12-30-2007, 11:45 PM
Billy and I fished Pineview and Echo. We were the first on the ice near the dam at Pineview, but we shouldn't have been in any hurry to get there. The catching was really slow, between the two of us we caught 4 perch and 4 crappie. The perch were between 9 and 10 1/2 inches long and the largest crappie was probably about 13 inches. I did have a strange thing happen. I got a small bite (similar to a crappie) set the hook and there was nothing there except for my fishing line. I had just retied everything the night before, so I am confident that the line and knots were in good shape. There is either something really sharp on the bottom where we were fishing or I must have gotten bit off by a tiger muskie. Really strange, because when I set the hook I didn't feel any weight at all.
About noon we gathered everything up and struggled up the slick trail. Even with ice cleats that hill is a challenge to get up. Found the area we wanted to fish on the east side and started fishing in about 20 feet of water. We moved around many times for about two hours and other than Billy catching a small rainbow we couldn't even scare up a bite. Billy talked to a guy who was getting ready to leave and he said that he had done really well where he was fishing from his shack. We set up in the area he was fishing and what a difference! The water was still around 20' but there were willing fish to catch. We started fishing in that area about 3:45 PM and it was almost non-stop catching. We caught many keeper perch and a couple trout until they quit biting as it got dark.
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About noon we gathered everything up and struggled up the slick trail. Even with ice cleats that hill is a challenge to get up. Found the area we wanted to fish on the east side and started fishing in about 20 feet of water. We moved around many times for about two hours and other than Billy catching a small rainbow we couldn't even scare up a bite. Billy talked to a guy who was getting ready to leave and he said that he had done really well where he was fishing from his shack. We set up in the area he was fishing and what a difference! The water was still around 20' but there were willing fish to catch. We started fishing in that area about 3:45 PM and it was almost non-stop catching. We caught many keeper perch and a couple trout until they quit biting as it got dark.
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