Author Topic: Salt water ice fishing 2014 started on the Saguenay (Read 8734 times)

bestoned · « **on:** Jan 19, 2014, 11:06 PM »

Season is started installed shanty 2.0. When I cut the frist hole water came right out and created a 16 ince lake 100 feet around the shanty. Fished about an hour caught a 3 to 4 pound turbot and rest of the day was spent working in and around the shanty!

poupster2 · « **Reply #1 on:** Jan 20, 2014, 01:03 PM »

Nice, What do you catch? How deep do you fish? Put some picture or video!
Thanks

bestoned · « **Reply #2 on:** Jan 20, 2014, 05:33 PM »

will be doing so soon catch the same as last year but this year in 340 feet of water

poupster2 · « **Reply #3 on:** Jan 21, 2014, 06:58 PM »

Do you use any electronics to find fish that deep?

bestoned · « **Reply #4 on:** Jan 22, 2014, 06:06 PM »

Nope jig at bottom and hook and bait every 25 feet for 125 feet!

bestoned · « **Reply #5 on:** Jan 28, 2014, 05:19 PM »

Went out last night and stayed for 24 hours. On this trip caught 2 Turbot and 2 Redfish.
Total this year Turbot: 3
Cod : 1
Redfish: 2

bestoned · « **Reply #6 on:** Feb 01, 2014, 05:45 PM »

Went out last night for a few hours and caught 1 redfish lots of knibles but nothing concreat.

Water Wolf · « **Reply #7 on:** Feb 02, 2014, 04:48 PM »

Neat that your able to ice fish on the salt water.

Nice variety of fish you found.

I was watching a show on greenland sharks and apparently an odd one gets caught through the ice in the Saguenay Fjord.
Have you ever caught one, or have seen one caught?

I think Greenland sharks have a unique coloration. It almost looks like they are made of stone.

WW

Jay_Holmes · « **Reply #8 on:** Feb 03, 2014, 07:55 AM »

That's a trip I'll be doing next February for three days. I'm in Ottawa so it's not too far.

Love the uniqueness of being able to ice fish for saltwater species.

Could you share the type of rig you use?

bestoned · « **Reply #9 on:** Feb 03, 2014, 06:37 PM »

Went out last night and just got back fished a little but spent more time fixing odd things and all. caught a redfish and a turbot and went out 20 mins for smelt (bait) and caught a dozen!

Water Wolf: No I have not caught a shark but have seen one caught. We had to cut with a chainsaw through the shanty and ice to a bigger hole and tie the line to a 3 wheeler to yank it out!

Jay: I use a benthos 2 1/2 ounces at bottom.

And put a cod rig every 25 feet for about 175 feet ( 7 cod rigs total)

Let me know when you want to come we can probably arrange something!

bestoned · « **Reply #10 on:** Feb 04, 2014, 09:46 AM »

Went back out to the shanty after a good shower at home! Caught a 7 pound cod.

Jay_Holmes · « **Reply #11 on:** Feb 05, 2014, 05:28 PM »

Thats fantastic. Congrats on great catch, man.

bestoned · « **Reply #12 on:** Feb 05, 2014, 06:59 PM »

Thanks jay but as a real fanatic its still not big enough! Last year there was a 52 pound cod caught if I remember well. So I need 60 to be happy lolllllllll

bigk · « **Reply #13 on:** Feb 08, 2014, 05:47 PM »

Well done sir!!!!

bestoned · « **Reply #14 on:** Feb 09, 2014, 09:10 AM »

Went back out friday night and saturday night and caught a total of 4 redfish 1 on friday and 3 last night!

bestoned · « **Reply #15 on:** Feb 12, 2014, 10:35 AM »

Went back out last night and here is the bounty!

bestoned · « **Reply #16 on:** Feb 13, 2014, 11:59 AM »

went back out again to sleep in the shanty caught 2 redfish and a ogac cod. This morning jacked up the shanty and upon my return had this cod on!

