Water Wolf's 07/08 Ice Fishing Season

[Water Wolf]

Thanks guys.

Onehook, hopfully you will find a pike this ice fishing season. They are a blast to fish for. They are fairly reliable and put up a good fight, even the little guys.

Bassfishin, they are solid deer antler so they hold up well to the pike's jaws, they do get a few nicks and scrapes but that can be expected from all those teeth. They get no more knick than any other lure though as I use a clear chip resident coating over the entire lure.

Whitetailmaster, do you mean how many fish on my own lures or this ice fishing season?

WW

[Luffy]

Great looking fish Water Wolf!!

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I have been out on the ice so Sunday Jan 27th my partners and I went out hoping for some action.

We started the day around 1:00pm and fished until 6:30pm.

There was a good crowd on the ice but it seemed for quite a bit of the afternoon no one was catching, lots of light nibbles, but that was it.
I lost one fish under the ice. This fish grabbed a good chunk of the hotdog I was using but was only hanging on to the middle of the hotdog and avoided the hooks on either side of it.

After that miss all the set lines gets a circle hook.

I finally see one fish iced buy the large group of anglers.
Shortly after that I ice this one.

First fish of the day at 2:30pm.

That would be it for fish untill a light fog and cloud cover rolled in around 4:00.
The crowd soon leaves but this is when the fishing really starts.


This one goes for the water wizard lure.


Two other anglers are left and are now having some luck also.

He iced a nice eater sized pike.

I pick up another pike.

This nasty fish nips me as I go to unhook it. My thumb receives a few little bleeding holes right across it.
Oh well it happens when you are pike fishing, nothing serious.
My thumb was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This would be my last fish of the day.

It was also the largest one at 6.2 lbs and 28 inches.

In the end it was a good day on the ice, I think the fish were feeding before today's storm.

The fish gave all the lures I tried a tap except the Berkley Gulp.
For some reason they left it alone.
They must have not liked it's smell that day.

WW

[Luffy]

Great pics!  I like that water wizard lure...  do you make those yourself?

[fishingmachine]

Excellent fish, and nice pic.

[Water Wolf]

Thanks Luffy and fishingmachine.

Yeah I do make the water wizards myself.
They are hand carved out of deer antler sheds. I started selling them last year.

I call the one in the yellow hat "Jim".

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,

Well I spent the last 3 days fishing and man was it nice. 8)

Day1.

Day 1 started Feb 2nd. It was my Birthday, so, I though what better way to celebrate it than to be out fishing. As luck would have it this was the same day as the "Original Ice Fishing Contest" in Sask. This is Sask's largest ice fishing tourney.

Setting up for the walk to the fishing area.


It looks like a pretty good crowd on the ice for this tournament.


Was that a bite? Nope...


In the end - no fish.  Actually, I only saw 2 fish caught in my area. It was a very slow day on the ice and out of the thousand or so anglers only 27 fish were caught.

The top prize was $20,000.00 for a 14.8 lb pike, second place was a 14.00 lb pike that earned the 10 year old angler a quad and 3rd was a 8 lb burbot and the prize was an Argo.

Day2.
On Feb 3rd my partners and I went to our usual little lake. We fished from 4:00pm until 6:00pm. During that time I iced 2 pike and partner #1 brought in 1 pike. Partner #2 lost their fish at the hole.
I also had one bite off.

First fish of the afternoon.


Partner #1's fish


I end the day with this scrappy pike.


Day3.
Feb 4th, my partners and I are back on the lake by noon and put in a good afternoon fishing until night fall.

Twenty min into the day and I ice the first fish.


And then another.


I lose my next fish right at the surface, I try to grab it as it fights down the hole but end up with a wet arm up to the elbow. Lucky the fire was going in the shack to dry the wet cloths.

Partner #1 then ices their first fish of the day. They are camera shy, so I'm elected to do the picture demo.



I am now dry, and fishing outside again.

I land this one jigging.

And another.


A neighbour on the ice comes over to visit and show me his catch.
I set my rod securely in a snow drift and chat for a bit.
When I go back no rod, OH NO!!
While I was gone a big fish grabbed the lure and pulled the rod down the hole.
That is the first time this has ever happened, I hope it will be the last.
I drill a number of holes in the area the rod went down and explore with the underwater camera, but can't locate the rod anywhere.

I go back to the shack in time to help partner #1 land there 2nd fish of the day.


Partner #2 then gets in on the action in the shack and lands their only fish of the day.


I finish off the day with 2 more pike.

This one is 3.6 lbs on the digital scale.

This is the last fish of the day for me and the largest at 5.4 lbs


The total for the day was 9 fish
6 for me, 2 for partner #1 and 1 for partner #2.

For me it has been a great couple of days with lots of laughs, stories and drama with my lost rod, and in the end even some fish.

