The last few weeks have gone by lickity split. For those not familiar with the term, “lickity split” just means “very quickly” or “fast.” (So what else is new? Time always goes fast when you’re having fun, right?)
On the ice, the fishing has been decent, but I’ve had a skunk-day and a few slow days, but never any “bad” days – you know the saying, so I won’t repeat it here.
Recently, retired school teacher, Dan and I scooted across Keweenaw Bay to fish the Pequaming side, but waaaayyy farther north… in fact it seemed to take forever to get there.
The night before, I took some GPS weigh-points from good fishing spots of the last few summers and entered them into my smart-phone and that’s where we headed, which was several miles from Des Rochers road, just south of Chassell. On my Ski-Doo Tundra, one-banger utility sled with two full grown men, that’s a long haul. Right smack-dab in the middle of the bay, about six miles south of the South Entry, Dan hollered over the screeching engine “We’ll have to go back, we lost our sled!” I turned to look and sure enough, we lost it, and it was so far back, it was just a speck on that vast, snow covered desert.
“I’ll leave you here, Dudz,” I said “that way I can cruise a little faster.” Ten minutes later, I was back with our fishing gear and we headed to the hot-spot.
We jigged in 148 feet of water with 1 to 1-1/2 oz glows and a piece of lake trout belly fat for an hour or so before checking with some other fishermen nearby. By that time we had one fish on the ice and had missed a couple hits, but the bite wasn’t enough for my appetite. Our friendly, temporary neighbors were having the same results, so I called Travis to get his report. Nobody was hauling them in any faster than us, so we decided to stay put and enjoy the day at our original spot. With both of us in the heated tent, and the light wind sometimes threatening to shake it loose from it’s buried snow-flap moorings, we enjoyed the afternoon on a slow bite.
Our 3 Lake Trout for the day – Dan got the biggest one, at 4 lbs.
Dan got the big one for the day at about 4 lbs and I caught the other two lake trout. My family and I enjoyed a nice trout dinner the next day and I’m smoking fish today or tomorrow. Let me know if you’d like to try some. By the way, I have a blog on smoking fish here: http://sandpointcharters.com/?p=1250
Shifting gears here now (and indenting)… I had ordered some skirts and spinner kits that I make into lures for next summer… the spinners for inland lakes and streams and the skirts for Lake Superior trolling rigs. I get these from Janns Netcraft and recommend it to anybody who wants to make their own fishing tackle or rods. Some benefits of making your own: It’s fun to do, cheaper than ready made, it provides a great hobby and it’s more fun when you catch fish on your own stuff. http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/
Free hat from Janns Netcraft – If you look close you can see the name.
Ball Bearing swivels, treble hooks and leaded hooks in various sizes, mostly used for Small Mouth Bass fishing.
These are skirts that I will use to make trolling rigs for Lake Trout. Pretty cheap and easy way to make them.
This “kit” has parts for 10 spinners for just $10.60, much better than $3 or more each. I like to use spinners for brook trout, small mouth bass, splake or even crappie.
Brian Helminen
