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Fish Lake
#1
Went to Fish Lake Saturday with the rest of the state. Went to Malard Bay, parking was pretty much full, also have to walk from the upper parking lot to the lake, not plowed down to the lake.. Decided to drive down to Joe’s Bush, was able to squeeze into a spot there, all the pull offs along the lake were pretty much taken, they did have the parking lot across from the store plowed.. Down Joe’s Bush I walked out 100 yards, was in 90’ of water and over 6 1/2 inches of ice.. Marked a few fish deep, had one on at 60’, big fish from how he was fighting, took me a few minutes to be able to get him to 40’, then he spit the hook.. Kept there for about 1 1/2 hrs. and decided to go up the lake and try for some perch and get away from the city.. Found a parking spot along the quakes by the road further up by the lake, got down there and no snow on ice there with crystal clear ice, got in 42’ of water over 5 inches of ice. Starting killing the perch right off the bat, 5 in a roll as soon as my jig hit the bottom.. On the 6th drop my pole starting bent almost in half, note this is my little pole for perch, but still this was a pretty good sized fish on the end of the line, fought him and readjusted my drag and thought I was going to be in for a good one, then all memories and stories I have of people fishing for perch and catching a 20# laker starting going through my head.. then it happened, my 8 lb. line snapped. Never did get the fish up high enough to get a look at him, was upset to see it in pg-13 terms.. Decided to keep after some perch, but after that couldn’t find a perch in that area within 10’-15’ of that area.. I have had this happen before, not with as big a fish, but to me it seems like when a bigger fish comes through, it scatters the perch out and the hunt starts all over, anybody else experience this? Also, anybody else have a hard time getting rent spikes in the ice at fish lake? Everywhere is is pretty easy to get going, but for some reason I struggle at Fish Lake..
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#2
thats a bummer deal to lose two monsters in the same day and to not even get a peek at them is even worse. I've never been to fish lake myself but I've started taking my power drill and pre-drilling my holes for my tent stakes. you can throw them in, in about a quarter of the time.
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#3
I have had trouble with Clam brand ice stakes at Fish Lake. I believe it’s because of the high elevation and not much snow on the ice so it gets a harder freeze making for harder ice. I purchased Eskimo stakes for my Clam shelter and it solved the problem. The Eskimo stakes are the sharpest that I have found. And you can purchase a Eskimo drill adapter for $15 that makes it easy work.
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#4
They make an attachment for your power drill. It allows you to use the drill to drive the stakes. No pre drilling required. I bought mine at Sportsmans. Its a red Eskimo brand
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#5
Yeah I’ve seen those before but I figured I already had drill bits and so I’ve been using this method instead it’s been working pretty smooth so far! The Eskimo spikes are really sharp so this way you don’t need to put as much force into it to get them started which is nice they just glide right in!
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#6
That drill attachment is in my bucket too, and its value-to-cost ratio is one of the best for all the icefishing apparatus I have. Works well with the big Eskimo stakes I use most the time, and with the smaller stakes that came with my Cabela's tent. Tent setup takes half the time, and if there's high wind I can get all four outer stakes and all four inner stakes in and have the tent properly lashed down without losing gear to the wind monster.
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#7
I’ve nearly lost a tent to the wind monster at echo one year. Was nearing end of season when the wind picked up and blew the tent 20-30 yards away from open water at the dam. Scary stuff!!
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#8
Sorry about the lost monsters.. This happens to me on Fish Lake at least once or twice a season.. but when I fish with my Mac pole and stronger line I catch the heck out of perch and never the monster... I just use my drill to start my spikes. I lost a tent at Pineview one year with a huge storm..
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