OK I took the pictures so I guess I have to tell the story. Hooked up with Coffin Dodger (CD) and Pool Guy (PG) yesterday morning at a spot that was about the same distance time wise from the south, east and west for the three of us. I added my daughter's boyfriend Tim to the mix who she dropped off at my house at 4:15 am. I couldn't believe it when I saw the car pull in. I thought they would be late for sure. Tim had only ice fished one time before with PG who he worked for a few years back. One of those "small world" things. On the way there I told Tim by the end of the day he would have an ice fishing name. When I got there we looked at a map of the waterbody, picked a spot and headed for it. We wanted to be near shallow water but also be close to some deeper water in the 20-30 ft. range. Was easy walking and got to our spot in about 15 minutes. PG headed out to check the deeper water, CD was set up in 10-20 ft. deep and I set up 3 tips in the shallows with eggs. Then set up in 10-20 ft with the rest of them. Tim and I were rotating turns on our 12 tips. Had a few hit & spits then CD got a flag and laned this 3.5 lb. smallie.
Then one of my flags goes up in the shallow. Figured it was a bow and I was right. Got it up into the whole and he comes unhooked. We were standing around BSin and Tim says "There is two flags up". So we look and see one of CD's up and head for it and look around for the second one then I ask Tim "Where the second one?". He can't find it (there wasn't one up) so I named him "TwoTipupTim" (TTT). PG was fishing farther down from me in the shallows and had one tip go up with a hit & spit then then next one the same thing. He grabbed his auger and punched a father down the line and jigged and caught a nice bow. He has the picture. Same one that hit the two tips? I say yes. Dealt with some more hit & spits then one of mine goes up and it is TTT turns. He nails this 3 lb. smallie. First smallie for him through the ice.
Cd was chasing flags all day and landed some other nice bass. He gave one flag to PG and he iced this 3+ smallie.
I had one flag set up with a meal worm in 20 ft. of water go off several times only to have it just off the spool. I figured it was a trout for sure with the bait I had on. It goes off again and I walk to it by myself because everyone was sick of walking to it. This time it was spooling and I immediately set the hook. I knew it was a big fish right away and thought trout. Finally got it to the whole and it was a big 3.5 lb smallie. A first for me catching a smallie on a meal worm through the ice.
It was around 2:00 and the clouds moved in (CD & I like cloudy days) and it triggered a trout bite for about 1/2 hour. A flag went up and it was TTT's turn. Thought for sure it was a bass because of where it was set up. TTT hooks it and we knew it was a good one. He gets it to the whole and to my surprise I saw that it was a nice brookie. He did a good job heading it into the whole but when I went to bear paw it out it turned and headed back down the hole. TTT got it back and this time I got it on the ice. 1.5 lb. brookie. His first trout through the ice.
Right after that PG iced a nice bow. Then the wind shifted from the east and everything shut down. Stayed for an hour then packed up and heaed for the trucks. I love CD's sled.
Got to the the vehicles, CD showed us some pictures of past trips to Ontario & Alaska. I think that the fish have a hard time Dodging this guy. I had a blast and we will definately be doing it on the ice again hopefully in December. Thanks Coffin Dodger and Pool Guy. Maybe we can hook up for some softwater fishing.
