April 1st Is Right Around The Corner, And You Know What That Means
Ice fishing season will be coming to an end pretty soon, and I’ll take a couple weekends off before it’s time to hit the stream with my fly rod. The weather is going to get pretty warm, and I’m not going to trust any ice around here after next weekend. I could drive north in search of a frozen lake, but I would rather spend my time and money this month getting my things together for trout season.
That said, I am planning on heading north for one more weekend of ice fishing on Saturday. My friend Josh (the one who gave me that jig that I caught an 18″ Brown on) and I are thinking that we might drive up to Blue Mountain Lake, or maybe even Lake Eaton this weekend to try to pull some big fish up through the ice.
We’ve been fishing South Bay and Brant Lake all winter, and would like a little change of pace to round out the season. We’ve had some luck here and there with Perch, but not enough to make me want to do it for another weekend, and we never did get into a big school of Jack Perch like we could have out on Lake George.
I would like to try for some Landlocked Salmon or Lake Trout. Josh wants to catch a 15 pound Northern Pike. You can’t find those fish in Brant Lake.
I think Lake Eaton has some Landlocked Salmon, not too sure on the Lakers. It’ll be a nice change of scenery from what we’ve been looking at all season, and it’ll be even nicer to pull in a fish that weighs more than a pound.
Any suggestions for bait/jigs? I don’t have any experience fishing for Landlocked Salmon, and have only caught a few Lakers that I can remember (which means that my father did most of the work when I was younger). I’m thinking about using suckers or something considerably larger than icicles, and I might pick up a big spoon to jig with or something. What do you use?
After this weekend I will be gearing up to hit the stream with my fly rod. I bought a new reel the other day (more on that in the future), and I still need a pair of waders. Any suggestions on a good, durable pair of waders? What works for you? What hasn’t?
Hopefully I’ll have some nice fish photos to share next week! Until then, tight lines!
Scott,
Generally accepted baits:
Lake trout – suckers near the bottom
LLS – medium shiners or even icicles if they are pretty good size not too far below the ice
Rainbows-small shiners or icicles not too far below the ice
Jigging-something big and flashy, large S. Pimple, large Hopkins, large jigging Rap.
Note if using a Hopkins we always had better luck without a snap swivel, just tying the lure to the line.
Good luck, tight lines
Thanks for the suggestions!
I’ll be stopping for bait on the way up so I’ll pick up a new jig while I’m there, along with some shiners.
Scott