Finale to the March Break Ice Fishing Frenzy....

It has been March Break here at Vermilion Bay Lodge, and while in the past this has been our chance to split to warmer climates, this year we decided to hang out at the lodge and do more ice fishing. Over the past two days we have fished Clearwater Lake (Holly above with a whitefish)....



......and a lake trout. These were the only two fish we caught! (###note: NewMexicam has pointed out the "snowmachine lure" that this trout was caught on. Yes, it's true, and it almost swallowed the whole seat!)




Even with a number of holes and fishermen! That's fishing.........

.......there is always the fire and some food to take your mind off the slow bite.

When things get real boring then take a drive. Here we are at.......can you guess where? If you said Caribou Lake then you are correct. Anyone who has ever been there will have caught bass around this large boulder.

The next day Susanne and I ventured back to Teggau Lake (500 feet deep, remember?). We did pretty good in a couple hours..........

......probably 7 fish caught, with these four kept.

On the way home we did some adventuring and came across a fresh deer carcass and some wolf tracks.........also a whole pile of deep slush. This picture doesn't do it justice, but getting stuck in 12 inches of slush is not for the weak hearted. We survived to tell the tale. Weather has warmed and things are wet........perhaps a trip to take gas into the portage lakes needs to occur soon.

Winter Trout

Susanne and I managed to get out for a few hours to catch some trout. This "lunker" was caught while I was checking the depth. I was using a large orange clip-on weight attached to the treble hook on my spoon to figure out how deep I was when the fish hit! I never did get my weight back......

Susanne was putting the new Otter "Ice Lodge" to a good test......keeping out of the wind and catching fish!

I thought this was an artistic shot of a technique that caught squat. I'm not sure why I bother with live bait, tip-ups, or in this case a "rattle wheel". Seems 90% of our catches are on jigging spoons, without live bait. It is always a cold, wet chore at the end of the outing to pull in the tip-ups.....made even worse when they don't produce.

Most of the VBL guests who do the portage trail seldom get to see it in the winter months. Let's just say it is faster in the winter and the chances of getting attacked by mosquitoes is slim to none!

Well, we didn't set any records but we did end up with a good meal. We had some other bites and lost two fish on the way to the hole, but not bad for our first trout outing!