Author Topic: Sylvan Lake 2023  (Read 4975 times)

Offline jpohlic

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Sylvan Lake 2023
« on: Jan 11, 2023, 08:00 AM »
After numerous years at Gull Lake, we put the "Hickie Hut" out on Sylvan Lake this year at Palm Bay. From Jan 5-7 we saw and caught more fish at Sylvan than we saw at Gull all of last year! So far I've only caught a 5" perch but my wife caught a small pike and her first ever burbot - she was so excited. We saw a lot of whitefish on the camera and had numerous nibbles but couldn't hook up on any. Also saw quite a few burbot and numerous pike and perch, but no walleye yet.

Headed back out on Friday night to camp out for the weekend!



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Offline Shotgun

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #1 on: Jan 11, 2023, 12:09 PM »
Congrats.   Her first burbot had to be  fun.

I found the camera usually spooks the whites so you might try keeping it out when chasing the whites.  Try 15-25FOW for the walleye

SHOTGUN

Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #2 on: Jan 11, 2023, 02:22 PM »
Yeah, BIG congrats man!  I recall you thinking of moving it last year.  Sounds like the right decision.  I hope to see some more pics before or at end of season.  Have a great one out there!

Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #3 on: Jan 13, 2023, 08:24 AM »
Congrats.   Her first burbot had to be  fun.

I found the camera usually spooks the whites so you might try keeping it out when chasing the whites.  Try 15-25FOW for the walleye

SHOTGUN

Yeah, she was sooo excited!!!

Good to know about the camera... what about using some old aquarium plants to camoflage it??? Our shack is right on the very edge of a weed bed/sand flat
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Offline Shotgun

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #4 on: Jan 15, 2023, 10:42 AM »
You can actually buy some artificial weeds that you wrap around your camera cable and camera,  I used to have some but they seem to have been lost.

Check out the internet you should be able to find some.


Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #5 on: Jan 17, 2023, 08:30 AM »
Caught one small burbot this past weekend, and had a monster snap my line at the bottom of the hole. Saw lots of whites but none took interest, also saw some perch and a few pike on the camera.
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Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #6 on: Jan 17, 2023, 08:58 AM »
Caught one small burbot this past weekend, and had a monster snap my line at the bottom of the hole. Saw lots of whites but none took interest, also saw some perch and a few pike on the camera.

Sounds like fun and nice to hear about the burbs.  I take the monster was a burb?

Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #7 on: Jan 23, 2023, 07:47 PM »
Yup, it was a big burbot. We iced a couple more this weekend but that was it.

Didn't see much on the camera, probably because I ripped the cable in half. Does anyone know if you can solder it back together and have it work properly?  It happened close to the screen so I would still have a good amount of cable left, but it's got the finest shielded wire I've ever seen. Oh well, I ordered another Eyoyo camera from Amazon yesterday and it arrived this morning!

My wife was planning on taking a friend out next weekend for an ice fishing campout, but the forecast looks miserable for them. High of -16 and low of -27!!! That sounds more like a day trip with a hotel room and hot tub afterwards to me.

Til next time...
The more I fish, the less I know about fishing...
Send me a PM if you'd like info about how I built my ice shack

Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #8 on: Jan 24, 2023, 09:41 AM »
Yup, it was a big burbot. We iced a couple more this weekend but that was it.

Didn't see much on the camera, probably because I ripped the cable in half. Does anyone know if you can solder it back together and have it work properly?  It happened close to the screen so I would still have a good amount of cable left, but it's got the finest shielded wire I've ever seen. Oh well, I ordered another Eyoyo camera from Amazon yesterday and it arrived this morning!

My wife was planning on taking a friend out next weekend for an ice fishing campout, but the forecast looks miserable for them. High of -16 and low of -27!!! That sounds more like a day trip with a hotel room and hot tub afterwards to me.

Til next time...

Yeah not kidding hey.  I might be making the trek with a couple of buddies this weekend.  The least windiest of the days for sure.  Just might think of stopping by  ;)

Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #9 on: Feb 07, 2023, 08:27 AM »
The weekend of Jan 28-29 I did a solo day trip... there just wasn't anything to post about other than the cold and the wind.

