raywriter
01-01-2009, 03:44 PM
I went out with a friend before sunrise this morning, south of the Terrace. We worked the breakline along that side with three inch shiners we got at Bay View Friday evening from Chris and stored overnight. I'll tell about the fish we caught, but I want to pass along a warning as well. Make sure you read it and think about it beforehand.
We landed just two walleyes, one 28" and another 21". Both hit spoons tipped with the minnows in 28' to 30' of water. We took my portable shanty because we were uncertain about the ice, and had trouble with the wind blowing the walls and partially covering the holes constantly. Honestly, the bite was slow even though we managed a couple nice fish.
Anyway the warning is this: The strong south winds apparently blew water up under the ice and caused several heaves. The first major jolt we felt (and heard) shook the shanty fairly hard. Later, another sharp jolt ran a six inch open water crack running right between the wheels of our ATV parked alongside the shanty. When we went out to investigate, we found that we were on a piece of ice about twenty feet by thirty feet or so that had broken free from the surroundings. Several other pieces were around us. Picture a jigsaw puzzle. We were on one of the pieces and surrounded by other pieces. There was no danger of drifting away, but if one of the pieces broke into smaller fragments, there could have been real trouble. We gathered our gear immediately and rode back to shallow water close to shore, crossing several open water cracks along the way.
That being said, I would advise against pulling a permenent shanty out there. I'd also avoid the area with a snowmobile or ATV. Going there during hours of darkness is probably not smart right now. The ice was about 8" to 10" thick, but certainly not stable. I think it is better to stay farther north for the time being.
We landed just two walleyes, one 28" and another 21". Both hit spoons tipped with the minnows in 28' to 30' of water. We took my portable shanty because we were uncertain about the ice, and had trouble with the wind blowing the walls and partially covering the holes constantly. Honestly, the bite was slow even though we managed a couple nice fish.
Anyway the warning is this: The strong south winds apparently blew water up under the ice and caused several heaves. The first major jolt we felt (and heard) shook the shanty fairly hard. Later, another sharp jolt ran a six inch open water crack running right between the wheels of our ATV parked alongside the shanty. When we went out to investigate, we found that we were on a piece of ice about twenty feet by thirty feet or so that had broken free from the surroundings. Several other pieces were around us. Picture a jigsaw puzzle. We were on one of the pieces and surrounded by other pieces. There was no danger of drifting away, but if one of the pieces broke into smaller fragments, there could have been real trouble. We gathered our gear immediately and rode back to shallow water close to shore, crossing several open water cracks along the way.
That being said, I would advise against pulling a permenent shanty out there. I'd also avoid the area with a snowmobile or ATV. Going there during hours of darkness is probably not smart right now. The ice was about 8" to 10" thick, but certainly not stable. I think it is better to stay farther north for the time being.