I was finally able to get on the water today with Jean Michel, his son Alex and Steph. This was the first outing of the season and I had high expectations! Although the conditions weren’t great, with the water temps sitting at 57 degrees, we were still able to pick at the fish all day long.

The morning bite was a little slower than I had hoped for but both pike and walleye were boated in the cold, overcast weather. It wasn’t until the sun showed late in the morning that the fishing really picked up. It was at this time that numerous fish were landed, bringing the numbers up significantly! When the clouds rolled back in again however, we were forced to relocate, due to the action slowing down.

The remaining couple of hours saw more pike caught as well as a couple of bonus fish. Alex not only landed his first musky, but he followed it up with another slightly smaller one, right before we were done. We ended the day with one final fish as usual and called it just before 4 o’clock.

This was quite a productive outing for the group and one I’m sure they will all be remembering for quite a while! It definitely started my season with a bang!

January 2^nd 2020

Muriel & her son Ben enjoyed their first ice fishing experience today. Although not what I had hoped for in numbers, there were definitely some nice ones caught. A combination of perch, sunfish, bluegill and crappie were landed in almost perfect weather conditions. None of the holes froze today!

We pulled out shortly after 2:30 and almost added another species to the list. As I was bringing in the dead line flags, one of them tripped and Ben got to play with a northern. Too bad it was cut short, literally! The fish managed to bite through 20 pound fluorocarbon, leaving him empty handed. Tough end to the day but still fun regardless!

Another group today experienced a great time catching all kinds of panfish! Although we had a slightly later than usual start and an early finish, they all caught plenty of fish!

By the time we hit the ice and began fishing, it was almost 10:00. A quick demonstration yielded a nice bluegill, followed by a big crappie! Time to get all four of them set up and let them loose!

With the aid of sonars, Cynthia, Eduard, Nick & Francis were into fish almost immediately. Although Nick had the numbers, Eduard managed to get the bigger ones. He even caught another large crappie!

Perch, bluegill, sunfish and crappie were all landed in the four hours or so that they fished. Eduard even saw a nice pike caught, while the others went for a bathroom break! All in all it was a great first time experience for this gang!

After they had left, I decided to stay a little longer with my wife and another buddy. Apparently it was a good choice because I managed a few more crappie for dinner. We also caught a bunch of big bluegill too! I even battled a nice largemouth at the very end making for a perfect finish!

The season is just getting started and I expect to be on the ice many more times in the coming months. Both with clients as well as pleasure fishing new areas for future outings! The best is still yet to come!

Lonnie & his group experienced a great day of fishing today, targeting panfish. We headed on the ice in a dense fog that had me guiding them to our location via GPS. It was so thick that although I could hear other people, they were nowhere to be seen!

Brent, Daniel, Steve, Jackson, Guillaume & Lonnie all managed to catch fish with the bulk being bluegill. There were also quite a few larger fish lost and one nice pike & largemouth landed in the mix too.

When the fog eventually lifted, I could see why voices were being heard as there were many people all around. I’m not sure how the others managed, but our guys definitely did well enough to bring plenty of fish home for a great fish fry. By 3:00 we were officially done and pulled off the ice for the day.

Overall it was a great first time experience for most of the gang and I don’t think it will be their last. By having the aid of flashers to guide them, it didn’t take long to catch on. I’m not sure which one they liked most, but everyone had a great time on an absolutely beautiful spring like day on the ice!

It was another slow day today for Craig & I on a different body of water. Plenty of short strikes and more missed fish than landed! Only one pic but it was a good one! Hopefully better days ahead, but it may only be on the hard water as the temps have dipped below 40 degrees already. Won’t be long before it freezes!