Feb 4-5 we camped out (the weather was fantastic!!!) and my wife is now on the leader board for biggest burbot in our group, 5lbs 2 oz!!! She also caught a 4 3/4" perch!!! I was skunked. My folks came out for the afternoon on Saturday and we all sat around the campfire and roasted hot dogs before retreating to the shack and watching a pike stare at my dad's bait for the longest time on the tv without even a nibble.

Saw lots of whites on the camera so hopefully the bite picks up. My buddy caught one so we finally have that blank slot filled in on the leaderboard, 16.5"


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Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #10 on: Feb 07, 2023, 09:51 AM »
Nice!! That is a huge burb for sure.  Congrats to your wife. 

Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #11 on: Feb 14, 2023, 07:52 AM »
Another beautiful weekend on the ice and we spent a lot of time fishing outside in the sunshine! We also moved our shacks about 75 yards and went from 12' deep on the edge of the weeds to 20' deep on the sandy flats.

I caught a 4lb 8 oz burbot on a tipup and my wife managed a 23" pike which tied for top spot on the leaderboard. A couple buddies also camped out and caught a few, and we all had a great time.





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Offline Reign_Man

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #12 on: Feb 14, 2023, 10:41 PM »
That's great that you're getting so much action out there.  I haven't made it out to Sylvan Lake this season.  Only went to Gull Lake early in the season and got skunked. 

Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #13 on: Feb 15, 2023, 08:26 AM »
Nice!! Congrats on the move paying off.  Great sunrise shot too!

Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #14 on: Feb 20, 2023, 09:21 PM »
Another weekend spent on the ice. This time I was flying solo so I brought Mabel with me. Fishing was slow so we played a lot of fetch! Managed one burbot on Sunday at 4:40am on my home made jaw jacker - another perfect hookup right in the lip! Gotta love being able to fall asleep to the heat of a woodstove and only be an arms length away from your rod! The weather was variable, with some beautiful sunshine and then some howling wind and snow... got about 6" on the lake this weekend. Until next time...





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Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #15 on: Feb 21, 2023, 09:52 AM »
Nice! 

Yeah we got like maybe 2 cm at most here by Devon.  But just 30 km away by Pigeon it was about 7-8 cm over the weekend. Maybe more is some local areas.   

Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #16 on: Feb 27, 2023, 01:38 PM »
Another weekend camped out at the Hickie Hut and we all had a great time as usual, but no pics as they're all on my wife's phone. Numerous burbot and a handful of small perch were caught, and we spent Saturday night enjoying some wobbly pops with friends while catching more burbot. Had something big on the line that ended up wrapping around 3 other lines in the water causing quite a disaster, but we got it sorted out and celebrated with a few more shots of rum!

The cheap charge controller that came with my coleman solar panel crapped out so I ordered a decent Renogy controller with a temp sensor that supposedly adjusts the charge based on temperature... I thought that might come in handy in an ice fishing hut! Hope it gets here before we head out again. My wife has teachers convention this week so I took Thurs/Fri off and we're gonna have an extended stay at the lake, maybe do a day trip out to Abraham to see the bubbles and then poke a few holes in Goldeye Lake on the way home and catch a trout or two.

The more I fish, the less I know about fishing...
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Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #17 on: Feb 28, 2023, 09:46 AM »
Another weekend camped out at the Hickie Hut and we all had a great time as usual, but no pics as they're all on my wife's phone. Numerous burbot and a handful of small perch were caught, and we spent Saturday night enjoying some wobbly pops with friends while catching more burbot. Had something big on the line that ended up wrapping around 3 other lines in the water causing quite a disaster, but we got it sorted out and celebrated with a few more shots of rum!

The cheap charge controller that came with my coleman solar panel crapped out so I ordered a decent Renogy controller with a temp sensor that supposedly adjusts the charge based on temperature... I thought that might come in handy in an ice fishing hut! Hope it gets here before we head out again. My wife has teachers convention this week so I took Thurs/Fri off and we're gonna have an extended stay at the lake, maybe do a day trip out to Abraham to see the bubbles and then poke a few holes in Goldeye Lake on the way home and catch a trout or two.