WW






 

 

[Luffy]

Water Wolf,

I always look forward to seeing your fishing pics.  Not only do you always have good fish in them, but they are plentiful as well!  The storyline that you include always makes it that much better!

Good job on another day of good fishing!   

[Smeltecca]

With a crowd like that it's amazing more fish didn't get caught by accident

[Water Wolf]

Thanks Luffy, glad you like them.

LOL, your right Smeltecca.
I would like to have had an underwater camera when all those lines went down, it would be something to see, lines and lures in every direction as far as you could see.
It would like being at a supermarket for the fish, they could pick and choose what looked the best to eat.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,

I was ice fishing Last weekend{Feb 16th & 17th}.

Day 1.

I fished from 2.00pm until 6:00pm.

The day was nice - some wind with the temps above 0 Deg C.

It didn't take long for the fish to start biting.
Within 10 min I had this guy on the ice.


I contuned to hammer fish off and on all afternoon, not much down time.






This was the big one of the day at 27.5 inches.

This one had some scars just above and ahead of it's pelvic fin.
Another big pike must have wanted a meal.

This is the last one of the day. It hit one of my Water Wizard lures. 8)


Throughout the afternoon I saw 7 pike on the underwater camera and got  2 to hit, the others came on my set rod.

As I was packing up to leave it started to snow with sleet mixed in, by the time I got off the lake it was a raging blizzard.
I think I know why the fish were fired up, they could tell this storm was coming.

Day. 2

The storm was now over and was colder with high wind chill values and a strong North wind, not the best fishing conditions.

I decided to try it again.

I arrived a bit later at around 3:30pm and fished until 6:00pm.

It was quite nasty and cold on the lake so I decided to fish out of the shack.

As I observed on the camera that the fish were put off with this sudden change in weather.  In the end I landed 2.
I could see them come in and just kept adjusting my lures and jigging actions until I found what they wanted.



This one had a bite out of it's pelvic fin.


In the end it was a good 2 days of fishing.
The pike were going for spoons, my Water Wizard lure, double tail mr twisters, minnows, raw shrimp and smelts.



WW

[ebrooks22]

they are some great looking pike man keep it up

[Water Wolf]

Thanks ebrooks22.

WW

[hunters08]

as always nice pics and nice stories to go with I wouldnt mind having one of your wizards to hang on my deer head mount

[Water Wolf]

Thanks hunters08.

I am carving up a bunch for this years up coming sales.
If you would like to see them, I can PM you some pictures.

WW

[hunters08]

well send me some pics

[Water Wolf]

Hunters08, I sent you a PM.

Last Sat (Feb 23rd) I did some afternoon fishing from 2:30pm until dark.

It was a not bad day, with this pike being iced in the first 20 min.

It would also be the largest of the day at 4 lbs.

Throughout the afternoon I picked up 3 more.






The pike were hitting very light, just a little peck like a perch would give.
If a person didn't watch their line they could easily miss a fish.

They hit on smelts, a spoon and a rubber fish.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since Monday I've been down and out with the flu - nasty bug ! ! !
Today is the first day I feel like even sitting up.

WW

[bassmasteresm07]

looks like fun seems like you get out alot and clearly you found a hot spot congrats

[Water Wolf]

Thanks bassmasteresm07.

I am lucky this season with the days I have been out.
I hope to be out a few days in March also, this Month is usually when the fishing really starts to pick up.

I do seem to be in a good area pike wise, lots of freshwater shrimp as a food source.

WW

[crappie rob]

Excellent reports, and pics

[Water Wolf]

Thanks crappie rob.

WW

[Water Wolf]

I went fishing for the first time this month last Sunday {March 9th}.

My uncle wanted to try his hand at ice fishing and it would be his first trip this season so I decided to take him to the lake where we have had luck in the past.

It was a nice day on the ice with hardly any breeze and temps on the + side.

We started our fishing at 3:30pm and finished up around 6:30pm.

My uncle caught the first fish in first 15 min.

We had a good day and in the end I caught 5 and my uncle 4.

The largest was 3.9 lbs and the smallest was 2.1. The rest were all above 3 lbs.

We haven't had a good fish feed for a while so we decided to keep these guys for a big fish fry.

The end to a good day on the ice.


WW

[Luffy]

WW,

Man, you seem to hit 'em everytime out!  I might have to move up to Saskatchewan!!

[Water Wolf]

WW,

Man, you seem to hit 'em everytime out!  I might have to move up to Saskatchewan!!

LOL, yes lots of room and lots of fishable lakes for you Luffy here in Sask.

My uncle really enjoys his fresh fish meals,  so on Friday {March 14th} we decided to find a few more for another nice meal.

We were fishing around 1:30pm and finished around 6:00pm.

The day was a bit cooler than before with a bit more wind but still not bad.