7.14 pounds!
Hard work pays off!!!!! lolll

Jay_Holmes · « **Reply #17 on:** Feb 13, 2014, 09:25 PM »

Counting the days here 'till next winter lol

Going to have to pay a visit to the iconic bait shop with the giant redfish sculpture!

bestoned · « **Reply #18 on:** Feb 14, 2014, 12:24 PM »

Went back out last night caught 2 redfish and 1 turbot!

dabluz · « **Reply #19 on:** Feb 15, 2014, 11:15 PM »

Quote from: Jay_Holmes on Feb 03, 2014, 07:55 AM

That's a trip I'll be doing next February for three days. I'm in Ottawa so it's not too far.

Love the uniqueness of being able to ice fish for saltwater species.

Could you share the type of rig you use?

I've been fishing in the Saguenay for about 40 years. I was one of the first or maybe even the first one to fish in deep water in the early 70's. Anyway, to make a long story short, I introduced many hundreds of people to ice fishing in the Saguenay through the conferences I held in the mid 70's.

For me, the best method is bouncing a 2 ounce jig baited with a small smelt right on the bottom. I use a short rather light rod (36 to 48 inches) and a baitcasting reel large enough to hold 450 feet of 20 to 30 lb test braided line or even a smallish spinning reel with 12 lb test Fireline. I constantly bounce the bottom with short pauses now and then to feel anything biting on the bait. With the spinning outfit, I can feel even shrimp eating my bait. Yes, most of the fish I catch are the bottom feeders. I usually add a 2/0 octopus style hook with bait about 5 feet above the jig for cod and redfish. i also add a bit of florescent orange flashabou to my upper hook. It's very rare I don't catch anything. There is usually always something biting on my bait but they are often very small fish that are hard to hook with a 2/0 to 4/0 hook. If I have time and if there are a few holes in the ice nearby, I will lower a 2 ounce jig very close to the bottom and I will make the rounds every once in a while to make sure the bait is still there and to adjust the length of line because the tides make the depth vary on the average of 15 feet. I like to use Penn style reels on short trolling rods for these setups. Yes, the ideal setup is a hand line with hooks every 20 feet from bottom to about 100 feet deep. The only setup that can handle such a rig is a tip down. They are easy to make and the bottom weight can be from 4 to 8 ounces. You will have to adjust the depth and clear the ice every 10 or 15 minutes. Best baits are raw shrimp, smelt or pieces of herring.

There is a limit of 5 fish but in the beginning, I had no problem catching over 100 lbs of cod, halibut, redfish, flounder, ling-cod etc in a day's outing......often without any bait....lol. Since you can eat only so many fish, I did not go fishing all that often...lol. But as you may well have guessed, many people left fish to rot on the ice or sold fish. This vastly decreased the fish populations.

It's rarely nice enough to fish outdoors. I now use a pop up hut with a good heater to stay warm and out of the wind but I did have an ice fishing hut for a while in the beginning. You can rent a hut for about 25 dollars per person per day. The best days are during the week when there is less traffic (noise) on the ice. Fishing is a lot better if you can travel good distances to remote places on the fjord by snowmobile. You will need a gas driven auger and a heated hut is recommended.

bestoned · « **Reply #20 on:** Feb 17, 2014, 08:00 AM »

Dabluz good technique same i used 28 years ago in la baie but now use a bit more finess. Baits 5 feet apart from each other does not really work good anymore to close scares the fish away now we seperate them 25 feet appart and put between 5 to 7 seperated by 25 feet each. best example this year at the beginning of the season caught all of my fish 140 feet off the bottom 2 weeks ago it started biting at around 60 to 85 feet from the bottom but every once in a while will catch a turbot while putting my line down at around 75 feet below the ice. I do not use a sonar find it to un personelle my friends have some and when i visit there shanty they will talk to me but never look at me its like kids playing video game they are there but not really. With baits covering 10 feet will never be able to find at what depth the fish are in 340 feet of water while with my method i cover 175 feet at all time!

