Hog Island report 2-20-17

[jbritch]

So I got on the ice at Tabor Point at 9:00; it's a bit hard walking and by late afternoon every step went through and it was tiring because what was frozen was slippery.  There's about 8-12 inches of ice but it's really soft, my Jiffy went through it like butter.  By the sixth tip-up, I snagged this sow pike.




I set two more tip-ups and turned back to land this big sow, good fun in 18 inches of water.  Another one only lip-hooked.



Then I jigged for awhile and lost two more big pike, one chewed through 25 lb test woven line but it's my fault, only had a short steel leader, lesson learned.  The other one just spit out the bait at the hole. Then the perch bite stopped and I landed this guy. 



And then it totally dead until about 2:30 and I got this one.  No one will believe it except the couple standing with me but she bit while I was still letting the line down and the bait was still in the hole!  I hollered pretty loud 'cause I had a bronco at the end of 3 feet of line thrashing in the hole.  Got a burn mark on my thumb from the line.



And then I came home with barely enough for an old lady but at least the wind wasn't too bad and I got to talk with lots of people walking out and then back in and everybody was saying that it was a slow day and all had about what I had, perch -wise.  But I can't complain I was jigging in 6 feet of water and trying to stay close to my tip-ups; it's what I expected.  Going to try again soon because this warm spell is going to last for a week or so.  Need some fish for the chowder championship...

[lowaccord66]

Nice report thank you!

[bootstrap]

thanks for the great report. hope to make it up there soon but may have to wait till next year.

[jbritch]

Thanks for the kind words.  I forgot to mention that the last one I got, the one I'm holding, had a good-sized lamprey wound that appeared to be healing.  I remember when I reported that last year someone wrote in that they don't target scaly fish like pike, well, there's another one; too few trout for 'em?

[cbice]

At least half of the larger pike I catch have lamprey wounds on them.  It's not uncommon to se a 10lb pike with 4+ old and new wounds.  Never actually caught one with a lamphrey attached though.

[WVBoy]

Thanks for the kind words.  I forgot to mention that the last one I got, the one I'm holding, had a good-sized lamprey wound that appeared to be healing.  I remember when I reported that last year someone wrote in that they don't target scaly fish like pike, well, there's another one; too few trout for 'em?

Nice! I saw you out there. I was the one with the kids and the big crew out there partying. It was my birthday so we decided to throw a bash and teach a few newbies about icefishing. It was a beautiful day!

[fishingidjit]

JB, looks like a good day on the ice !