I am still kicking myself in the butt for forgetting the camera at home 'cause I had the best day of my season so far.
Got on the ice at 8:30 and it was perfect, only 12 degrees but not a breeze and you could feel the temp going up throughout the whole day. There is (was when I left) a good 12" of good hard ice at Tabor Point but it's hard walking even with the Crampons 'cause the surface is so pocketed, looks like the moon and very slippery. So bad that when I drilled a hole the auger stuck and I spun around, had to be careful. And, the ice was soooo noisy, the whole lake was grumbling from making ice and loud long cracks were going every which way and, of course, always right up to you and between your legs. I couldn't get to my favorite spot south of the access 'cause there's a big pressure crack there that calved all forenoon and shards of ice were flying like shrapnel, sounded like someone smashing those old Corel dinner plates.
By the time I had set my 6th tip-up I had my first pike, a little 2-footer but loads of fun in 2 ft of water. Oh, it's very hard to see your fish until they get their head into the hole 'cause the water is so cloudy/murky; used to be able to see the bottom, not now. I fully expected a mess of white perch but it didn't happen.
Then it was quiet for a long time and the perch bite in 8 ft of water of was very slow but good sized. Pretty soon a couple of Quebecers came out and sat right next to me; 200,000 acres and they sat right behind me?; it was like a French immersion class alllllll day long. Then at noon I got another good sized pike but it was covered in lamprey wounds and one was still fresh; poor thing, he was long but terribly skinny and since it was only lip hooked I put him back.
Then the perch began to bite and it was steady and very good sized ones until 2:00 and they stopped and then I got my third pike, a nice one but it swallowed the hook so I kept her, The perch came back for half an hour then stopped dead and school must have gotten out 'cause some kid came out on his dirt bike and did doughnuts around and it was just too much so I came home with enough pike for my chowder and half a pail of nice perch (only got a half-dozen little ones that ended up on my tip-ups).
The ice survived the last warm spell and I expect it to survive this one coming 'cause there's some cold air coming again; keep your fingers crossed.
