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I’m not having great numbers lately, but I’m having fun trips. So thought I’d roll all the trips together and then it might sound better.
Took a day off work to go fishen and wouldn’t ya know it the refrigerator conspired against me and died. So Thursday was find a new fridge day, but being addicted I got up early and hit Cutler ice and it’s really tough now, but I did pick up 4 small crappie about 7-8” before the stores opened. Rest of the day was getting fridge stuff handled.
Friday I took the trip I planned the day before. After the Ridley fritter and chocolate milk stop I buzzed up to Porcupine by about 7:30 and found two others were already there and I’d brought my sled so I parked below and took the train into the pond. Looks like a ton of folks have been in there in the last two weeks so the road was fine to get in there. I went up to the spring to get on the ice and there were at least 6” of edge ice so I took the sled and gear sleds on the ice. 11” of ice on the main pond. First spot had a flurry of early fish and I couldn’t land them. Missed four or five hits and lost a couple at the hole which I hardly ever do, but I did this trip. Then it really slowed down and I finally hooked one on the jjj and landed a 12” skunk breaker cutthroat. Then it was a long delay and I started to get the move bug and just as I was moving the jjj nailed another fish an 18” spawning brown female. Pretty fish and fun fight. Well that got me to stay another hour and I didn’t see another fish on the graph or camera. Well I moved and moved again and just as it was time to go I seen one more fish on the graph but couldn’t talk it into playing. So I headed up the boat launch draw with my sled and two gear sleds. As I got close to shore it looked dicey so I punched it and flew right up and across it. All was good till I got to the top of the dam and didn’t see a rock frozen in the snow. It took out my Smitty ski and split the upright mounts and busted the ski off. So I had to retrieve that sled with the truck. Thus making me late and earning a no fish Saturday for me with the wife.
But my wife likes to sleep in on Saturday’s so I might’ve hit Cutler till 8:00 and caught two crappie an 8” and nearly 12” one. After being good all day my wife let me hit the farm pond for around a dozen sunfish and 2 tiny crappie.
Well it was slow and nothing exciting for the contest but still fun and I enjoyed it. Later J
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"Took a day off work to go fishen and wouldn’t ya know it the refrigerator conspired against me and died."
Don't know what it is about ice fishing and major appliances but since the season opened we have had to replace our refrigerator, dryer, and range. Haven't I paid penance enough to be able to get one good day on the ice?
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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This is my second appliance this ice season as well, also lost the chest freezer and now my wife says the dish washer is leaking, so I may have one more on the way, but hope it can wait a while so I can recover a bit from the fridge... Built the house about 20 years ago, so now everything is dying all at the same time... Fridge was the newest appliance I had, it should have lasted five or six years longer than the rest, but I guess it didn't learn how to take turns...
Sorry you're having the same bad luck, maybe worse luck... Hope it means better news in the future for you.. I was lucky that I still got to go fishing the next day.
I need to figure out how to make those days last a little longer... but by the time I get set up and fishing, it seems like I only have a few minutes of fishing time before it's time to go... I'm starting to think I need to take less junk so I fish more and set up less... I know that would be better, but sometimes having some of the tools or toys makes the fishing go a lot better.. For instance I couldn't figure out why I wasn't hooking the fish, so I put the camera down to see what was going on... It fixed it, no more fish showed up so I could see why I was missing them... Anyway I do like to try and getting a snowmobile ride too is just a bonus... Later J
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[quote SkunkedAgain]
... but by the time I get set up and fishing, it seems like I only have a few minutes of fishing time before it's time to go... I'm starting to think I need to take less junk so I fish more and set up less...
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Looking at your picture, I can see that you like to travel light.[  ]
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I am hoping to be able to get up to the pig this weekend if I can kick this cold. Totally spaced the contest while I was on the gorge could have had a few lake trout and burbot on the board but the catching was fast on the pups and kept forgetting to take pictures on the slow times haha.
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It looks likes you need to take about a half dozen folks with you to help with the setup and take down. It would go much quicker with more time to fish and you'd have some company.[  ]
It doesn't look like there is anything that you don't have for ice fishing.[fishon]
Thanks for the report, pictures, and major appliance status.[ ]
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Well at least you're making out there! Nothing wrong with your load. We hope to get a smitty sled built before we do make it out, hopefully next season. We finally got machines we can trust, but being so busy moving Mom 1, caring for Mom 2 from a long distance away and taking care of all our own Dr appointments/needs its not likely we'll be doing any ice fishing this year [  ] but hope to be ready for the soft water as we are all getting our lives back once again...
That is a problem when you build a new house, everything seems to fail about the same time. We had a furnace, freezer and a dishwasher all replaced last winter, maybe it just runs in threes?, now we just have to keep the rest of things running long enough to finally get some offset in replacing things [crazy]
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Yup I do travel light, I'm a minimalist... glad you can tell from my photos... I do go light at times, but then I always end up not having what I think I need... Well sometimes, I hate to go on long trips without my gear... Short trips I can still do the bucket trips, but that's cause I know I don't have long to fish and don't want to waste time looking for a better option. Think I'm really better off if I decide what I'm going to use the night before and then only take that stuff with me... I just can't talk myself into believing that thought... as you can tell.. Later J
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That sounds like fun!! Last I heard it was slow down to the gorge, so nice to hear they are on the bite again.. or maybe you went before the lull set in?
Contest is hard to get into the mode of taking pictures, until you do get into it, then it's an obsession and unless you're catching a bump fish you aren't satisfied with the trip... Terrible to get spoiled but I'm all into finding a better fish for each category now... Numbers don't matter so much, but size is everything... Guess I'm in the trophy hunter mode these days and not very good at it... But it sure is fun learning to catch all the different kinds of fish across the state... I like it a lot better than getting bored catching the same small fish at the same lake all winter... I really hate to see the end coming because it's so fun to try new spots and do crazy stuff like sledding into spots that might be too tough to reach otherwise.. Hope our ice holds a while, this is too much fun... Later J
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I'm weird, when I take folks with me, I won't let them help set my crap up and I usually set them up using all the gear and I fish without bells and whistles, and then help them take off fish and bait up so they get to have a good time and catch some fish and I usually don't get to fish much... So I have to take the "me" trips every so often to get my fill... I usually find I'm better at getting others to catch fish than I am at catching them myself... Not sure why that happens, but it seems too...
I have been a little too obsessed with gear and I've got to stop before I'm in the poor house for keeps... I do like my current set up, it's really nice and seems to do what it should as long as I don't get too caught up in playing with toys and forget to do what I went for...
That camera is a major time waster, but really nice too, it just takes a while to set up and take down.. but with the tent, it's fast to move from hole to hole after the initial set up..., but you need the dark of the tent to see it well, so on sunny days it's to be in the tent, when it's nice outside.. Anyway I guess I take a lot of stuff that isn't necessary, but can sometimes make all the difference in a catching day vs a so so day... If anyone ever sees me on the lake and want to check out any of my gear just drop by and I'd be glad to show you how it works so you can decide if it's for you or not and whether it's just a waste of time, money and space...
I need to quit watching IDO and reading all the ice fishing deals e-mails... But I kind of like them too much... Well sorry for the dibble... later J
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Hey Jill sorry to hear about the family concerns it makes the important stuff a lot more visible. Hope those worries get easier to handle for you. Wish you the best of luck with things and look forward to your return when you can make it. Later J
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