Congrats on the great weekend!  No doubt you are happy with the move off Gull this year.  Wonder if the big fish was a "molly"?  Name given to a really big pike that used to haunt that lake :)

Sounds like you have some great plans for an extending weekend.  Burbs should be picking up big time this weekend.  Hopefully you get to witness a burb ball there.  Good luck!

I'll be out chasing burbs on NB1 with an overnighter with buddies. 

Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #18 on: Mar 02, 2023, 09:34 AM »
Good luck!

We've got a late start today but are heading out soon.
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Offline jpohlic

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #19 on: Mar 05, 2023, 11:55 AM »
So, another weekend of ice fishing and winter camping is in the books.

We drove out Thursday morning to Abraham Lake to see the ice bubbles. It was a long, windy drive but nice to get out of the city. The lake was 80% snow covered but we found a few spots of bubbles as well as some really cool ripples on top of the ice. There was a lady there with a thermos of hot water, which I highly recommend taking to pour on the ice... it clears it right up and makes the bubbles look incredible!

Then we headed back to the ice fishing shack on Sylvan Lake and camped out for a couple nights. I managed to catch the first walleye of our group, a nice thick 19 3/4"!!! Had the jawjacker go off at 1:30 am but by the time I fixed the lack of drag on my reel it was gone. Felt like a heavy burbot. We finally had some action on whites and I had one to the top of the hole but lost it. Had a few more really agressive strikes but no more hookups. My wife caught a handful of tiny perch and missed out on a decent pike. All in all, another great trip!

The snow on the lake is getting deep, wasn't too bad getting on but a couple days later we had a nearly full throttle exit off the lake in my 2wd ford ranger.








The more I fish, the less I know about fishing...
Send me a PM if you'd like info about how I built my ice shack

Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #20 on: Mar 06, 2023, 02:57 PM »
Those are some amazing ice formation pics!   You were not kidding about bubbles. I thought maybe a few but that pic says it all.

Congrats on the great fishing.  Certainly going to have good ice to end of March.  Hopefully the snow melts...eventually.

We had a great outing with many burbs cooked up along with french fries.  Key to keep the oil at 350 degrees or a bit higher.  Just amazing!!

Offline jpohlic

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March 11-12 2023
« Reply #21 on: Mar 20, 2023, 09:22 PM »
I forgot to post from last weekend, not much to report... the fishing was sloooooowww. But, we spent the weekend on the ice and cooked up some great food including rosemary butter basted boneless ribeye steaks seared in a hot cast iron pan! We did have one pike try to eat the camera which was exciting!





The more I fish, the less I know about fishing...
Send me a PM if you'd like info about how I built my ice shack

Offline jpohlic

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March 18-19 2023
« Reply #22 on: Mar 20, 2023, 09:33 PM »
Well, this past weekend was it for our season on Sylvan Lake. We headed out Saturday for one last winter campout and fishing weekend. Pizza and beer for dinner, a few whites seen on the camera, one tiny perch landed and that was it. Sunday afternoon my dad showed up with the utility trailer and we emptied the contents into the mighty ford ranger, loaded the shack on the trailer, and headed for home.

Overall our season was 100x better than the last 2 seasons at Gull Lake, but the whites still remain a mystery to us and the keeper size perch kept their distance. Good times with great friends were had and although we are excited that kayaking season is just around the corner, we can't wait for the next ice fishing season. Still hoping to get out for a day trip for trout, maybe next weekend.

The Hickie Hut has been our home on the ice for the past 5 seasons and I estimate we've spent at least 60 nights in it so far. It's tiny, the benches are hard, and the murphy bed requires some maneuvering to set up and take down, so we're thinking of putting it up for sale and looking for a 16-20 foot RV to convert into an ice shack. Ideally I'd like something with a real couch or a couple comfy chairs, and a bed that's always ready for a nap!

Til next year...





The more I fish, the less I know about fishing...
Send me a PM if you'd like info about how I built my ice shack

Offline SNAPFisher

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Re: Sylvan Lake 2023
« Reply #23 on: Mar 21, 2023, 10:26 AM »
Nice!  Congrats on the better season.  I enjoyed reading your posts.  I hope I can drop in next year for a quick visit  :)

 



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