handles on a 1977 High-Boy Ford as I made the first cut for the V-plows to start working off of.

It took a few days, several hundred gallons of fuel, I burnt up a front differental, Buddy took out a clutch along with a some intake trouble and Kelly lost a few lights, fuel pump and a couple more years off his life. All has been repaired in preperation for the next storm and The Hillman Highway is punched across the lake straight as an arrow with a bunch of side roads for wheelhouses again.

(Notice the driver doors are open as we pushed each other across the lake.)

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I cant get one of those big pike though not due to lack of trying!See ya Tuesday!

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So you like that good fishing eh?

You guys smacked the walleyes but if you really want a big pike you will need three things.

1) A nine year old kid

2) A Snoopy or Mickey Mouse rod

3) A Crappie jig tipped with a waxie

Sure fire way for a trophy, plus I would like some pictures of you endorsing the Snoopy line of rods.

Great report Johnny! Never ceases to amaze me how much work it is to get anglers on good fish! Stay warm.

Jami

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Great report Johnny! Never ceases to amaze me how much work it is to get anglers on good fish! Stay warm.

Jami

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I believe in one day of plowing Kelly’s truck with it 7.5 litre gas motor burned well over a hundred gallons of fuel and we had three trucks and sometimes four going all day and into the night for several days.

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I believe in one day of plowing Kelly’s truck with it 7.5 litre gas motor burned well over a hundred gallons of fuel and we had three trucks and sometimes four going all day and into the night for several days.

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And this is what makes the highway second to none by a mile!

I hope a bunch of people read this thread so they can see what an outfitter/operator has to do to give his clients a first-class fishing experience. I cannot understand people who complain about the cost of a road pass and try to weasel their way out of paying for every day they are out on the lake regardless of whether they go to shore or not. If you are staying with an outfitter and have problems in the middle of the night they will bust their butts to rectify the issue. That one picture of the doors open on the cab of the plow truck says it all. How many of us would be willing to do something like this on a daily basis? I know I wouldn’t. Thankfully there are others who are willing to do it so I can concentrate on fishing and having a good time. By the way – How’s the back holding up Jonny?

Great work JP!! I can only imagine busting out those highways. THAT HAS TO BE A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF WORK, AND BRUTAL ON YOUR EQUIPMENT!! KUDOS to all of you boys for getting it done!!

Keep after them Buddy!!

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How’s the back holding up Jonny?

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It was good until the -40 below night when propane tanks starting freezing up at 3 am. Lots of hasty running around and lifting 200lbs worth of tank and fuel in and out of plow trucks in the sub zero temps did me in…or at least started the whining about a sore back.

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I cannot understand people who complain about the cost of a road pass and try to weasel their way out of paying for every day they are out on the lake regardless of whether they go to shore or not.

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We are supposed to pay for every day we are there? I admit I never have……I have always paid upon arrival once and that was it – regardless of staying or not. I never intended to cheat the system, but in reality, I have never been asked to pay for more than one day even when the resorter knew full well that I would be there longer. Have I been cheating them? If so – that wasn’t the intent……..

Tim

Tim, I wasn’t referencing people like you. In some cases the resorters don’t ask but if they do ask you how many days you’re going to be on the ice I would tell them and pay the daily rate. It would be pretty embarrassing to have to call someone for help with a 2 day old road pass sitting on your dash. I think in the past nobody asked how many days and people payed when they accessed the ice for the first time and that was it. People would run into shore the next day for whatever reason – bait – something to eat or drink- and expect to get back on the ice without paying again. Some resorters now ask you how many days you are going to be on the ice and charge you accordingly. All I’m saying is be honest and pay the going rate as it is cheap when you look at all they go through to maintain the roads and help those in trouble. It bothers me when someone knowingly trys to bypass the system when they say they are going to be up there for one day and pay for that day when in reality they are there for several days.