Forgot to mention I still use a 2 1/2 foot rod and not a hand line even if i cover 175 feet of water (7 octopus with bait) its simple

I put these on my 20 lbs braided line every 25 feet

and clips these on

Its faster than a hand line and you dont get tangled up putting the line out on the floor!

bestoned · « **Reply #21 on:** Feb 17, 2014, 08:08 PM »

Tonight I am doing something new I will be updating live from the shanty!

Fish on! Its a redfish.

bestoned · « **Reply #22 on:** Feb 17, 2014, 09:00 PM »

Second redfish caught!

bestoned · « **Reply #23 on:** Feb 17, 2014, 09:57 PM »

Third redfish is now on the ice!

bestoned · « **Reply #24 on:** Feb 19, 2014, 07:30 PM »

just got back from 3 days at the shanty.
Here is a little video of me bringing up a redfish and removing jigs at different levels. It is in french but will do it in english soon.

Jay_Holmes · « **Reply #25 on:** Feb 22, 2014, 08:51 PM »

Quote from: dabluz on Feb 15, 2014, 11:15 PM

I've been fishing in the Saguenay for about 40 years. I was one of the first or maybe even the first one to fish in deep water in the early 70's. Anyway, to make a long story short, I introduced many hundreds of people to ice fishing in the Saguenay through the conferences I held in the mid 70's.

For me, the best method is bouncing a 2 ounce jig baited with a small smelt right on the bottom. I use a short rather light rod (36 to 48 inches) and a baitcasting reel large enough to hold 450 feet of 20 to 30 lb test braided line or even a smallish spinning reel with 12 lb test Fireline. I constantly bounce the bottom with short pauses now and then to feel anything biting on the bait. With the spinning outfit, I can feel even shrimp eating my bait. Yes, most of the fish I catch are the bottom feeders. I usually add a 2/0 octopus style hook with bait about 5 feet above the jig for cod and redfish. i also add a bit of florescent orange flashabou to my upper hook. It's very rare I don't catch anything. There is usually always something biting on my bait but they are often very small fish that are hard to hook with a 2/0 to 4/0 hook. If I have time and if there are a few holes in the ice nearby, I will lower a 2 ounce jig very close to the bottom and I will make the rounds every once in a while to make sure the bait is still there and to adjust the length of line because the tides make the depth vary on the average of 15 feet. I like to use Penn style reels on short trolling rods for these setups. Yes, the ideal setup is a hand line with hooks every 20 feet from bottom to about 100 feet deep. The only setup that can handle such a rig is a tip down. They are easy to make and the bottom weight can be from 4 to 8 ounces. You will have to adjust the depth and clear the ice every 10 or 15 minutes. Best baits are raw shrimp, smelt or pieces of herring.

Thanks for the tip dabluz!
I used a very similar technique fishing from a pier in BC to catch all kinds of cool fish off the bottom in 100+ feet of water.

When we go next winter, I plan on having 2 setups with me: one with a heavy bottom jig and a second hook a few feet above it, and the second setup with many hooks ~25 feet apart just like bestoned described.

Can't wait to pay a visit to the mighty Saguenay. It's less than a year away

young_one · « **Reply #26 on:** Feb 27, 2014, 11:26 PM »

Thanks for taking the time to update us with the fishery!

I look forward to hear you successful outings!

bestoned · « **Reply #27 on:** Mar 02, 2014, 07:32 PM »

Well guess season 2014 is in the books shanty is off the ice now got to figure out how to get it back here lolll!

Water Wolf · « **Reply #28 on:** Mar 02, 2014, 11:04 PM »

Is your saltwater ice fishing season over or is the sea ice getting unsafe all ready?

WW

bestoned · « **Reply #29 on:** Mar 03, 2014, 10:53 PM »

45 day season ice is still 5 feet thick!

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Author Topic: Salt water ice fishing 2014 started on the Saguenay (Read 8734 times)