I know I said yesterday was going to be my last day, but I got a text last night from Captain Russ, (owner and guide of Babes Bait in Ely) with an invite to fish with him and guide Steve Foss. Now how do you pass up on a guide party for lake trout on the day the season closes? Simple answer, you just don’t. I cleared my work schedule (thanks to an awesome boss) took my TUCR LTPs back out of the rafters and hit the ice to chase lakers one last time! I really wanted to get out and fish with Steve so I could pick his brain and learn as much from his experience as I could, and I learned quite a bit today! Tip ups on Burntside has never been my strong suit. I try to always put them out, but I rarely have any luck on them. So one learning focus for me today was to ask questions about and observe Steve’s tip up methods and it paid off almost instantly. My first fish of the day was one Steve set up for me on a tip up, suspended about 15 feet off the bottom. We didn’t get a weight on it, but length and girth had this fish at just over 10 pounds! Just shy of the 30″ mark this laker boasted a 16.5″ girth and was thick from gill to tail! After noon rolled by we relocated to an spot with access to deeper water and set up shop in a really cool area of the lake. I went to set my tip up out deeper than theirs and Steve suggested setting it 30 feet off the bottom this time. So just as I get the Chub to the right depth, the spool starts spinning like a top, I re-grab the line and set the hook into a fat 27″ Laker. I ended up getting a 3rd smaller trout on the rod, and had a 4th one on before it shook the hook on it’s second drag-stripping run. I usually learn something new every time I go out for Lakers, but today I learned quite a bit from Steve and Russ while having a great time trading stories and telling lies! Can’t wait for the summer so I can chart out new spots to fish next winter!
Attachments:
image99.jpg
image98.jpg
image97.jpg