The first action of the day was a double header. As I ran for one rod the other went off and my uncle and I both landed our fish.
Mine would be the big one of the day.
My uncle just go his fish safely on the ice when the hook on the jig broke, close call.

The action would slow until 4:00pm from there on the rest of the fish were landed.

I only saw 2 pike on the camera all day but they would be very entertaining indeed. Both fish came in at the same time. One larger and one smaller. Both fish aggressively attacked my lure but after 5 min and 3 strikes later the bigger of the two left. The little one remained and proceeded to lunge at my lure again. I called my uncle over and we took turns dropping our lure down the hole and watching the other guys lure and the fish striking at it. That pike struck at my uncle's lure 8 time and at mine 5. At one point it got so mad that it went for the camera and completely inhailed it. I could actally see the inside of it's mouth with gills flaring and throat opening. Finally after 15 min I hooked the pike with a smelt and a jig.

Here are the results of the day, 7 eater pike.

The largest was 4.1lbs, the smallest was 2lbs and the rest were between 3.1 and 3.7 lbs.

Two of the pike, including the largest, were caught on my Water Wizard lures.

My fish are facing right my uncles are facing left.


On Sunday {March 16th} I along with my 2 other partners attended the Katepwa Lake Derby, which ran from 12:00pm until 3:00pm.

It was a not bad day on the ice with a mix of sun, clouds and wind.

There was a fair crowd on the ice and the second largest attendance for this derby.

I was supprised by the thickness of the ice at Katepwa Lake and how little snow cover they had.

The fish species that were caught included yellow perch, cisco/ tullibee, walleye and burbot.
The vast majority of the fish were tiny yellow perch.

The big fish of this derby was a burbot. I was only a few yards from the 2nd place burbot.

No pike were caught this year or last year.

My partners and I didn't land a fish, but in the draws one of my partners won a folding single burner butane barbecue, nice. 

I hope to be out a few more times before the season ends.

WW

[mikethenorthernpike]

nice catch on all of them it looks like you had fun got to check out are pike. "cuba lake pike" by luv2fish24/7. good going.

[Water Wolf]

Thanks mikethenorthernpike.

You and your brother found some nice pike also a Cuba Lake.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,

On Good Friday my partners and I decided that we were going to try some place new. So we got all the gear together and head for Pelican Point on Last Mountain Lake{LML}.

It was 2:30 pm by the time we made it to the point. The temp was not bad but the really low cloud cover and high North winds made it a bit chilly. 
We were also dealing with a low pressure system. 
Not the most promising conditions.

There were lots of angler out on the safe area just off the point.
It was a bit crowded so we decided to try a bit deeper water to the side of the point.

On this trip I was the only one catching fish in my group. They all came from the same hole and the on same bait.

The first fish came an hour into the trip, a 3.7 lb male burbot.

This is my first burbot of the season and would be the big fish of the day.

Eye spy with my little eye....


Throughout the after there were no fish at all on camera until about 4:00pm.
I then stated seeing good sized whitefish, suckers and one really big pike.
They were all picking small items off the bottom of the lake.
I later found out from another anger that they may have been burbot eggs, all the fish species seem to like eating them.

Finally about an hour before we left I iced 2 more fish, this time pike.

By taking it's length I calculate this one at 2.7 lbs.


This one was 2.1 lbs.


These 2 pike were not the giants this lake is known for but better than nothing.

Just as we are leaving a fellow angler comes over for a chat, he warns me not to go too near the point with any vehicle, and he informed that he didn't even have a bite on the point all afternoon.
He also felt that the burbot spawn is now over on LML for this year and that they have scattered.

All in all it was a better day than I though it may be.
I saw a new area, and found a few fish.

Good luck to all on these last few days of this ice fishing season.

WW

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,

I finished off my 07/08 ice fishing season the other day {March 30th}.

I was going to hit my usual lake for the last trip but a day or two earlier that area received a good helping of snow and as such made travel on to the lake by vehicle impossible. It was also darn chilly with high winds so I opted to fish near the truck on an alternate lake.

I fished for a few hours without a strike or even seeing a fish on camera. Finally I had a strike. A small but violent fight ensued. I took a quick look at the half pound pike and then sent it on its way.

That was it for that area so I moved down the lake.

About 10 min before I called it quits one of my set rods registers a hit.
This was the result.

A lean 3 lb pike.

From what I heard from other anglers that day the fish have been completely shut off for about a week in all the lakes in that area.  I guess 2 in one day is a good day in those conditions.
At least I avoided being again.

On the way home I counted over 200 deer.
Here are a few near the lake.




It has been a great ice fishing season for me. I have had really good luck with numbers this year and have been happy to have tried a new spot this season and made it out quite often.

See you all on MyFishFinder.

Good luck to all in the new open water season.

WW