What a great day on the ice! TravP, my father John and myself went north for the day. The plan was to leave early enough in the morning in search of some tullibees on a lake. Trav met us at 4:20 am at the house, loaded up and hit the road. I was up all night with a fire call, rigging, re-rigging and making sure the vexilar was on the charger. I pretty much fell asleep within the Anoka county borders. Woke up to us pulling into the restaurant for breakfast. I either misplanned the time it took to get to the lake or not planning for the breakfast stop, we ended up missing the prime bite as we got out there around 8 am.
Ice varied huge! We had to walk around open water to get to the ice and sometimes the auger would punch through 8 inches of ice and sometimes it would punch through 8! I knew the time frame that the pannies would bite on this other lake. So I was hoping to drag out the day catching tullies. 1230 rolled around and Trav and my dad were getting awfully itchy. So much to my chagrin we left the lake. (if you don’t know me, I am obsessed with tullies and whitefish, I would trade a tullie trip over pannies anyday of the week)
We didnt bang em up by any means, I think I had 12 and trav 7-8. Most of the fish were caught just under the ice. Was pretty cool fishing around the locals. My grandfather always told me stories how they fish them, jig stick, big spoon as a flasher to a small jig and a waxie. I took the biggest rattl’n flyer spoon I had, took the treble off and made a dropper. I never changed. Travp stuck two right off the bat on a 1/16th rattl’n flyer spoon in tullibee pattern. I really thought we were gonna be able to play fill the smoker. One of the funniest thing out there was I pull out my 35 inch powernoodle/fly reel combo. A bit light for these fish. Trav had doubts as well as his perch sweetheart was humping over pretty good.
Charles and our friend Danny decided to come up, I gave em directions, called them at noon thirty They were sleeping in the truck waiting for me to get to the lake. Pretty protective of the lake, and Charles honored by keeping his word of not fishing it unless I was there. We proceeded to rip holes, and rip holes and rip holes. Four augers going and we were punching every 10 to 15 feet away from each other. We covered a good half mile by a 150 yds swath. Then we decided to fish.
First fish of the day I hooked up on a nice bass.
Later it was my father’s turn, I recently got him a Thorne Bros. Power Noodle to use.
His first fish on it had to be a bass! So watching him play that fish was awesome!
Then I hear my phone playing my Eric Church ringtone! It was none other than the legendary Pat Smith and he was on his way out! He said we weren’t quite right in the area, so we finished grilling up the brats for lunch, grabbed the solos and went off like a banshee ripping holes! We were catching nice perch and bass the whole time just waiting for the bite to show up. I look over and see no other than Charles grabbing my powernoodle/fly reel set up, the same one he took last trip. Shortly there after its loaded up and Fancy boots has my rod double over. He ends up pulling up a 5 pound 12 oz bass…
We were all content catching the really nice perch and the bass and the occasional crappie that would wander through. A few of us knew what was gonna happen when the window opens up, other;s did not.
TravP struck first with a 9.75 I believe. Which is the smallest gill we took a pic of…
For me it is a treat getting to fish with my co-workers, any of them. Sometimes people think I am lazy or not paying attention when I am listening to them talk to customers about tactics, techniques, etc. I may be lazy, but I am all ears to learn anything they are willing to spit out. I followed Pat around like a dog for a while, not fishing, just watching how he does things, trying to absorb everything possible without being too much of a bother to him.
It was not long after and I hear “Christopher, I would like my picture taken please!”
So here’s Pat with one of the many dandies.
And then the window opened up and our vexilars got lit up like a christmas tree! Just lights out fishing for the next three hours! Big crappies, big gills. Once again was nearly impossible to get pictures as everyone had their flasher lit up and were not budging! I think we got maybe a 1/3 of the trophy gills on camera. It was amazing! I am not sure who was giggling and having a better time!
We were working 15-18 feet of water, and a glow red fat boy style jig with a J and S gojo or a waxie was the ticket! Them gojos got simply chewed up! I think I went through over half of all the ones I had brought up. Once again, towards the end, everyone’s fingers were cold and numbing and the fish were still snapping, but they briefly warmed up with each big gill and crappie that came topside.
We left the lake at 8:15 to the fish still snapping and a whole bunch of smiles! Trav and I got the truck loaded up and ready to go, only to look over to see my dad still rearing back on the gills and crappies. I think I had to kick the bucket out from underneath him and pry the power noodle out of his hands!
Enjoy the pictures! It was a blast!
Danny Omann was on a quest for “THE ONE”
