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Headed up to the Berry this morning expecting this to probably be my last ice fishing trip of the year up there. I was expecting deep slush and slow fishing. I was pleasantly surprised to find neither! We arrived at the marina at 6:30 to a balmy 20 degree's which is 40 degree's warmer than the last time I was there! It was still plenty dark with the time change. We prepared for snow and slush with snowshoes and headed out to our spot. The snow has crusted over and has a really hard 2-3 inch solid top which we did not break through even after taking off our snowshoes. There is 4-6 inches of slush under that but it was never an issue for us today. The ice is at least 24 inches thick under the slush layer. We were set up and fishing a little before 7 and for the next hour we got hits almost as soon as we could get the jigs near the bottom. They were agressive for the first time this winter. It didn't matter what we had on (we all had different jigs and bait on). In that first hour we landed about a dozen fish (3 of us fishing) and lost almost that many after hooking them. When the sun came over hill and hit the ice the bite shut off. There were still a few on the finder but they once again (like so many trips this year) showed no interest. We tried several kinds of jigs and bait with no success. Within 10 minutes of the sun hitting the ice there were no more fish on the finder. They had moved out of that area. We went searching for he fish in deeper water and finally found some fish in the 40 to 46 foot range. Between 9:00 and 11:00 we caught about another 10 fish. We had to be back early so we headed for home at 11:00. It was 32 degree's and warming quickly when we were leaving. We practically walked off the lake in T-shirts but the hard top layer on top of the snow was still holding up well. We had the marina COMPLETELY to ourselves this morning until one lone fisherman ventured out around 9:30. It looked like a ghost town which was perfect! We had enough fun to plan another "last ice fishing trip of the year!" Hopefully there will be a couple more!
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My neighbor & I had just about the opposite experience 'course we didn't get on the ice until about 8:30. We went over to Mosquito Bay and, following the advice of the folks at the marina got the snomoclunk off the lake after getting set up. BOY, DID THEY GIVE GOOD ADVICE. For the first hour or so we didn't have much trouble breaking through the crust while walking around but by 10:00 things softened up big time. We found anywhere from 2" to 4" of frozen crust over 6" to 10" of slush over about 2' of good solid ice.
Superdoofus here left the fish finder home so we were pretty much flying blind all day but did manage to land one that MIGHT have barely been over the slot. Got a couple others to the hole & maybe 10 other bites & that's all.
I gotta give the folks at the lodge a hearty thank you & kudos for their willing help. My snowmobile (klunk) took it in its head to act up so I was gonna pull my fishing sled in to the marina & then go back for my partner who weighs 300 lb. Then it got worse, my ice sled tow bar broke on the way in & I had to abandon it & the snowmoklunk barely got me back. I went in to rent a snowmobile from the marina folks to go get my pard & they said "No worries, one of us will go get him". I told them about my fishing sled & again, "No sweat, we'll get it". While one fellow was on the rescue mission, another man told me they had made between 70 & 75 similar rescues this past weekend. Mostly getting stuck "stuff" outta the slush. Once these nice folks got us finally gathered up we went to settle up with them & they said "THERE'S NO CHARGE FOR RESCUES. When I asked how they could afford to do business that way the guy just said "You folks keep us in business & we wanna pay you back" I know they take donations to help defray the cost of plowing the road since the forest service isn't doing it so my buddy & I left them what cash we had & said thanks.
If anybody goes into the store there, give those folks a thank you & howdy. They're A - OK folks in my book. It wouldn't hurt to give them a little donation too. I'm betting the other rescuees will back me up on this.
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Geezer,
People like you give fishermen a good name. I hope others who have been "rescued" did the same. I have met some really nice people out ice fishing this year.
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Nice to hear you guys had a good trip. I've fished up there on good solid ice in April before. But if this really warm weather keeps up, it will be gone a little sooner than normal.
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[font "Arial"][red][size 3]I put the auger, snowmobile and the rest of the ice fishing stuff away. Maybe I might have to break them out for one more![/size][/red][/font][blush]
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