Last Saturday, Stanley, Bruce and I tried out our new tent on Gratiot Lake to see if we could find any pike, walleye or perch. Gratiot Lake is in Keweenaw County, about in the middle of the county. From Calumet, where we live, it’s only about 1/2 way to Lac la Belle or Copper Harbor, which would have been a couple of other choices to do some ice fishing. I wasn’t sure if the harbor would have sufficient ice yet to go after the Splake, so I was hesitant to drive all the way and find out we couldn’t fish there.
We set out around 1 pm with our Ski-Doo Tundra in tow and the ice fishing gear in the trailer and the van. After unloading the van and carefully loading the tobaggon, I drove the snowmobile out onto the ice. Near the shore and in many places along the 3/4 mile ride there was lots of slush under a few inches of snow, so the going was a little tough. Our fishing gear was covered in ice and slush by the time we stopped to set up the tent. I was hoping to end up on the reef, but after drilling a hole and checking, the depth was 25 feet, but I decided to fish there anyway, since I don’t have a power drill and was lazy about drilling holes.
We missed a couple of bites due to inattention and ended up with just one 12 inch perch, but had a good time anyway. Some college kids nearby caught a 28 inch pike and returned it to grow a little bigger.
Next time we’ll have to try closer to shore.
I’m still hoping to go to the Milwaukee Boat Show which started last weekend and goes through next weekend to check out boats, fishing gear, electronics like fish finders and underwater fish cameras . See: http://www.showspan.com/MBS/Home.aspx
My plan is to get a Hero camera too so I can action shots and videos of our lake trout, steel-head and coho catch next summer. Maybe someone will have a special on them at the show.
Make plans to attend the Minneapolis Midwest Sport Show in March, I’ll be there with a booth: http://www.northwestsportshow.com/
Brian Helminen
