Spring Cleanup and the Road to "Ice Out"…

I’ve been delinquent.  My blog posting gumption has waned over the winter.  Well time to do a quick “catch up” and start thinking of spring.  Hard to do when the temperatures have been in the minus 20’s Celsius every morning.  Ice out?  I think it’s been making ice over the past few weeks.  Could make for an interesting opener, although cold water = some great shallow water lake trout action.

Speaking of lake trout here’s a dandy from this February when Chris (of Chris and Nick fame) and I hit the ice.  38 inches of finned fury…..a 25# plus fish!

[caption id="attachment_6535" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Chris with a 38″ trout![/caption]

I can’t say my own personal ice fishing this winter was as noteworthy.  One spot I fished several times produced 3 or 4 of this seldom caught species…….on jigging lures!

[caption id="attachment_6546" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The mighty white sucker…[/caption]

Not to say that it was all a bust…

 

One incident that Chris might fondly remember was being pulled home by the Artic Cat……what can you expect from a Skidoo?

[caption id="attachment_6536" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Nothing like dragging a Skidoo for 20 miles!![/caption]  

Some interesting fishing was had when we went south to the Baja in March.

[caption id="attachment_6539" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Two eater Dorado[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6540" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] 150 # Striped marlin, released[/caption] [caption id="attachment_6541" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Tuna for the cooler![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6543" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] My goal was to catch a fish on my spinning rod…..a tuna![/caption] [caption id="attachment_6542" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] My band…..the El Gordo quintet.[/caption]

Of course had to do a bit of shopping while in Mexico…….here’s the new camp truck!!

[caption id="attachment_6538" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Vintage Toyota….[/caption]  

Soon it was back at home to the bracing NW Ontario weather!

  [caption id="attachment_6545" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Wish I was at the palapa bar…..[/caption]

Sometimes you just have to make the best of things.  Sitting in the driveway soaking up the sun and a cerveza!

[caption id="attachment_6548" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Working on my tan…[/caption]  

Summer is coming though, and in my never ending quest to be prepared the trophies for the “big three” are already in place (thanks to Charles Weiss).  There’s still room to get in on Musky Madness week……September 22-29.  The Perch Rodeo goes all season (biggest perch takes the prize).  Walleye Madness…July 21 – 28…only one cabin (two people) remaining.  Better get on it!!!

 

Well, there’s a bit of a re-cap for the winter doldrums.  I mentioned ice out……and the looming ice out contest.  This will begin after the next post which I will devote to the contest and possible winning strategies.  In the meantime I offer this image taken this morning of the Arctic tundra conditions we are now experiencing.  Stay tuned!

[caption id="attachment_6551" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] April 6, 2018. The never ending winter…..[/caption]]]>

8 thoughts on “Spring Cleanup and the Road to "Ice Out"…”

  1. Andy
    Reply

    Gord, now that you have honed your sucker catching skills I think you should take advantage of this late ice and head over to Clearwater to fish some of those spawning burbot?
    We cant wait to see the new and improved winch fastened securely with lag bolts.

    1. Gord
      Reply

      I will be getting back into the portage lakes soon…..gas, fixing stuff the Perchmaster broke, etc. Maybe checking out the burbot would be interesting…..but hardly as challenging as mastering the art of sucker fishing.

      1. Professor
        Reply

        Hi Gord…Exceptional photo of that giant laker, just beautiful. And speaking of beautiful, the missus was thrilled to know you will have the winch on Clearwater working as intended. Me too. Uh oh, I just peed myself with all the excitement of this great news!

  2. Dustin Kaehr
    Reply

    As defending champ, I’ve been strategizing since last May.
    Has there ever been a champion defend their title?

  3. Charles weiss
    Reply

    Lake trout and white sucker ice fishing ! Oh! My!
    Bipolar winter weather, the answer is blowing in the wind?!

    1. Gord
      Reply

      We’ve had repeat winners in all categories. Andy seems intent on holding onto the perch title……so recently stripped from Paul Fulka…..and coveted by Kurt (formerly known as the PerchMaster)

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Testimonials

On behalf of the Boyes Group, I would like to pass on our sincere thanks for hosting the Muskie Madness Week and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at VBL and had a great time!! This was our 7th year on Eagle Lake and we have stayed at a few other lodges but VBL takes the cake hands down! You can definitely count us in for next year. I’m happy to see you post some of my pics, they turned out well. Thanks again Gord for a wonderful week of fishing and your stellar hospitality, you run a first class operation, we look forward to seeing you next year!

Trevor Benner

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