Some family members rented an ice house from Walker Rentals this past weekend. We had tried to get to rent from Tom from here on IDO, but he was full. Got our ice house Friday morning and we were set up on the top of an area that topped off at 33′ with deeper water on the sides. We fished all day on Friday with NOTHING on the Vex or camera. I did go out a few times on my own to explore, but the wind made it hard. At evening time (5P) we saw a few fish come in on the camera and managed to get two VERY small walleye to bite on the rattle reels. After 6PM there was no activity. One rattle reel went off slowly at 2:30 am but we did not get that one. The 9 year old finally got a fish up the hole Sat morning at 9:30, it was the BIG walleye of the trip at 14″ He was excited, but that was it for the morning bite. After lunch I took my nephew and his 6 year old daughter out to explore the area. It was so nice we never set up the portable, we just drilled and fished. I found some likely looking spots that went from 15′ down to 35′ and we fished several areas like this with nothing happening. I finally found an inside turn on a sunken island that I thought would be great. 16′ dropping off to 35′. NOTHING there so I moved up to 10′ and drilled holes. I finally marked a few fish on the Vex so I set up the 6 year old with a bobber pole and she had some bites but could not make the hook up. I drilled next to her and dropped down my small spoon and had some fish come up right away. I finally got a very light bite and caught a small perch, so at least we knew what we were fishing for now. The next drop down I caught another little perch, but on the third drop I got slammed. I thought it was a walleye because it hit so hare. Nope, it was a 13.5″ FAT perch. The biggest I had ever caught.
We still did not get many keepers. As the sun was going down I moved back to the 16′ hole and on the first drop a small walleye hit my spoon and I thought I was on. I fished around that area, but did not catch another so we went back to the ice house and caught NOTHING.
In my opinion we were too deep. I was not too impressed with Walker Rentals. Their main business is equipment rental with fish houses on the side. We had a hard time getting things set up from the beginning and their communications were confusing. Even on Friday they told us two different things about where we were going and we had to show them past emails to prove we had sent in a deposit. I always think they should at least check on us sometime in the two days, but we never heard from them. At about 2:30 am Sunday morning the generator stopped running. We had gas, but it would not start up. The battery back up keep the furnace running so we were warm, but no lights in the morning. We sent a text and left a message, but heard nothing from the rental place. Finally at 7:30 am, we just decided to pack up and leave. Never heard back from them at all. I guess we will have to plan ahead further and get Tom next time for sure.
