Hey Warner. We use tip ups here too. For me that is a separate kind of excursion. Typically we set out the tip ups (2 per person), build a fire shore, eat, relax while waiting for flags. The tradition with our group is to do this trip New Years day, followed at the cabin with a fish fry.
This should be our first GOOD weekend for fishing should have some good solid ice. We have sold close to 1600 lbs. of minnows this week. Gary
I fished here the other day. Its a 15 minute drive from my house, I drove my truck on the ice from one end to the other and clocked it one time at about 4 km long. The fish finder view pictured was pretty much the same through the 3 or 4 hours I was there. Other anglers packed up and left but I sat on my stool and was rewarded by three kokanee salmon from one school that came by. All 3 were caught within a few minutes of each other. I dont know why I didnt shoot a pic of them. I sat on the ice just because until about 730 pm and then walked close to half an hour in the dark back to the boat launch where the truck was. Right around dusk Im sure I heard a cat crying or whatever you would call it, only lasted a few seconds but it was an eerie sound that cut through the quiet. It made me a bit uneasy so I kept an eye out with the head lamp but I didnt hear it a second time. I guess many dont lol. There were two eagles flying around. They would hang out on a dead standing and also swoop down across the lake for a look see. Work has been keeping me away from the ice lately. Dang it.
I thought I would share some pics from my last day on the ice for this season. These pics were from 8 days ago with 14 inches of ice on the lake. With many of the lower elevation lakes getting soft ice and some of the early ice off lakes already ice free I decided to hang up the ice fishing rod and concentrate on other things. We had beautiful weather that day as you can see. The fishing was rather slow but this fat rainbow gave me a good fight. I smoked it in my Bradley smoker on low heat for one hour and then put it on the bbq with lump charcoal and a piece of apple for additional smoke. We kept it simple and just used salt and pepper and a bit of dill. Anyone else still getting out?
Thanks for sharing these pictures Sean. That looks like a nice day! I just finished putting away all my ice gear this morning. Our border lakes with Canada are open for ice fishing until the 15th of April. Lake trout ice season closes after today.