The Polish Connection ice fishing team… Henry & Adam are both summertime guests of Vermilion Bay Lodge here on Eagle Lake who decided to team up for an ice fishing excursion.  Henry had the experience from last winter, where he ice fished for the first time ever!  Adam had no experience, and had never even caught a lake trout before.  Nevertheless they both came prepared with all the proper tackle, gear and clothing…..along with several cases of Polish beer (Zagloba, Lezajsk, Zywiec & Tskie), Polish sausage and Pierogi.   Also, the “jet fuel”…….. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="346" caption=""Danger""][/caption]

Before ice fishing……the Polish snowshoe team…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Strapping on the boards to snowshoe the "back forty""][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Henry "pre-heart-attack" holding trees for support!"][/caption]

Let the ice fishing begin……will Adam catch a lake trout?

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Adam's first laker.......Success!"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Number 2...now he's starting to show off..."][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Adam & Henry with a brace of trout....day one."][/caption]

Things you don’t often see while ice fishing….

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="491" caption="Burton Penner and his dog sled teams"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="524" caption="The dog's don't seem to mind the deep snow..."][/caption]

 More highlights of the Polish ice fishing adventure…

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Adam looking frozen....with a nice lake trout"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Using tube jigs for lake trout."][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Is this fish depressed?"][/caption]

Catching pike & walleye ice fishing…

Some other species were caught ice fishing along with the trout…….including this really fat 36 inch pike: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="478" caption="Nice pike caught on a tip-up"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="655" caption="This is the rig used to catch the pike...it's hard to see the small white spinner above the hook"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Releasing the fish for another day!"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Some of the best walleye action was at dusk."][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="429" caption="Nice color on this winter walleye."][/caption]

The ice fishing conclusion…

While we did have fun and catch fish, to be honest the ice fishing bite seemed to drop off and there were some slow days.  That’s ice fishing I guess……..there’s always the great scenery! [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Ice fishing serenity"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Adam proves that trout come in all sizes!"][/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="614" caption="Lake trout on the ice"][/caption]

How many days of ice fishing are left?

The weather forecast seems to be showing a warming trend about to hit us.  It could be the days of venturing off to far lakes to catch trout are numbered.  It may be time to concentrate on the walleye, pike, perch and whitefish fishing right here in Vermilion Bay.  Today I will head into Clearwater Lake and pull one of my portage boats back to the lodge for some repairs (while there is still plenty of snow to do so!).  Spring is on the way and with it open water fishing.  Hopefully you  all have your dates picked to be up here at the lodge when the fishing action is at it’s prime…till then we will all have to wonder what the final days of ice fishing will bring!]]>