Well, it is less than 24 hours after getting the truck unpacked...sorry for the delay, but I was too wiped last night.
Anyway, after work Friday we got packed up and headed north. We pulled up the lodge about 11...Grump was getting off Dauphin before we were in bed. Up and at them on Saturday. We split up into a couple groups. It seems the spot I wound up at was a bit more productive than Scuba's spot. The hunt for nice walleye, burbot, and pike was on.
I wound up by myself as the sleds left me to check out the others and pick up the remaining folks back at camp. I decide to change holes...drop the chubby down, but the line goes slack before I can see it on the Aqua Vu...5 skunkings has dulled my senses...fish! I tighten up, feel weight, and set the hook...game on. Eventually, I see a nice pike through the hole in the toasty shack...all wrapped up...gets a bit dizzy I suspect with the log rolling to get untangled...get the head up the hole and out of the water and cut goes the line...senses weren't dulled too much to feel pain...I got a hold of her and wound up with a finger in the gill rakers getting scratched up a bit...the result is my measly personal best pike of 31".
I haven't used the timer often enough on my camera to be able to get it set up without thinking too much, so rather than suffocating the fish, down the hole she goes. I caught and released another, smaller pike just before everyone started trickling back. In clear water, the AquaVu can be a great tool...on top of that, the battery on my flasher is kaput, so it didn't last very long out there.
A while later, at another hole outside, something was pestering the minnow sweetening my fat Rap...can't hook it, so downsize to a simple jig and minnow...tulibee...I caught 3 in the 14-15" range before an MA shows up....
Scuba eventually comes by and finds a nice pike.
Two more tulibee come my way Saturday, with the last one being the biggest at 19".
Scuba gives up his walleye quest, at least temporarily, in favour of the action and lands a master.
Shortly after that, I headed back to the camp with the first group to help (marginally) with supper / campfire preparations. I needed the rest anyway. We had a great meal with a lot of laughs. I was the first to bed since apparently I am the least able to party any more.
Sunday was a bit tougher. One fellow had an extra charger so had topped up my flasher battery, but it didn't last. The pike didn't seem to be around any more either...so to the tulibee holes it was. I was fishing blind while everyone else had a Vex...I was definitely outgunned. After pulling up about a dozen masters, Scuba asked how close I was to a specialist...since I'd gotten 3 on Saturday, the answer was two (I was tired, but basic math doesn't usually escape me). Scuba then hands me his rod with the hot bait, his hole with his Vex set up. With his coaching I get MA #4. Comments are made about all the fish being caught being masters...so I proceed to pull up a short one...Scuba starts packing up my gear in preparation for leaving...then I manage another one...looks good...at the top of the hole, the line gives way...Scuba dives to rescue the fish and tosses it about 5 feet from the hole so it can't flop back down...alas, the hot bait was lost...a quick measure, photo, and back down the hole...apparently, I am a tulibee specialist, having caught one before this weekend.
Final score was 9 tulibee for me, 3 pike with another spitting the bait when it saw daylight...about one per hour for fishing - not fast and furious, but fun. Overall, the group of 10 caught at least 50 MA tulibee, as well as some nice pike, a few walleye, and a couple burbot.
I'm still tired, but I had a blast. Many thanks to Chris for his hospitality and Scuba for inviting me and the graciousness to help me get my first specialist badge.
