12-31-2008, 05:21 AM
I just got home and am pretty tired, but what a fantastic two days I have had with my son. Grabbed the camping gear, power auger, ice cube, food, and Vexilar and headed for Deep Creek Monday afternoon. Even though it is easy to walk into Deep with all the gear crap; sometimes you wonder if its worth it[
] Got set up by 4:00 PM, and got right into the fish in 7-12 feet of water and 5-6 inches of ice. The ice is not continuously thick, watch your step, as I did not fish at my typical spot. Pink Paddlebugs and my own personal pink/chartreuse combination jig tipped with crawler worked magic on the good sized bows of Deep. Fishing slowed at 5:30pm, but picked up at 7:00 pm and went well until 8:30 pm. I love lantern fishing!
Turned the lantern off at 9:00 pm and had the galaxy to myself; called my son out of the tent and we reviewed star constellations. Went to sleep with coyotes howling all around us.
Surprisenly slept until 7:00 am, and got my warm clothes on quick. From 7:10 am until 11:30 it was fast fishing, there was not a second that I was not doing something; I had to remind myself to eat at 11:00 am (breakfast.) best moments was four fish on at one time, and my son iced three fish in the 16'- 17' range one after another. Even though it slowed down at 11:30 this gave us a chance to rest, however, it was not the end of the excitement. In the next hour we probably only iced three fish, but two were are biggest at 18'. One gave me a 5 minute fight and gave my reel quite the work out; we put it back for another lucky one to catch[
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Fishing picked up at 2:30 we ran out of crawlers and only had mealies. We looked at each other and new it was possible a 100 fish trip. By 5:00 pm just over 24 hours on the ice we did it! Our average fish was probably 14' We did keep two limits, most of which were deep hooked; I actually love these fish out of the cold water of Deep. Just got done filleting and noticed 1/3 had the small black parasites on the inside of the skin; not like last year, when I thought there were more.
Some of you may think I am nuts to camp on the ice and I see very few do it; mostly scouts. I love it and every time I do it I have a solid lifetime memory with my son. Please note I go out very prepared, probably too prepared, but it is worth it!
Deep Creek I would recommend in a second. Bring your family and go early. Fish are above average size, and it is not uncommon for a little one to pull out a 18' fish. Hope all your fishing adventures were good ones.
OvidCreek
[signature]
] Got set up by 4:00 PM, and got right into the fish in 7-12 feet of water and 5-6 inches of ice. The ice is not continuously thick, watch your step, as I did not fish at my typical spot. Pink Paddlebugs and my own personal pink/chartreuse combination jig tipped with crawler worked magic on the good sized bows of Deep. Fishing slowed at 5:30pm, but picked up at 7:00 pm and went well until 8:30 pm. I love lantern fishing! Turned the lantern off at 9:00 pm and had the galaxy to myself; called my son out of the tent and we reviewed star constellations. Went to sleep with coyotes howling all around us.
Surprisenly slept until 7:00 am, and got my warm clothes on quick. From 7:10 am until 11:30 it was fast fishing, there was not a second that I was not doing something; I had to remind myself to eat at 11:00 am (breakfast.) best moments was four fish on at one time, and my son iced three fish in the 16'- 17' range one after another. Even though it slowed down at 11:30 this gave us a chance to rest, however, it was not the end of the excitement. In the next hour we probably only iced three fish, but two were are biggest at 18'. One gave me a 5 minute fight and gave my reel quite the work out; we put it back for another lucky one to catch[
] Fishing picked up at 2:30 we ran out of crawlers and only had mealies. We looked at each other and new it was possible a 100 fish trip. By 5:00 pm just over 24 hours on the ice we did it! Our average fish was probably 14' We did keep two limits, most of which were deep hooked; I actually love these fish out of the cold water of Deep. Just got done filleting and noticed 1/3 had the small black parasites on the inside of the skin; not like last year, when I thought there were more.
Some of you may think I am nuts to camp on the ice and I see very few do it; mostly scouts. I love it and every time I do it I have a solid lifetime memory with my son. Please note I go out very prepared, probably too prepared, but it is worth it!
Deep Creek I would recommend in a second. Bring your family and go early. Fish are above average size, and it is not uncommon for a little one to pull out a 18' fish. Hope all your fishing adventures were good ones.
OvidCreek
[signature]
es in the next day or two.