Well I did basically 0 ice fishing this year. Basically 0... but very little.
Took a friend out for his first time back in January. it was -35 and windy as all balls. His heated jacket and foot warmers only lasted 2 hours. In turn, he only lasted 2 hours. No fish, no biggie. can't expect someone from Abbotsford who has never really been in the outdoors to survive that long.
Here's Kah-Leeb hating life. Even with a decent cigar
I took ol B-Rad out in February. It was definitely warmer out. Not a single hit.
Life is hard when you're trying new lakes because you don't want to take them out to places like "Dugan" or "Dewar"
A customer of mine out in Alberta convinced me to head out to Slave Lake back in March. He laughed when I opened my west coast gear. Until I started jacking the pike with a Gibbs Koho #55
Not to mention walleye and burbs
That being said. First time I've had walleye. Amazing. Last time I'll ever kill a pike though. Did not like it at all...
May Long I had planned on going out to do some fishing and hunting. But got called out to Kamloops to play in a ball tournament. So as soon as I got back, met up with father and headed out. We found out one of the lakes we use to fish, that had gone to catch and release only, had gone back to regional regulations. So we headed out for the first time in quite a few years. On the way out we came across a bear.
Anyways, I made my way in to 30 yards on the bear. He was perfectly broadside. I was about to draw back. He was big in the body, but his head was small. I was looking for freezer filler, but it was early in the morning. If I stabbed him, he would have been sitting in the sun all day, or we'd have to head home. I wanted neither of these. So I let him walk.
The first catch of the day was father's. He hooked into an old empty molson canadian can.
We got in to the lake. First hour or so we had one hit. It's been awhile since we've fished the lake. So we had to get it dialed back in. We were throwing everything in our fly boxes at them. I had one fly I had ripped off of instagram. Except used different ingredients and colours. My dad tied it on and in no time a fish turned and burned with it. https://www.facebook.com/warnniklz/v...8810779030387/
Dad had another fish hammer the fly in roughly the same spot. We finally had them dialed in. The fly I had stole from instagram has now been dubbed "The Wizard Of Oz"
kind of a shitty picture
size 10 gamakatsu hook
gold flymen fishing co. nymph head bead
black goose biots
brassy size chartreuse wire
spirit river uv2 olive dubbing on the body
spirit river uv2 seal-x olive dubbing for the thorax
swiss straw for the wing case
It was a sunny day out. We'd get a bite and think "just a scrappy little guy" when they first rose. They didn't look big from 90 feet in the sun. But they would fight like sumbitches.
The fishing had slowed down for a bit. I released two smaller guys. Dad was telling me about how he's never done well on an egg sucking leech pattern. Well, as kids do... To rebel, I tied one on.
Right away I laced into a fish. Dad was working the boat while I was playing my fish. He wasn't paying attention to his rod. He got hung up on the bottom... With all things, The Wizard Of Oz was tied to the end of his rod. I told him not to worry about the fish and just try to save the fly. I was ready to go swimming for it if it so came to be. Got my fish and saved the fly at the same time.
I got my two fish and we decided to roll out.
The 4 we killed, plus the can my dad caught. One was 18 inches, two were 19 and one 20 inches.
Nice fish....I find with the bear that pretty much all the meat is on the quarters and backstraps, so if ya cut em out, put em in your game bags and throw em in a creek for 3-5 hours after skinning the quarters quick your good to go, as you'll get the bone temps down low enough..then you woulda had a bear and could stay in the bush lol..
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RJ
